Bill MacKenty

The best IT certifications are no certifications

Aaron Stratman of the Wisconsin Technology News has an interesting post about the best IT certifications to have.

I have to say, in my ten years of working in educational technology, I’ve worked with so many people who have IT certifications and don’t know a damned thing.  And conversely, some of the brightest folks I’ve worked with have had no certifications. The blog entry was for business folks (I think) - so maybe people in the business world its different. But in educational technology, certifications != good IT skills.

Part of the problem is the numerous and free brain dumps that are available. I actually know a guy who has these and just memorizes the answers to tests.  He just doesn’t know his stuff, but he is fully certified. He passes all the tests, but when he actually has to do something, he can’t!

Hmmm….high stake tests that don’t count for a hill of beans in the real-world….where have I encountered THAT problem before??