Can Certification Compensate For Inexperience?
Not entirely. Hands-on experience is still a key criteria in determining your qualifications for a particular position. And in some ways, tests have gotten a bad rap; some think good test scores only prove that youre a good test taker, so the fact that you passed a particular exam may be taken with a grain of salt. Thats the bad news. The good news is that certification absolutely does supplement experience. If you have some experience and a related certification, youll come out ahead of the person with only the experience, and you may be considered at least equally as qualified as a person with slightly more work experience. On top of that, certification is something you can earn now, starting today. Work experience requires time to accrue and there is little you can do to speed the process. Going back to school for another degree (or your first) usually takes years. Many certification sponsors are addressing concerns about the meaning of exam scores by adding experience requirements
