Training Gap

Six important career skills that IT certification programs are overlooking

- AARON AXLINE

Information technology certifications can be broadly divided into two categories: certifications that are primarily knowledge- and task-oriented, and certifications that include content specific to developing careers in the industry.

For example, Cisco refers to its IT professional credentials as “career certifications,” meaning that these certifications are meant to provide candidates with skills that go beyond daily on-the-job tasks. Microsoft certifications have become very job-oriented, but the company still stresses the career value of its credentials to IT pros.

That said, there are highly relevant career skills that are only marginally represented by any current IT industry certification program. These career skills are often covered by electives found in college degree programs. It can be argued that these same skills deserve more attention from any certification vendor that touts its credentials as being career-oriented.

My purpose for this article is to review six essential areas of professional expertise that should have a stronger presence in current IT career certification programs.

Co-worker training

No matter what segment of the IT industry you end up working in, you will eventually be called upon to train a co-worker. You might have to help that person understand your employer's internal systems, or how to perform specific tech-related job duties.

For example, you might be expected to train a new hire on a ticket system used to report bugs found in a software product under development. Or perhaps it will be up to you to show someone how — and when — to use the company's incident reporting software.