I’ve often been asked why I’ve never taken a certification. Was it for lack of time, for lack of knowledge of products I worked with? Was I afraid to take the plunge?
None of that, to tell the truth.
What does certification bring?
When I was a systems and network admin, I asked myself the question of taking a certification to increase my salary and make myself more attractive to certain companies.
In certain structures, certification still gives right to an aura when we present it. We’re the one who knows and who proves it by a distinction. We’re good, since a certifying organization has recognized it.
This gives the illusion that we’re better than those who don’t have one. Amusing detail, no one knows, most of the time, the certification content, nor the tests the candidate had to pass.
Some certifying organizations however have an aura that’s recognized, and solid certifying training.
Certification is expensive
But which certification to take? Some seemed attractive to me, but since they were the most known, they were too expensive for my small salary.
Should I turn towards less expensive certifications? I had no idea. The subject had to remain on standby for some time.
Certification, it locks you in
With hindsight, today, I’m very happy not to have been able to take one at that time.
The versatility I was reproached at that time has become my strength. If I had had a certification, I would naturally have tended to try to make it profitable. I would therefore have headed towards positions in which I could put it into application.
I would have potentially lacked curiosity in domains far from this certification and would have been confined to positions approaching what I had already done.
Taking a certification can give an orientation to a career, when we perhaps don’t want it.
I didn’t want it.
I was able to explore much more than that and push my curiosity in all domains of information systems, without fear of inconsistencies in my path.
Another risk of certification: What becomes of it when the technology for which we’re certified becomes obsolete? One thing is sure with technologies, they have a lifespan, and a death, in more or less long term.
There’s no certification for everything
And otherwise, what to do when we’re outside the lines and there’s no certification, or certifications well below what we know how to do?
Well we don’t take one.
And at a pinch we write a blog to explain what we know how to do.
