Developers, Administrators and individuals have various levels of motivations when it comes to taking certifications. There are no set rules or ways in which one takes certifications. For organizations it is a great way to find the right candidate and candidates who have some standard knowledge on specific topics. From an individual’s point of view these motivations can be completely different. In this blog post, we will look at the top 2 reasons that motivates developers and individuals take on certifications in this industry.
Certifications are an important topic when you talk to experienced individuals in the industry. As you see students enter the career of IT, they have a constant need to prove themselves when compared to their peers and these young crowd look at an external validation. This is yet another way to lead the pack of new joinees in their first year appraisal cycle. Look at it from a recruiter’s point of view and these make a sense too.
Assume you are going for an interview and the HR has to decide between two deserving candidates. The rounds of technical interviews go through, the management also takes a call with their interviews and it seems to be a neck and neck situation in hand. All the interviewers get into a room and start looking at their performance at various stages. If everything is the same and there is this little extra that one of the candidates called Certification (on a technical competency), then there is an outside chance this candidate is going to make it through the interview process. Why is this the case? What was the rationale for this?
Think of this from the team (which is recruiting), when they see two such candidates almost with the same skillset and faired splendidly in the interviews – the certification is what gave the edge. The team thinks this candidate with this certification has some practical knowledge will be bring in the extra bit of experience which can be very critical when delivering projects. Now from an organizations point of view this makes complete sense.
Let us get back to the original topic, what is the motivation for individuals. We want to highlight the two top reasons, one must keep in mind while taking certifications.
Structured Learning
From a fundamental point of view, one must know that technical topics are the toughest to learn. The documentation for any of the topics are all over the internet and to learn them in an organized manner will always be a challenge for any fresher who has just entered the industry. It is no different for experienced people too. So where do certifications help? Well, certifications can be of great use because you are able to learn on topics in a structured manner because the official curriculum will help you learn these with proper structure rather than getting all over the place.
Validating their knowledge
Whenever we get a chance to talk with experienced candidates, they say why I should do certification when I have close to a decade of experience? Well, even when you are experienced it is still worthwhile to do certifications. It is a great way to validate our knowledge and reassertion to our basic understanding about the subject. The best realization before any interview is the ability to know for yourself your level of expertise on a given subject. Hence we say, this is a great motivation to take certifications.
As we conclude, let us know what are the reasons you think on top of your mind is the reason to take certifications? What motivates individuals in taking certifications? Do you still think industry gives weight to people who have certifications? Let us know.
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