Everything You’ve Ever Wanted to Know About Certification Versus College Degrees

June 25, 2015 12:06 am by Admin

This discussion of which is better between certification vs college degree has been going on forever and most probably will never stop. We thought it would be interesting to put in our perspective on this and help you make your own judgment. Here are our 10 reasons why we think Certification is much better than College Degrees.

1. One Single Standard

   A Cisco Certified Network Associate (CCNA) is a CCNA anywhere on the planet. The same applies to certifications from Microsoft, ISC, Red Hat, Exin and so forth. Individuals taking certification exams need to show roughly a similar level of skill and ability. Consequently, when you pass the exam, it does not matter if you got certified in Switzerland or in Swaziland. But this does not apply to a college degree. With a college degree, a lot depends on the school/college/university and the teaching faculty.

2. Affirmation of the Skills

   The difference between a fresher and an experienced candidate is the Skills they possess. Employees with expert skills get things done and company are actively looking to hire them. A certification program skills you in the latest technologies. The focus is not on the starting salary, but the level of skills.

3. Certification takes much less time

   You do not have to waste an entire semester to take a test to get certified. Anybody can go from knowing nothing to being certified in a matter of weeks or months compared to a college degree where you could take a minimum of 2 years or more.

4. You learn exactly what you need

   You can get certified in those particular technologies that you are interested in, be it Cisco technologies, Microsoft, Linux or any other technology. This is in stark contrast to the type of learning done in school/college where you learn about history or arts or any other subject which is of no interest to you or your career.

5. Companies need employees with skill, not a Degree

   Any HR officer will prefer a CCNA over an M.Sc. in Computer Networking if he wants to fill the role of a Network Administrator. A certification from Cisco, Microsoft, Red Hat or any top technology company is way better than any college degrees.

6. Certification is Less Expensive

   In spite of the fact that certification is more valuable than a college degree and it is much more acceptable worldwide, certification is also much more affordable than a normal college degree. Since the college degree is much longer, there is an associated cost of accommodation, food, and travel that would only make a college degree much more expensive.

7. Certification is much more Updated

   A certification program goes through a constant update to make sure they cover the latest and greatest technologies. All the big companies need engineers who know how to use/maintain their latest and greatest technology. Hence certifications are updated immediately after a new technology/product is released by the respective company. A college degree, in contrast, is mostly updated once in eight years or maybe a decade. This is too much time in this fast-changing IT world.

8. You don’t need to take leave from work to get certified

   Do you think your employer would give you time off to do your master’s degree for 2 years? We don’t think so! But since certifications are much shorter, most of the employers would be more than willing to pay for your certification and give you paid leave to study. This is ideal. Even if your company wouldn’t sponsor you, it wouldn’t be difficult to find evening classes to learn and take your certification test. This will be an easier path for promotion!

9. You can prepare for your certification from home

   We provide a free CCNA course online which makes it easy for students to prepare from home after work. When you complete preparing, you can schedule a test on Prometric or Pearson VUE and get certified.

10. Return on investment on Certification is much faster

    Certification costs you less money and is much more valuable as discussed above. This will pay you back your certification costs much sooner because you will get employed sooner. Typically your college degree expenses are paid back in 8-10 years whereas with certification which would be paid back in 1-2 years.