Thursday, September 6, 2012

Credentials and Experience in the IT Sector

As with any career path or profession, the IT industry's ranks of professionals are riddled with different expertise levels, college degrees, doctorates and certificates, each designed to readily define and assess just what a particular individual is capable of, professionally.

Given the diverse mix of disciplines, technical knowledge and duties expected from IT personnel, the areas of software, hardware and network infrastructure understanding has made the setting up of such industry markers a necessity, one which works for organization leaders and individual IT experts, in helping each other note what one is really skilled with and knowledgeable about.

But as with any career path or profession, the old "credentials VS experience" standard is also prevalent in the IT industry, with different organizations and entities having their say over which is more valuable - credentials or actual field work experience.

Though no clear cut answer can be given to such a conundrum, the weight of certain certificates, matched with ample work experience, have proven to be effective in pointing out true professionals from the rest, with the Cisco Certified Internetwork Expert (CCIE) certificate being one of the world's most respected.

The Cisco Certified Internetwork Expert Certificate

The CCIE Certification Standard is essentially designed to validate the actual skills and professional capacities of IT professionals, specifically targeting the key disciplines involved in managed network services.

Ascribed to be the highest certification standard awarded to qualified personnel, the standard is known for its comprehensive and extensive evaluation of network management skills, delving into the areas of security, network storage and data retrieval standards, service provider operations and more.

Qualifiers for the certificate are not required any prerequisites to qualify, only that their theoretic and field knowledge be at expert-level to readily pass and fulfill the validations and testing tools involved in getting the certificate.

Even the number of years an IT expert has under his or her belt isn't exactly an "issue", but as the overall IT landscape has proven, years' of experience and technical know how have proven to be important in passing the CCIE certificate's qualifier exams and assessments.

With less than 30,000 CCIE Certificate holders in the world, to say that getting a CCIE Certificate is easy would be an understatement, given the fact that theoretical knowledge on the rudiments and dynamics involved in managed network services isn't enough to really help qualifiers pass the certification's standards.

To some extent, the CCIE Certificate comes to combine the ideal that is experience AND technical knowledge, all in one.

I'm part of the management and development team at Presidential Training, one of the fastest growing CCIE Training providers out there. With a competitive set of training tools and services, you can be assured that our price to technology ratio is one of the most generous in the market today.

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