There has been a lot of discussion recently about whether IT certifications are losing their value, the reason being that the salaries for non-qualified IT professionals are rapidly catching up with salaries for their qualified counterparts. Many managers are more interested in experience and skills than whether the applicant has a qualification and many would rather choose an unqualified individual with ten years of experience than someone fresh from IT school with just a certificate and no practical working experience. This does vary from company to company and from manager to manager.

For example, technicians holding a CCIE (Cisco Certified Internetworking Expert) qualification make an average of an additional $26,300 per annum. This is 37% more than someone in the same job but without a qualification, which is a big difference. There is only, however, 2.1% difference in the pay scale between a worker with an MCSE (Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer) and one without a certificate, which obviously makes potential MCSE applicants wonder if it is worth doing the course at all and reflects the managers’ opinion that a certificate in this course is perhaps not all that valuable.

Certified technicians will have more ability, skill and experience because, without it, they would not have passed the course or been awarded their certificate. Potential employers know this but they also know that hiring someone without that certificate (but perhaps with almost as much skill) they can save money. An applicant with great references from past employers can make the potential new employer overlook the lack of IT certification.

Of course, many managers will still demand a valid certificate because, without it, there might be gaps in the IT workers knowledge that will negatively impact his work. Anyone self-taught might not have all the skills required to pass the IT exam if they were asked to take it, so only someone with that certificate will be guaranteed to perform as the employer would expect. Without it, it is more of a risk hiring somebody. Obviously the better skills the IT worker has, the better the chances of any IT projects have of being a success.

If the new employee is to be going out making routine checks and repairs, the lack of certification might be overlooked, especially if they have years of experience behind them. However, for someone who is going to be working on complicated applications, not having a certificate will almost certainly put them at a disadvantage to certified applicants. The right combination of skills and experience is very important. Most large companies would rather pay the market rate to someone who possesses a good combination of both. If they are uncertified, they will need to bring some great references to give the company reason to hire them and confidence in their abilities.