Irrespective of you being a fresh job seeker or an experienced IT professional, one requires some degree or IT certification to move on and grow in your career. Information technology is such an industry where technologies are rising and falling now and then, so the need for aspiring professionals is to keep themselves updated with the latest industry skills and move on.
Certification vs. degree in IT
An on-going debate is there in IT sector as to whether it is beneficial for someone to have an IT degree or a specialty/global certification to advance in career. This depends on various factors like:
- The level of experience of an individual.
- Are of specialization.
- Job role and level one wants to move on to.
When it comes to career advancements from time to time, the advice could be to get both. A degree acts as the baseline qualification to make you eligible to apply for a job whereas a certification acts as a testament of your skillset in the latest technology field.
If you refer to the Occupational Outlook Handbook released by the U.S. BLS (Bureau of Labor Statistics), both certification and degree combination is recommended for many of the skilled IT positions. Some examples are network administrators, system administrators, security analysts, system architects, project managers, etc. Now, let’s review what approach is ideal when you are deciding terms of IT certification vs IT degree.
The right approach to advance in IT career
Following is an expert guideline which you can follow to move forward your IT career as a fresh career aspirant.
- Earn a college degree in a computer science or STEM-related program. Degree programs are long-term courses, which will act as the fundamental of your professional development. Most of the computer science graduate programs focus on the generic aspects of IT and give the students exposure to many IT fields. This will help one to gain an overall understanding of how IT works.
- If you are focusing on a specialty IT career after graduation, then try to get an appropriate certification in it. The pattern of hiring by many of the industry leaders and also the BLS guidelines indicate that applicants with certification have an advantage over those who are without in.
- Certifications are usually offered by the product vendors or industry leaders in software and IT, so considering applicants with such certifications is a reassurance to the employers that the recruited have the specific skills required to program on a specific language or to handle the networking or security systems.
However, while thinking of a certification, it is important to ensure that the certification you are trying to attain reflects the latest industry skills and standards. As IT technology is changing rapidly, especially as the field of security or virtualization, ensure that the certificate you gain is valid and relevant as per the market demands. Most of the global certificates by IT industry leaders want the certificate holders to renew it with updated skills every two or three years, if not every year.