Are IT Certifications Toast?

I think so.

The amount of time and money I invested in a Windows NT 4.0 Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer accreditation is staggering. The investment, however, was well worth it. Ten months of intensive study, hands-on lab experience and the confidence that comes from knowing you've mastered and proven your command of fundamentals was incredibly beneficial.

I'd do it again. But only because I was seeking knowledge and training way back then in the late 1990s.

My actual certification was really only relevant for five or six years. Then Microsoft rolled out Windows NT 4.0's replacement, Windows 2000.

Again I studied, hit the books, loaded up and hammered lab systems and then deployed the new OS in the real world. Some 18 short months later, Microsoft phased out Windows 2000 in favor of Windows XP (and 2003 on the server side).

That's when IT professionals began to walk away from certifications. Mastering sufficient material to pass seven or eight grueling exams is one thing, especially when combined with maintaining a full-time job, family responsibilities and any semblance of a personal life. But to expect an engineer to jump through those demanding hoops every 18 months was just too much. In fact, some chose to leave the industry altogether.

Now, according to data released by Foote Partners (an IT research firm) on November 1st, "certified skills pay has not just flat-lined, it's in the negative."

Just makes you want to jump up and study 500 hours or more for a load of certification exams, doesn't it?

IT salary and project fees are rising, though. Where's the catch?

According to Foote Partners, "Pay for certifications is on the wane, while non-certified skills are growing in pay."

Certification pay slipped 2 percent in the third quarter. Meanwhile, compensation levels for noncertified IT skills grew 7 percent over the past 12 months.

In other words, real-world experience pays (apparently five times more than simple certifications). Instead of dedicating time and resources to earning accreditations, information technology professionals appear best-served if they become familiar with, and master, technologies in the field.

According to eWeek, "certifications are losing value because employers are looking for more in their workers than the ability to pass an exam; they want business-articulate IT pros."

That appears to confirm that my decision to become a full-time technology consultant (versus spending time chasing professional certifications and concentrating my energies to fulfill a single corporate entity's needs) was the right one.

A few things are certain. I work more. And the challenge is greater. Obviously multiple clients possess multiple and more frequent crises. But the rewards are far greater, and not just monetarily, as you get to meet a variety of colorful individuals from a variety of different industries.

But I'm also much better positioned to troubleshoot a wider selection of errors and issues. I'm yet to find a client wishing to quiz me on inane facts related to the encapsulation used in constructing IPSec data packets; they just want to be able to reliably connect to their office VPN from home.

Given the choice of studying for yet another exam or assisting a new client in overcoming a perplexing technology issue, and I'll select the new client challenge every time. It's much more rewarding, both for me and the client.