The value of CIW Certification

[Deryck]

Hi,

Does anyone have any views on the value of CIW certification for web
designer/administrator/programmer types please? If you've got one of their
certificates has it helped you get a job? If you're an employer, would you
value it when selecting potential new employees?

Cheers

Deryck

PS
Sorry if this is OT but this group seemed a likely audience for such a post.

 

[Karl Core]

Hi,

Does anyone have any views on the value of CIW certification for web
designer/administrator/programmer types please? If you've got one of their
certificates has it helped you get a job? If you're an employer, would you
value it when selecting potential new employees?

I have a Master CIW. It was absolutely no help in getting a job, IMO.
The cert is helpful however, because it covers a breadth of information that
will be helpful later on.
But don't count on it as your ticket through the door.
In fact, I have a friend who has a Master's in Comp. Sci. and he can't get a
job, so a CIW surely isn't going to help.

Naturally since I am in the USA, my experience might be different than
yours. Your best bet is to learn as much as you possibly can, do a ton of
free work and personal sites to show what you can do, find some freelance
work, and pass your resume out to everyone you can.

 

[Augustus]

Hi,

Does anyone have any views on the value of CIW certification for web
designer/administrator/programmer types please? If you've got one of their
certificates has it helped you get a job? If you're an employer, would you
value it when selecting potential new employees?

If you are planning on doing web development as a freelancer:
In this case a certificate of any kind will have little to no value.
Potential clients will have no idea what your certificate means... if they
do know then odds are they can probably just do it (build the website)
themselves. If you freelance, the most important skill to have is sales
ability - somebody who is a lousy programmer or designer but great at sales
can probably rack up more jobs than somebody who is a great
programmer/designer but who has little to no sales skills.

If you are planning on doing web development as an employee for a web
development company:
In this case a certificate might have a little more value, but it would
still just be a little bit. In this case your portfolio: what you've done
in the past and what you can do in the future, will have more weight with a
potential employer. The thing with any certification is that anybody could
cram for the exams and get a pass and then not retain any useful
information, or keep trying for it until you get a pass (don't pass the
first time? try a 2nd time... or a 3rd... or a 4th... or a 50th... or a
100th...)

 

[Andy Dingley]

Does anyone have any views on the value of CIW certification

Paper's a bit scratchy. Can't think of any other use for it.