I am proud to say, I have never really worried whether I was certified or not. This Computerworld article gets right to the point:
Depending on whom you talk to, certification programs are either borderline rip-offs that provide little useful knowledge, or valuable hiring tools that make it easier for IT execs to pick the most promising new employees.
Available from vendors focusing on their own products, or outside organizations offering multi-vendor training, these certificate programs are expanding to fill the many specialized technology subsets that have multiplied along with the growth of data storage and other IT areas.
Now this isn't to say that I don't have a few IT certifications under the belt and didn't receive some benefit from them. One of the most intensive IT certifications of recent years was in IT security and another to "please" the crowd was a certification for migration to Microsoft's Server 2003. By the time I was done with those certifications though, I didn't know enough to get the job done.
By the time I finished the security course I found that I didn't learn so much about IT security as I did on how to become a better hacker. You spend a lot of time legally hacking your own systems in those IT courses! That Microsoft Server 2003 course never really answered my questions about Roaming Profiles, Active Directory, and properly managing a network of Windows and Linux systems.
I have always had to learn the skills needed for the job through the old fashion way...buy a good book and jump in with both feet. Certifications just help people become at ease the first time you touch that new system no one else really knows much about. However, at the end of the day I've never had a boss rate my performance based on my certifications. Instead, the boss usually requires me to answer the questions that every boss asks. Bryan, what have you done for me lately?
Comments
Time to revive this debate
Time to revive this debate given that Acquia has a certification program (and therefore setting itself up to be the final word on who is/nt a Drupaller)?
Not the last word
As HarryB wrote below, I really don't want to open this to debate. I will say though, I don't think Acquia's intention is to be the "final word" of who is or isn't a Drualler. The parties responsible for the "final word" are more likely the Drupal community itself and more importantly your employer/client. I would say that Acquia's intention, as most certification programs are, is likely to be the first word on who has mastered Drupal. I of course am only guessing as I have no real connection with Acquia.
The fact is that if you are someone looking to develop a site for you...it's difficult to know who you may need to hire to get the site you want. Plenty of people out there that may design sites or know PHP, but may not know Drupal or have an understanding of how to benefit from an open source community. A lot of developers are used to hacking the "core" when it comes to open source and may not fully understand the API/module/theme development process of Drupal...and in the long run those developers can cause problems for themsevles, their clients, and Drupal's reputation. There is some benefit to having a certification program especially for "first time buyers" of a Drupal site that may not have a clue at what skills are needed to properly develop a Drupal site.
I still stand by my original point that certifications are often not much benefit to the individual that does better learning by doing and not by utilizing a formal process. A certification may help get you a job with some employers, but it takes much more than a certification to keep that job.
No revival needed!
I've been in IT for more years than I care to mention. Along the way, I've been "certified" as having a basic competency in a number of hardware, software and project management areas.
Have all these certifications benefited me? Well, the short answer is not really. In many cases, the certification was in areas where I already had a thorough understanding of the subject matter. In other cases, it was an academic exercise in "advanced test-taking."
A case in point was the first certification I ever obtained. Way back when, I was pursuing a course of study to become and electronic technician. One of the end goals of the course was to take the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) First Class Radiotelephone Operator License. I took the exam and passed. The implication of passing the exam and obtaining the license was that I was qualified to operate and maintain RF transmission equipment at commercial radio and TV stations, and just about any other entity that used RF transmitters. Was I really qualified? Of course not.
By the way, It is my understanding that the Acquia certification is for their packaged commercial offering, not Drupal in general. Based on that, I personally do not think this is in any way a threat to the Drupal Project or an attempt by Acquia to become the one true "Drupal Certification Authority." It is simply good business practice on the part of Acquia,as commercial clients on the whole are a very "risk-averse" bunch.