8 Reasons IT Certifications Still Matter In 2016

Despite the issues associated with IT certifications, they can give you a leg up on the competition and advance your IT career.

Five years ago, I posted the following Facebook update to friends and family: “Passed my 20th Cisco certification exam today to recertify all my professional level certs for three more years. This may be the last time I bother.”

But here were are in 2016, and I’ve taken four additional certification exams since that post in 2011, when I questioned whether certification was worth the effort. Over the years, I’ve had a love/hate relationship with the certification process. But in the end, the career benefits of having technology certifications far outweigh the amount of time and effort put in to earn them.

It is true that the value of some IT certifications is far greater than others. And I’ll concede that there are real problems with people gaming the system to become certified “on paper,” but still lack any true knowledge or skill. I will also say that experience trumps certifications almost every time when comparing qualifications between IT professionals. All that said, there still are several substantial reasons why IT certifications still matter in 2016. Continue reading…