Are Certifications Better Than Degrees?

One question that I often here from students taking certification training is whether certifications are better than degrees. I’m sure if I took a poll, opinions would vary on the topic and it’s definitely a difficult question to answer. However, I do have my own opinion.

Knowing what I know now, if I had to do it all over again, I would still start off by getting a degree. I know several people who have landed very high paying jobs just with their certifications. However, that was ten years ago and I don’t hear of it happening that often anymore (unless of course you achieve a certification such as a CCIE). For myself personally, my education degree paired with my certifications got me in the door. I also look at my degree as something that I can fall back on if working in the tech sector can no longer pay the bills. So if someone who is looking to move into the IT industry asked me where they should start out, I would tell them to begin by getting degree.

If you look through the classified ads or on the online job websites, most job advertisements that you see now require you to have some sort of degree as a starting point. Usually it’s a technical degree such as a BS in computer science. I’m not saying that certifications are not important. I just feel that they are no longer seen as the starting point. Think of it this way - a certification is ok, a technical or other related degree is good, but a degree with certifications is even better. So if you have the money, time, and motivation go after the degree and try to pick up the certifications along the way since many of them can be achieved through self-study. If you do this, you should have a very good chance of landing an IT job. If you can add some experience to the mix, you’ve just made yourself much more employable.

Of course this is just one woman’s opinion. So if you recently landed a job based on your certifications alone, hats off to you!