Professional Certifications - are they worth it?

[I'm Joe Dirt]

Well recently I got my CompTIA Project+ certification. It's a certification for project managers or those who manage projects as part of their job role. It certifies knowledge of management techniques, conflict resolution, planning, resource allocation and the like.

The test was pretty hard and had I not been a Management major in school and read up on project management and taken a couple of the practice tests I bought I probably wouldn't have passed. Even with all that I passed with roughly a 70% (63% was required to pass).

Anyways, I was wondering for those of you out there if you have any technical or professional certifications and are they helping you get what you want out of your job or are they landing you new jobs?

One of my plans is to get as many certifications as possible and try my hand at IT Consulting for small businesses.

Basically I want to have the following on my resume:

- CompTIA Project+ (project management) | MISSION ACCOMPLISHED
- CompTIA A+ (computer repair) | IN PROGRESS shouldn't be too hard since I've been working as a computer tech for a year now
- CIW Associate (Certified Internet Web Professional, displaying skills of web design concepts, network, ecommerce and other web technologies).
- Microsoft Office User Specialist (Displaying proficiency regarding completing business related tasks at the intermediate/advanced level in Microsoft Office, you know, using the other 95% of the features of Office no one ever really uses but are very handy)

Once I have those I think I will be ready to have some credibility in doing IT Consulting (on top of my B.S. in Management that I will have completed in 2 more semesters).

What do you guys think of certifications? Do you have any? Do you want some?

If you have any questions about getting them or whatever I think I can also answer those here now that I have one and have gone through the process.

 

[LowPlainsDrifter]

It depends on the company. Some firms think certifications are the be-all, end-all, while others laugh them off (I read a story about a fourteen year old who was home sick from school for some reason, probably mono, studied for the MCSE, and passed - with very little real-world experience working with Windows NT) as pieces of paper.
Look at these as feathers in your cap, but try to build as much actual experience as you can.

 

[DrMetallica]

For my profession the CPA is the golden ticket. It's like winning the lottery, cos you just make bank after that and do whatever you want. And it's not just passing a difficult test, it's also ethical qualifications and english language skills. So it's highly esteemed.

So, if you are going to use your time to get one of these to get certifications, make sure it is highly esteemed in your career, or else you're just stroking your ego.

 

[cant think of a user name]

For my profession the CPA is the golden ticket. It's like winning the lottery, cos you just make bank after that and do whatever you want. And it's not just passing a difficult test, it's also ethical qualifications and english language skills. So it's highly esteemed.

So, if you are going to use your time to get one of these to get certifications, make sure it is highly esteemed in your career, or else you're just stroking your ego.

If a person graduates having specialised in accounting but doesn't go for the CPA or CA, could they still have a decent career path in accounting or accounting-related fields?

 

[DrMetallica]

If a person graduates having specialised in accounting but doesn't go for the CPA or CA, could they still have a decent career path in accounting or accounting-related fields?

If a person chooses not to go for the CPA or CA, his involvement in public accounting is very limited.

But, if that person chooses to go into industry and work as a cost accountant or internal auditor for a large company, a CPA or CA cert is pretty much nil. In this case, an MBA would be more valuable.

So to answer you question, yes, in industry.