Now I am a very firm believer in if you call yourself a professional you should be qualified and experienced and not one or the other.  I used to work in construction as a site engineer (and later as a site manager) where qualifications are considered essential to get your foot on the ladder.  This is not the case with IT until you start going higher up the food chain.  If you look at all the job adverts for intermediate and above positions they usually specify that you must have CCNA, MCITP etc to go along with 3-5 years experience.

But what about all these certified ‘engineers’ who have little to no experience?  I would agree that there are a lot of people in the industry who go out and get certified as much as possible in the belief that if they hold a piece of paper from Microsoft, Cisco etc then they should receive a pay rise or more senior position.  The problem is when they come to actually do the work they become unstuck and show how little they actually know.  This in turn reflects badly on the other certified people as everyone then gets tarred with the same brush – “you are all paper engineers”.

As I learn a new technology, whether it be Windows Server 2012 or Virtualization I consciously make the decision that I will get certified in it for the simple reason of I am learning the material as a matter of course (I don’t believe in taking an exam until you know the software first) so why not.  Some people will always disagree with this approach but then if we all agree on everything the world would be a much more boring place!!

What do you think – Qualified or Experienced?

About the Author

Hi I am Chris Wakefield the owner of ComTech IT Support. I provide Windows and Linux based IT Support, laptop repairs and computer repairs to both business and personal clients in and around Stirling.

For a list of what I can offer you why not visit my website www.comtech247.net where you will find a list of my services, testimonials, blog and much more.