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Certified
You’ll find the term ‘certified’ everywhere in software and systems development. Companies use this term as a synonym for qualified, when referring to courses that they run. You’ll find MCSE (Microsoft Certified Systems Engineers) courses all over the place. Adobe have certification courses for Flex developers.
Such certification allows the holder to shout ‘look at me, I really know blah-blah’ on CVs. And companies can look at CVs and think they’ll be worth employing. But they’d be wrong.
They’re wrong because certifications are typically technology-centric. Can someone who knows Microsoft Word automatically write technical documents? No. Certification provides no practicable domain knowledge. It’s domain knowledge which is critical to picking the right person for a job. Well, either that or demonstrating good analytical and learning skills.
So what’s the point of certification?
It’s for companies to lock people in to technology. If you’ve invested time and money in becoming an MCSE, you’ll be more likely to recommend Microsoft products, and you’ll be more likely to seek out work that demands and utilises that investment. It’s the same with Adobe Flex.
