Certifications: Who Needs 'em?

Computerworld - Whenever an IT staffer at Carnival Cruise Lines earns an IT certification, Ken Eberhardt recognizes him with an additional certificate and other rewards at one of the company's quarterly service awards ceremonies.

"We believe employees don't have to be certified to be proficient, but we do think that certification means the employee has gone above and beyond," explains Eberhardt, director of MIS, telephony and administrative services at the Miami-based company. Carnival's 250 IT employees take pride in their certifications, he says, as the many acronyms listed on their e-mail signatures exemplify.

For many IT workers, earning a certification is seen as a badge of honor, not to mention a path to career advancement and increased compensation.

However, for the IT executive hiring new blood or promoting from within, the value of certifications has long been argued.

Detractors claim that a certification proves only that a worker is book smart. Such critics believe that certifications don't offer the hands-on knowledge that comes with experience. Conversely, proponents say certifications validate skills, establish a baseline for new hires and can be very useful in corporate retention strategies.

Nonetheless, the higher salaries and bonuses paid to certified professionals support the fact that many IT managers view certification as a powerful asset. According to David Foote, managing partner at Foote Partners LLC in New Canaan, Conn., and a Computerworld columnist, the certifications with the strongest growth, including project management, security, database and network operating systems, are earning IT professionals bonuses of as much as 13% of base pay.

Also indicative of the value of certifications is the fact that IT managers are willing to hire certified workers who don't have traditional degrees. As many as 40% to 60% of the people taking CompTIA's entry-level technician certification exams don't have two-year degrees, says Fran Linhart, director of certification for the Chicago-based organization.

In Carnival's Microsoft-centric environment, Eberhardt says he favors certifications, such as Microsoft Certified Professional (MCP), MCP+ Internet, Microsoft Certified Solution Developer, Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer (MCSE) and Microsoft Certified Trainer, as well as Cisco, Oracle and Novell certifications. In addition to encouraging the network and server groups to stay current with certifications, Carnival believes its help desk should be certified as well, Eberhardt says.

"When the help desk becomes certified, there are fewer calls escalated and they become quasitechs, so there's upward mobility," he says.

And increasingly, Eberhardt says, Carnival is getting its staff certified as Project Management Professionals (PMP), an emerging certification from the Project Management Institute in Newtown Square, Pa.

"Disciplined project management is very important, and the PMP is becoming the hot accreditation," says Eberhardt. Carnival requires that anyone involved in project work attend the beginning level of training; supervisors, department managers and directors must take the more advanced classes.