Killing The Certification Debate
There have been a number of people discussing when,how, and if certifications should play a more integral role in the software development industry. The problem is that candidates and employers have disimilar goals. A candidate wants exclusivity while an employer wants a pool of competent potential candidates to choose from.
If we look at the issue carefully, we can see there is no ‘right’ answer and the the whole thing can be put to bed.
Certifications From the Management Perspective
A certification attests that the recipient has at the time of receipt amassed a given amount of technical knowledge on a specific topic. The sole purpose is to facilitate the hiring process by helping HR filter candidates based on the receipt (or lack of receipt) of that certification. It is important to note that certifications will not be equally useful in all areas. I am currently doing web work in a non technical industry. For them, a Zend certification means that I can probably name more Star Trek characters than they can. In a software shop, a Zend certification would have more meaning because they would have more trust in who Zend is.
Here is the problem:
Once you get past HR to the hiring managers, (or if your HR is technically oriented due to the nature of the business) then they probably don’t need that certification to figure out your technical worth as it relates to the opportunity they offer. Your work experience will count for more than a certification to a hiring manager.
The value of the certification is completely dependent on your chosen opportunities.
Certifications From the Developer Perspective
From the developer perspective, this is where things get fuzzy.
For a developer, a certification works two ways :
1)You draw notice by having a (hopefully) desirable certification
2)You decrease the candidate pool for targeted opportunities by sharing the spotlight exclusively with other certified developers
The ideal situation is #1. You have something that everyone else wants. Simple supply and demand.
Situation #2 is a popular one where some developers feel there should be a certification that attests you are a competent developer. What they are really asking for is a license to develop software. A crap-filter that will let the developer stop competing with unqualified riff raff for jobs.
This sort of thinking is useless for a myriad of reasons, the top few being :
1) If all developers competing for a specific job have a shared license or credential, that credential is useless.
2) Even with the riff raff no longer applying, there will still be a similar level of competition for each position
3) HR is back to square one with a pile of candidates (all with licenses/certifications) and no way to differentiate (because they are non technical). This essentially means they could care less about a mandated license or certification.
At this point in time, certifications only address the technical skills of a developer. Unfortunately, I believe the the raw technical skill accounts for less than half of what makes a good developer. No matter what your chosen methodology is, you are going to spend more time designing or communicating with the customers than you will actually in front of an editor. Because of this, a certification can’t act as a guarantee of competence.
Bottom Line:
- Certifications will always be around
- Certifications can be important in the right situations
- A mandated certification system would fail for many different reasons
- Unqualified programmers will always be competing for your job.
