I was recently asked to speak at the Real World Academy, a symposium for educators at different colleges to discuss what skills businesses are hiring. It’s a great event because it’s easy for academic institutions to get disconnected from the job market which leads to potential candidates that are not qualified after their education.
One of the questions that came up, because my background is in information technology, was “What is more important — Certifications or Education?” It came up in the context of what hiring managers look for on a resume in IT. The answer isn’t a simple one.
In information technology, education tells me that you can finish something. I learned a lot while I was in college, but I’ve always felt that college is designed to teach you how to think and how to learn and not so much provide you with a subset of skills. Even trade schools, which focus on specific skills and placement, are teaching you those specific skills and then how to continue to grow those skills once you move on. My degree is in computer science and it has served me well over the years, but the information that I learned in college is outdated and I didn’t use any of the specifics past my first six months out of college. In IT, outdated information is close to useless. In reality, my minor in business was what helped me in my career the most and even then it was only through dimly recalled remenants. But, IT is a field where tinkering at home and learning from experience gains you incredible insights. So a degree in just about anything will get you on my radar because I know that you will stick with something until it’s complete. Computer Science can mean anything from programming to networking to electronics, in my experience, so the name on the degree becomes less important than the degree itself.
Certifications can be approached in multiple ways. I’ve met amazing people in the IT field who didn’t have a degree and had no certifications until I required them. They had the practical knowledge necessary, some large measure of skill in an area, and an innate understanding of “how things work.” They do very well in IT. Vice versa, I’ve met people who came from the world of academia and had a lot of papers telling me how much they knew, tiered levels of certifications, and no practical ability to apply that knowledge. It’s very possible to take a course not on learning the skills you need in IT, but in passing the test that says you have the skills you need. I’ve seen many people assume that the book knowledge will somehow transfer into practical knowledge without experience. Certifications can be misleading.
In general, certifications tell me what subjects interest you. If you have virtualization certifications, I know that you are interested in virtualization. Cisco certifications tell me you’re interested in Cisco equipment. If you have a plethora of random certifications across the board, I know that your interest is primarily in getting certifications. Each of these tells me a little more about you. If your practical skills are on par, certifications go a long way to telling me that you’ve kept your skills up to date and want to showcase that talent.
But the biggest thing that I’m looking for on a resume is practical knowledge. Theory is great for schools and scientists, but in the world of business application is king. The best way to get practical knowledge is neither through certifications or education, in all honesty. It’s through experience. Previous jobs speak about your experience, but they’re not the only way. IT is one of a select few fields that you can learn at home. Setup a LAN/WAN infrastructure, an Active Directory domain, an e-mail server, or a web server from your house. In troubleshooting this and making it work, as well as researching best practices online, you’re going to learn a lot about IT. The best engineers I know are good not because someone taught them how to be, but because they had a passion for the technology and did it every waking hour. They continue to do so because that knowledge is fun to them. Make mistakes in an environment where mistakes won’t cost millions so that you don’t make mistakes in an environment where they do. Convey your practical knowledge on your resume and tell me about the things you’ve done, and that’s how you’ll gain my interest.
There are other facets as well, people skills being one of the largest missing pieces, but that’s a post for another day. For now, go forth and break…er…I mean learn something.