Re: C# and certification

GrahamJWalsh@xxxxxxxxx wrote:

> Has anybody any advice on this matter? e.g. Dont do it, the
> certification isn't worth squat! or perhaps "definitely do it, it
> opens up so many doors".

I think that you very much have to understand the market in which your
searching for jobs. Here's a contrast for you.

I once taught a course on C at a local university. One my students was
a 50-something guy who had done all sorts of tech work throughout
Europe and the U.S., and had moved to Vancouver. He told me that
Vancouver was the weirdest job market he'd ever encountered. "In
Europe," he said, "I applied for a job managing an Oracle database for
a large company. I told them that I had done lots of database work, but
never Oracle, and I'd never held the DBA title (although I'd done the
work). 'No problem,' they told me. 'We'll send you on all the courses.
We want you because you come with great references for being an
intelligent, stable worker.' Here in Vancouver," he continued, "I go to
an interview and they want to know not only whether I know Oracle, but
Oracle version such-and-so, as applied to their particular business."

He was right. Here in Vancouver, the first interview you get is often
with HR, and they just have a list of products and version numbers.
They weed out all of the people who can't say in a convincing tone that
yes, they know all about that version of that product / language. The
height of this sort of stupidity was a place I worked at years ago
which advertised for a new programmer. All of us in Engineering had a
good laugh at the job requirements, including "two years' experience
with Sun's NSE" which had been out of beta for six months. I'm sure
that there are places here advertising for people with "minimum two
years' experience with .NET 2.0."

If you're looking for work in a city / country that places emphasis on
character and skill, forget the certs. If you're looking for work in a
place like Vancouver, the silly letters after your name will get you
past the first interview to the people who actually know what's going
on. Know your market, and plan accordingly.

.

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