The web is covered with stories regarding the benefits of
professional computer certification, and most of them are
backed up with salary surveys and the like. While there’s
certainly nothing wrong with making more money and having
better job prospects, there’s one benefit of certification
that many candidates forget about.
Confidence.
You can’t pay your rent with confidence; you can’t
pay for gas with confidence; you can’t pay for ANYTHING
with confidence, right? So who cares, right?
Wrong. The confidence you build from truly earning a certification,
whether it’s an MCSE, CCNA, or CCIE, cannot be purchased,
borrowed, or stolen. It has to be earned.
What do I mean by “truly earned”? First, I’m
referring to those little documents out there generally referred
to as “braindumps”. If you buy one of these things
and happen to skate by a certification exam, did you learn
anything? No. Did you learn anything? No. Are you going to
be effective on the job? No. As I tell my students, when you’re
standing in front of a server or router that isn’t working,
and all eyes are on you to troubleshoot the problem, the correct
answer is not “B”. There is no multiple choice.
Secondly, I’m referring to the hope that the certification
you earn was earned by taking a demanding exam.
Now, you’re probably thinking “okay, Chris has
lost his mind. I should HOPE the test is demanding?”
Yes, you should. There’s nothing more useless than earning
a certification that’s easy to get. There’s no feeling
of pride, of achievement; furthermore, if everyone else has
that certification, what value does it have?
I can speak from experience on this one. Those of you relatively
new to the field may never have used NT 4.0, but the MCSE
NT 4.0 was the certification that ended up causing a lot of
damage to the value of professional certifications. EVERYBODY
had one. The tests were repetitive and far too simple, there
were no simulation questions, and the exams required no real
hands-on experience.
As a result, my MCSE NT 4.0 had little value. I also felt
no sense of pride in achieving it.
Thankfully, exam vendors and authors seem to have learned
their lesson. Cisco exams are not easy to pass, and the initial
Cisco certification, the CCNA, demands hands-on knowledge
and experience. Microsoft is (finally) adding simulator questions
to their certification exams as well, and the MCSE exams have
gotten tougher as well.
So if you should happen to fail an exam along the way to
the top – and almost all of us do – just keep in
mind that if the exams were not demanding, they would have
no value.
After all, if it were easy, everyone would be doing it!
About the Author:
Chris Bryant, CCIE #12933, is the owner of The Bryant Advantage,
home of free CCNP and CCNA tutorials, The Ultimate CCNA Study
Package, and Ultimate CCNP Study Packages. For a FREE copy
of his latest e-books, “How To Pass The CCNA” and
“How To Pass The CCNP”, just visit the website!
You can also get FREE CCNA and CCNP exam questions every day!
Pass the CCNP exam with The Bryant Advantage!
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