Alphabet Soup: Thoughts on Certifications/Certificates (high school, profession, exam, course)

[Treffer]

Yesterday I was reading an article and saw it was peer-reviewed. The reviewer's post-nominal letters were given. I could recognise some of them easily (Ph.D., MS) but the rest I just tried my best to guess - and I'm sure I'm not the only one.

First some definitions:

• Certificates are normally issued after short course programs from academic institutions.
• Licenses are issued by some government agency
• Certifications (by far the greatest number) are issued by private (often for-profit) institutions.

I immediately can see the necessity of listing relevant licenses.

Perhaps certificates show a commitment to continuous professional development.

Some certifications may be relevant: A person working with Windows may find the MCSE useful for example.

But the rest???

Consider CRWP (Certified Resume Writing Professional) as an example - is there a body of knowledge large enough and not gained elsewhere, in resume writing, sufficient to deserve its own certification? Or how about the much sought PMP, CSM, SHRP, and CFA, all run by profit-making nonaccredited private institutions and which require significant sums of annual renewal fees. Are these just another means of screening out potential job applicants? Who measures the knowledge gained or reliability of these institutions? Or do they rely simply on industry hype?

What are your thoughts about certifications? Can you even read what the letters mean? [They are listed publically, so the old "people in the profession know" doesn't work]. Can a person gain too many?

A friend in the UK who runs a private certification body lists four different certifications behind his name (including two fellowships), but he just managed to get through high school. Another friend in Canada does the same, except his certifications are "accredited" also by a private for-profit institution - I wonder just what those are worth?


Thoughts...

[tnff]

It's a mixed bag. Some certificates, provided by known and established organizations mean something within that specific profession. Supposedly they mean specialized training in that very narrow specific area. And I'm not sure that some of them haven't morphed from training to a profit making operation. I was a program manager for much of my career. Never bothered getting the PMP because it became popular late in my career though if I were much younger I'd probably have to get one because so many positions today either list it or the competition has it and it impresses some hiring managers. To be honest, after studying the PMBOK (the "book" for PMP) I didn't fully agree with everything in it. And now considering how much the PMI (group behind the PMP) has added other sub certifications and variations on the PMP, it's looking more like a profit making tool than a useful set of knowledge.

That said, if your particular field likes seeing certifications, then you probably need it just to be competitive with all those who have one. It's an easy way to filter out candidates.