Information Technology Professional Certification

Information Technology Professional Certification

Name:

Institution:

Information Technology Professional Certification

Professional certifications in information technology are awards issued by a certifying body to acknowledge the efforts of specific exceptional professionals. Most of the achievements acknowledged by professional certifications are because of completing a course, realizing a specific grade, or a combination of both. Certifications normally need to be occasionally replaced, or may be relevant for an exact period such as the duration of the product for which the person is certified. One of the common terms for renewing an individual’s certification is the evidence of continuous learning among the persons or earned continuing education units. There are various categories of certifications depending on the source (Edwards, 2009). Vendor-specific certifications are developed by companies, institutions, and private organizations. Typical examples include the Service Routing Certification by Alcatel-Lucent, HP ExpertONE Certification Program by Hewlett-Packard, and the Zend Certified Engineer Program by Zend Technologies (Meyers & Acuña, 2004).

One of the biggest advantages of professional certifications is that they raise the standards for the individual and the company. The programs assist in achieving a certain level of professional certification in the form of endorsements and association support. Corporate certifications are useful standards that can be used by employees to increase their reputation within the organization. Certification acts as an added differentiation against other competitors for a similar job (Edwards, 2009). They can be particularly useful in the event that an employee is interested in seeking a new position. In some prestigious companies, internal and profession-wide certification is a significant inclusion in the applications for new jobs. Certification within the company is normally accompanied by a brief training session. This is beneficial to the employee as it improves their skill sets and proficiency. Profession-wide certification has the benefit of increasing the level of practice in the field. This type of certification also increases the standards of existing employees to an international level and allows them to work in other countries (Jakobs, 2008). Product-specific certifications have the benefit of enhancing the quality and reputation of different products especially information technology products such as software. In particular, personnel with software certification have an added advantage in that their certification is portable across different countries. Certification has the benefit of introducing employees into new communities, the current certification, and the new certification. It can also be used to increase motivation levels for workers by boosting their confidence levels.

In terms of improvement, several areas of existing certification need to be improved. One, it is necessary for companies and private organizations to redefine the significance of their certification. In the current context, the concept of certification has been trivialized greatly and this has lowered its value. Most of the organizations have created certification programs that lack any meaningful purpose for their employees and interns. Furthermore, their work ethic is also highly questionable, and this lowers the value of the certification (Edwards, 2009).

Another area of improvement for existing certifications is the addition of quality elements that will transform the certification process into an autonomous sub-system. Currently, certification is assumed a supplementary reward that improves the skills sets for the beneficiaries. More research and development should be placed on ensuring that certification becomes a pivotal element that is acknowledged regionally and internationally. In this way, both the companies and individuals that prepare and participate in certification programs gain an increasing reputation (Jakobs, 2008).

References

Top of Form

Top of Form

Top of Form

Edwards, A. J. (2009). ISO 14001: Environmental certification: step by step. Amsterdam [etc.: Elsevier Butterworth Heinemann.

Jakobs, K. (2008). Standardization research in information technology: New perspectives. Hershey, PA: Information Science.

Meyers, M., & Acuña, M. (2004). A+ certification. New York: Osborne/McGraw-Hill.

Bottom of Form

Bottom of Form

Bottom of Form