Certifications

Discovery is a discipline. At Amazon, it was Learn and Be Curious. At Simmons, it’s no different. I try not to ignore or over index on what larger or wildly successful organizations do. Instead I want to build a discovery practice that exposes my team and I to many perspectives and then filters for our context. When we approach technology decisions as one-time evaluations, we’re at the mercy of whoever is loudest at that moment. That’s usually vendors, “influencers”, or internal advocates with strong opinions. Rarely do we get a balanced view of alternatives, trade-offs, and lessons learned.

A few times each year, a thread pops up bashing the certification industry, mocking organizations requiring certifications for job applicants or contract opportunities, or using brain-dump test takers as the barometer for those with industry certs. Many, if not most of the arguments are valid in their specific contexts. Hiring or contract awards should not rely on certifications to prove a prominent level of competence. However, certifications do provide value in several areas that are often dismissed or ignored and can bring immense value to the IT and InfoSec industries.