As I’ve stated before, I highly value certification. I think they provide a good goal and can encourage someone to dig deep and learn features of a technology they may have never looked into otherwise. I recently had a discussion which started with the question “can certifications make a career?”
The even split came down to “yes, they prove your knowledge” and “no, it’s too easy to cheat for them to be valuable”.
Documentation is important. I doubt anybody would disagree with this statement. I don’t know anyone who would say they went into a new job or a new client with enough documentation to feel confident. Most of this knowledge comes from digging in and there is rarely enough time to stop and open Visio. We all want documentation in six months but it’s never today’s priority.
Documentation becomes crucial when you create a new standard or design something outside of the existing standard.
Being in technology is hard. You have multiple priorities, projects, implementation, and break-fix issues that come your way. If you’re anything like me you want to fix everything and sometimes something could slip through the cracks. It happens to everyone occasionally and we’re all human.
I spend a significant amount of time trying to stop that from happening to me. Being a successful technician and team member means you try to mitigate missing priorities.
I don’t have a degree in Information Technology or in Computer Science. I’ve occasionally entertained going back to school to formally cement my education but never taken that step. Since I don’t have that education I’ve always looked to certification as a way to “prove my worth.” Some people may argue that certifications are just paper and aren’t worth anything, however I strongly disagree. I feel having a focus and a goal to work toward sharpens my continued education.