Certification – Biting the Bullet

[TheDoc]

I have long stated you don’t require a degree to perform well and get jobs in this industry. I still believe that to be true. My resume speaks for itself and I am proud of the work that I do.

However… I would love to add something to my CV that makes me look even better. So, I ask the community, what type of certification do you have? I would love if there was a legitimate WordPress certification program.

[chrisburton]

Would a certification really benefit you? I think people would have an automatic assumption that one has limited knowledge and training of the subject with a certificate. I believe a portfolio whether it’s themes, plugins, designs, etc will far out benefit you more. I also believe that holding a degree and skills will help you advance over just landing a job but of course there are special cases.

[Johnnyb]

I have a degree in Product Design BSc from Brunel university, west London. We touched on flash during the course but all other web skills are self taught, no other certification to show off!

[TheDoc]

I suppose my biggest worry is this scenario:

Two people going for the same job, very equal skill level, both have a great portfolio, both personable, both would make a great addition to a team. One has a degree and gets hired.

[shazdeh]

I’m a law student, but the one thing has helped me so far is the mouth to mouth word. So, build a reputation and you wouldn’t need a degree I think.

[TheDoc]

All of my freelance work comes from word of mouth. I also am employed full-time at a web development firm. Currently, getting work is fine. My fear is the day my dream job comes up I might not be ‘qualified’ in the eyes of an employer.

[Rob MacKay]

The thing is – the people holding your dream job would probably have come the same route you have anyway. I think there is a rather large understanding that stuff hung on the wall and printed on paper means piratically nothing in this industry, and they people holding the jobs (that would actually be good coz they know what they are on about) know that. If you make an awesome CV/Portfolio proving your work – plus with your work experience, I doubt you would have a problem at all.

The only people who look for paper qualifications over experience in this industry are the ones who don’t know what HTML is and think that the IE icon is the interwebs window – and I can guarantee these people do not hold your dream job lol.

EDIT: I don’t think it’s a bad thing to do though at all :D It does show you are interested in what you are doing :)

[TheDoc]

You bring up a fair point, Rob. It could just be my sudden feeling that I’ve missed the ‘university’ boat, whereas the majority (it seems) of my colleagues have some sort of degree.

[Author]

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