Certification

The certification of specialized skill-sets affirms a knowledge and experience base for practitioners in a particular field, their employers, and the public at large.  Certification represents a declaration of a particular individual’s professional competence.  In some professions certification is a requirement for employment or practice.  Doctors, mechanics, accountants, professional secretaries, surveyors and many others are all required to go through a certification process of some kind.  In all instances, certification enhances the employability and career advancement of the individual practitioner or employee.

For some time now, a debate has been raging on college campuses regarding the place that certification should hold on the academic world. On one side is the academic world, whose desire is to educate the entire student and create a well rounded individual with a variety of skills in all kinds of IT products, not only one vendor’s products but a wide range of applications. One the other side are the corporations, who are looking for their next employees and feel that they can obtain the knowledge they need much more quickly, and less expensively through the certification process.

For the moment, most traditional four year universities do not offer courses which align with specific vendor certifications. Those types of certification courses are for the time being left o the technical schools and a number of associate degree programs.

Of course many corporations and academic institutions are looking for some sort of middle ground where the needs of universities and the needs of businesses can meet. For instance, many companies found themselves short handed when it came to experts in information storage and related areas. Many companies were forced to hire workers without the needed training and skills, and to rely instead on an on the job training program to fill in the gaps. In order to address this growing problem, EMC developed a new training program in conjunction with several international universities. This new storage program was used to educate college students on important storage concepts they would need on the job. In addition to this program, EMC also launched a new storage certification which aligned with the course that had been developed.

When it comes to IT, there is a high degree of mental ability needed for the job; not just for problem solving, but also so you can deal with stress as well. However, critical thinking and problem solving are something rarely taught, these things are instilled in each of us in one form or another. Some will be better at it than others, and this mix can help IT teams thrive.

As one response put it: “While most technologists see things as black or white, choosing someone with a specific certification versus someone with specific experiences isn’t so binary.”

The benefits of certification include:

• Higher wages for employees in the form of bonuses, education assistance or higher salary.
• A more productive and highly trained workforce for employers.
• Prestige for the individual and a competitive advantage over non-certified individuals in the same field.
• Enhanced employment opportunities.
• Assisting employers in making more informed hiring decisions.
• Assisting consumers in making informed decisions about qualified providers.
• Protection of the general public from incompetent and unfit practitioners.
• Establishment of a professional standard for individuals in a particular field.

Equal to the benefits of certification is the importance of establishing an underlying certification program based on best practices and recognized processes and procedures developed by the field of certification.  NOCA serves as the member-based organization for the field of certification to enhance professional excellence and ensure the competency of certification