The purpose of certification is to demonstrate that you have the prerequisite knowledge in an area in which you want to work. Since there are certifications for nearly every opportunity imaginable in the IT industry, from PC troubleshooting to programming, start by determining the job requirements for the position you intend to fill. Focus your certifications and continued education on strengthening the skill set that directly supports those requirements. Don’t fall into the trap of chasing certifications merely to say you’re certified. If you don’t really have any knowledge or experience in a certain area, just having a string of letters appended to the end of your name rarely impresses anyone these days.

Unfortunately, in many situations I’ve witnessed, I see the same certifications being thrown at everyone. CompTIA’s A+ certification is often seen as the turn-key solution to everyone who mentions going into IT. While I feel this certification is a terrific entry level offering, it is intended for PC technicians — those who want to get their hands dirty working with the inner guts of computer systems. If the job you seek requires replacing hardware such as network cards, video cards, motherboards, and processors, then A+ may be the right certification to start with.

CompTIA’s Network+ is often next on the list. Again, I feel this is a great certification for its intended purpose — which is to test the knowledge of an aspiring network technician and system administrator. This certification highlights basic network infrastructure, such as cabling and how to physically connect computers together, along with the fundamentals of administering these computer networks. It demonstrates a broad, general background in networking.

From there, certifications become more product and job specific. In the March 2002 issue of this magazine, I provided a detailed discussion of two of Microsoft’s certification offerings: the MCSA (Microsoft Certified Systems Administrator) and the MCSE (Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer). These are Microsoft’s junior and advanced system administrator certifications, respectively, and are often the most popular certifications for those intending to become system administrators and network designers in a Microsoft based environment. Of course, if the network on which you intend to work is based on another operating system, then certifications from other vendors (such as Sun Solaris UNIX) would be more appropriate.

However, based on the specific question above, I believe there are even better tools available. A background in programming lends itself to two other areas of certification, which may prove more rewarding in the job search.

Nearly every company in existence depends on keeping organized records of customer data and other corporate information. Database systems are designed and maintained to keep track of all this information. Certification in database administration is required to work in this field. Common certifications are the MCDBA (Microsoft Certified DataBase Administrator) for working with Microsoft’s SQL Server products, the dBase certifications for IBM’s database products, and the Oracle DBA certifications. One, or perhaps a combination, of these certifications would be beneficial in establishing expertise in areas where these specific systems are employed.

Another area of certification is in programming. While I’m certain there are numerous certifications available, the two that I am most familiar with are Microsoft’s offerings of the MCAD (Microsoft Certified Application Developer) and MCSD (Microsoft Certified Solutions Developer). Either of these certifications can be based on Visual Basic or Visual C#, and provide evidence that each candidate is competent in a software development environment. Such certification would lend itself to job opportunities as a programmer / analyst.