Let Me Report

Read this article in your language IT | EN | DE | ES

Recently I was asked the following question by a colleague of mine in regards to IT education:

What do you think is better for someone in IT to have: A four-year degree from a college or university? Or, certification for their field of work?

The short answer: both, obviously. But what if one had to choose between the two? What then would be the best course of action?

Let's look at what each choice brings to the table. For the purposes of this article, I've evaluated the two choices against the following criteria: ease of matriculation, core material, time and cost, and personal development.

Ease of Matriculation

Certification classes usually have an open admittance policy and will let anyone register with the one general exception to prerequisite classes for certifications (i.e. Microsoft certifications). Depending on the certification or the institution offering it, enrollment/exam dates might be year round, making it more convenient to register. Four year institutions however each have their own admittance policy and usually have a much larger set of prerequisites for you to complete before you are allowed to enroll.

Core Material

In a program at a 4-year institution, you are set out to acquire a broader knowledge base in your field of study. Depending on the program that you are in, you might have the option to focus on a particular aspect of your field, or you might not and have to adapt to whichever methodologies and technologies they deem as worthy enough to teach their students. A school with a great program (in my opinion) would stress understanding and mastery of concepts through theory, rather than forcing a particular platform or methodology on you. I can personally attest that it will help you in the long run in being a developer if you can painlessly jump from one platform to the next with out having to re-learn how to program each time.

In a certification program, the technical core of the program is made transparent to the student so they know exactly what they are getting themselves into when they enter and don't have to worry about other areas of study that may not apply to them nor have any interest in. For example, if you enter in a program to become a certified MySQL DBA, you can rest assured that at no point will the instructor deviate from required core knowledge of MySQL databases to show you how to design and create logos in Adobe Illustrator CS4. All topics discussed in this arena will have direct relevance for the area of certification sought after by the student.

Time and Cost

I don't think I'm telling anyone anything new by saying that college tuition is expensive ($25k/year Private, $6k/year Public assuming you are an undergrad [Source : CollegeBoard.com] in case it is news to you.) Costs can be mitigated however by obtaining loans, scholarships or grants provided you are attending an accredited institution. You can also check with your current employer to see if your company offers any sort of tuition reimbursement. If you are attending full-time, you can expect to be done in 3 to 4 years for Undergraduate, 2 to 3 years for Graduate; however finding time to complete the work required for your classes might be difficult to fit in if you are working full-time as well.

Certification programs generally require a significantly less time and money commit from the student, with most programs spanning only weeks or months instead of years. Funding through loans and other financial awards is possible, provided that they are okay with giving you the money directly instead of directly dispersing them to an institution like they normally would for a typical college student. Due to the ever increasing trend of offering education classes over the internet, it has become increasingly more convenient for working students and professionals to take classes in either case at their own pace and on times and days that better fit their schedule.

Personal Development

As far as your resume is concerned having the name of the college or university you received your degree from is like a worry free, brand name stamp of approval for hiring managers. They see something like "BS in Computer Engineering - MIT" and already begin making assumptions about your level of knowledge and work ethic.

When they see that a candidate has received a degree from an institution of higher learning of some sort, they will infer (or directly assume) that the candidate understands the meaning of hard work, and putting in late hours, and knows how to focus on the task on hand while managing time and other personal matters. While peer networking can be done in both higher learning institutions and certification classes, the higher learning institutions are flat out going to yield more opportunties.

And the winner is...

After a lot of thought, it's very hard to declare which method is better without getting into each individual's personal situation. If you're young, (like 18, 19, 20), it would very much be in your best interest to enter in an institution of higher learning, or switch majors if currently enrolled, especially if you haven't worked in the IT field before.

Professionals already in the field might find it better for them to just take a certification course, mainly because of the flexibility of scheduling courses offer. Its also quite likely that if you are a working professional, especially one who is in IT, then you already have at least a bachelors degree in something. You might even be able to get your employer to help cover costs.

What about you, what do you think? Is there one clear cut, superior choice over the other in your opinion? Is it more who you know than what you know? Sound off here!

Education certification, education, graduation, it, training