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Professional Certifications

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MColeman

MColeman

Programmer
Sep 23, 2002
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Today, I got some more junk mail from an organization offering certification classes and exams.

More than once, I've found you cannot "qualify" for some
certification studies if you don't have a college degree.

Some of these organizations are charging exhorbitant fees.

If I can pay the $1500 and I can pass the test, I think I
should be allowed certification even if I don't have a four
year degree.

Experience just doesn't seem to count with these some of these organizations.

Does anyone else have a rant about this?
 
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I don't know what certification you're talking about, but if the certification requires a college degree and you don't have one, then you don't qualifiy for that certification.

There are plenty of certifications that don't require a degree.

Good Luck
--------------
As a circle of light increases so does the circumference of darkness around it. - Albert Einstein
 
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well, is it a bachelor degree certification?
:-D

There are only 10 types of people in the world: Those who understand binary, and those who don't
 
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The PE certification for example, not only requires a Bachelors Degree, the canidate must gradudate from a four-year engineering program accredited by the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET). In other words, it's not just any degree. And that just qualifies you to start the certification process and program.

On the flip side Microsoft will give you an MCP for passing 1 hour multiple choice test.

When it comes to professional standards, one cannot help but think that we, the IT industry, is our own worst enemy by setting standards so low.

Good Luck
--------------
As a circle of light increases so does the circumference of darkness around it. - Albert Einstein
 
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Well, the P.E. cert is handled on a state-by-state basis, but as I understand it, graduation from an ABET-certified school will only qualify you for an E.I.T. (engineer in training, but the term varies from state to state).

You then have to work for 4 years under the guidance of a P.E. Then you have to pass the and take a licensing exam.

Then you're a P.E.

Want the best answers? Ask the best questions: TANSTAAFL!!
 
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Of late, the main prerequisite for getting a bachelor's degree seems to be a thick wallet. [\i]

Why do I see this kind of mentality gaining more popularity? I'm sorry, but I have a degree and I worked my a-- off for it. I also learned a lot and had great intructors. And I didn't have a thick wallet, just gov't loans.

That said...perhaps it doesn't take long to obtain MS certs, but then again this industry is saturated with people who have experience and not a degree.
 
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Onyxpurr:
<sarcasm>
Government loans?

Then let me amend my statement:

Of late, the main prerequisite for getting a bachelor's degree seems to be possession of a thick wallet or access to someone else's thick wallet.

Better?
</sarcasm>


College tuition is rising at a rate several times the rate of inflation, and has been for the last 20 years. College textbook costs are completely out of control.

Unless the quality of the college education one is getting is several times what it was 20 years ago, then my argument is that one is getting less and less return on investment in college.

Want the best answers? Ask the best questions: TANSTAAFL!!
 
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Oi! Sleipnir, no one in their right mind would say that the universities are totally free of problems and inefficiencies, but take a look at the machine you are using to read this message, and think how much of it and its software would still be there if every bit of work by a college-educated developer were suddenly to vanish in a puff of electrons. I suspect you'd be left with very little.

Univeristy-bashing (and, related, college-student bashing) is becoming quite a trend at the moment. OK, I can understand the frustration of those with huge experience and no degree, but that doesn't make a degree worthless, (any more than the frustration of the highly-educated fresh college leaver at endless &quot;3 years' experience required&quot; adverts makes experience less valuable).

But I do agree not all degrees are equal.
 
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lionelhill:
If you're going to rebut a comment, I recommend that not stray from the bounds of that comment.

At no time in this thread have I ever denigrated the contributions to science, engineering or technology provided by university research.

At no point in this thread have I ever stated or implied that a university degree or university education is worthless.

At no time in this thread have I ever made any comparison of the relative merits of differing degree programs or the same degree program provided by different universities.


If the rate of inflation is 4% over a 20 year period, at the end of the period I can expect prices for goods and services to be 2.19 times today what they were 20 years ago.

But if every plumber in town is charging 5 times more now than they did 20 years ago, then they are charging more, relative to inflation, than they were 20 years earlier. And if someone charges more for a service, I expect more for my money.

If I get better service now than I did 20 years ago, then it's a fair deal. If I get the same service I did 20 years ago but am now paying nearly twice (again, relative to inflation) for the service than I did 20 years ago, then I am getting ripped off.

Universities, like plumbers, provide a service. Universities provide the service of educating students.

Universities in the United States are charging significantly more for an education, relative to inflation, than they were 20 years ago. Is the service universities provide now significantly more valuable than the service provided 20 years ago?

Want the best answers? Ask the best questions: TANSTAAFL!!
 
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Given a certain statistic that the average college graduate makes an average of $1 million more over their lifetime than a high school grad, then I would say my 40k+ investment was good.

Once more, although I learn the same code and application as some others without the degree, I have a wider base of knowledge and apply those techniques where in my own personal situations, those without a degree have not. E.g. detailed documentation, flowcharts, reporting, etc.

I learned my ability to create a program from my non-degreed peers, but my ability to accurately document and reporting from college. (I'm not saying that all those without a degree don't document, but have seen this in a majority of my personal experience.)

And your sarcasm is incorrect in the fact that someday I have to pay that money back with interest. In addition, have you heard of grants and scholarships?
 
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Let me try again.

20 years ago I partook of a wonglat service for 5 quatloons. During the intervening time, inflation caused prices to rise universally by a factor of 2.5. Yet to partake of the same wonglat service today, I must now pay 20 quatloons.

Unless the wonglat service is 37.5% better today than it was 20 years ago, it is not as good an investment now as it was then, because, adjusted for inflation, the price for the wonglat service is 37.5% higher now than it was then.

20 years ago, the same statistic was probably true, too, about university education. Yet university education was significantly less expensive then.

I'm not saying it's not a good investment. I'm just saying that unless a university education is significantly better now than it was 20 years ago, it is not quite as good an investment now as it was then.

By projection, what is the break-even point? If it's worth a million dollars more over a productive life, then so long as a 4-year university degree costs no more than $999,999, it's still worth it?

Want the best answers? Ask the best questions: TANSTAAFL!!
 
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Jefferson knew that a democracy could only exist with an educated and informed electorate.

Because of that an education has more than an economic value. Yet, studies are showing that the current generation in America is going to be less educated than the generation preceding it - a first in the history of the country; a dangerous precedent for the future of a nation.
 
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sleipnir214
oh, yes, it must be a master degree certification, you have to have a college degre... puhahaha

There are only 10 types of people in the world: Those who understand binary, and those who don't
 
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The difference between $1 difference and $960,000 difference is quite a bit. I wouldn't even use that as a comparison.
 
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cryptogr4:
It may or it may not. What level of education is insufficient for the purposes of democracy? Have we passed that point, yet? If not, when will we?


Onyxpurr:
The unanswered question still remains: Has the quality or value of a university education increased commensurate with the increase in price?

Want the best answers? Ask the best questions: TANSTAAFL!!
 
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What is sufficient for the purposes of democracy is one that allows an individual to learn all of the facts and decide what is best for all.

However, today it seems that people only vote Elephant or Donkey, regardless of the issue. And the politicians only seem to be concerned with keeping the voting public satisfied to keep getting re-elected to office.

In reality, there is no difference in either party these days, as I heard last night, it is either &quot;Diet Coke&quot; or &quot;Diet Pepsi,&quot; if you want orange juice, look elsewhere.

It is becoming a &quot;government take care of me&quot; or &quot;government give me this, I deserve it.&quot; I believe this is indirectly due to lack of knowledge.

Also, how can an uneducated populace elect officials when the populace has no knowledge of events? They are going to believe the official who will say whatever they want to hear to be (re)elected?

Education is the cornerstone for democracy not just wealth.
 
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