Don Crawley, Author.

In our business of IT, we hear a lot of talk about certification, both good and bad. The proponents of certification extol its benefits, including job advancement and more money. Detractors say technical certifications are not based on real world scenarios and only measure an individual's test-taking ability. In my experience, many of the certification proponents are training companies, book publishers, or vendors who stand to reap financial gain from certification. Conversely, many of the certification detractors are people who don't hold certifications. It's easy to get a bit cynical on both sides of the certification question.

Why Certify? Is IT Certification Truly Valuable?