COMP.5203: IT Certifications - Industry Trends and Benefits

This report provides a comprehensive overview of IT certifications, highlighting their importance in the information technology industry. It discusses various certifications available from vendors like Cisco, Microsoft, Oracle, VMware, and AWS, detailing the skills validated by each. The report also outlines the requirements for obtaining these certifications, emphasizing the need for prior knowledge and exam preparation. Furthermore, it explores the benefits of IT certifications, such as increased job opportunities and improved career prospects. The document concludes by underscoring the value of certifications in demonstrating competence and enhancing professional development within the IT field. Desklib provides access to this and many other solved assignments for students.

IT CERTIFICATIONS
Abstract
The certification of IT is a readily recognized and quick benchmark that is mapped to
certain set skill of testing that is standardized. A certification gives an indication that one is
dedicated, motivated and contains knowledge that is technical towards a platform that is specific.
After learning the certification of IT, an individual is able to join a group of selected individuals,
that is, a group of peers containing skills that are demonstrated. Owning a certification indicates
that besides possessing knowledge that is comprehensive in a given technology, an individual
also cares a lot regarding their own careers such that they are willing to use a lot of money and
time in order to become certified. individual. An individual becomes their own best managers of
their careers.

Table of Contents
Introduction...............................................................................................................................................3
Literature Review......................................................................................................................................3
Certifications available in IT....................................................................................................................4
Cisco certifications.................................................................................................................................4
Microsoft certifications.........................................................................................................................4
Oracle certifications..............................................................................................................................5
VMware Certifications..........................................................................................................................6
AWS Certifications................................................................................................................................6
Requirements for Certifications...............................................................................................................6
Preparations for Certification..................................................................................................................7
Benefits of IT certifications.......................................................................................................................8
Conclusion and Recommendations..........................................................................................................9
References................................................................................................................................................10

Introduction
Certifications are getting vital when it comes to employment in the industry of
information technology. Some individuals argue that in an industry that contains several
requirements of education, certifications enable the industry to measure the skills. Subsequently,
a large number of employers opt to hire individuals who possess those certifications. A large
number of people in the current time, are so much interested in acquiring the certifications. The
certification offers a platform to the employers that are potential for them to assess the individual
skills and also enables the worker to have the courage to negotiate with the employer further
regarding an increase in the salary.
Certifications provide the best method of demonstrating competence in specific
disciplines of IT. Certifications of MCSA, AWS, Cisco, CompTIA and Google are mainly used
to prove the qualifications of a candidate when it comes to the decisions of hiring and promoting
them.
Literature Review
Certifications are used by products, firms and individuals. For firms, certifications are
used to define how businesses should be run and the processes to be run as well. A number of the
certifications are deliberated via evaluations that are standardized and widely accepted such as
the ISO 9000 and ISO 14000, while other certifications are deliberated on the foundation of a
criteria that is subjective by a number of organizations which offer trade that is fair, green, free
from cruelty among others. Firms that engage voluntarily in certification basically are at the
cutting-edge of practices of products and workplace. Corbett, Kirsch and Montes-Sancho (2015)
discovered that firms seeking processing of certifications happen to be more productive and are
likely to give out more.
The certification world is huge and growing in terms of firms, processes, individuals,
products, sectors, practices among others. For professionals, the competence of labor
certification generally encompasses confirmation of their ability to complete a task recognized at
a certain proficiency level.
Vargas (2012) contends that certification of labor competency is a formal, official and
public recognition of the occupation skills of an individual. He also states that certification can

also refer to the termination of the process of training. Fernando and Vargas (2012) define
certification as essentially embedded in a system that is large, that is, an institutional
arrangement that is formally established whereby an undertaken cycle is used to recognize,
regulate, update and evaluate workers qualifications.
Bouder and the rest (2011) see certification as an outcome as well as a process. A process
which comprises implementation of standards and definition of the criteria which is used to
assess the standards and the outcome that comes as a result of the procedures of assessment that
may or may not lead to awarding of the qualifications.
Certifications available in IT
Cisco certifications
Certifications of Cisco validate one’s ability to use devices of Cisco Systems that are best
in communications of business and networking. The program of Cisco Career Certification
provides a large variety of credentials which bring about rewards that are measurable to the
professionals of network and their employment companies. The certifications also improve the
individuals understanding of the process of networking in not only the products of Cisco,
throughout the process of learning the certification but also enables the candidates to develop full
understanding of networking of IT and also the way various topologies of the network relate in
order to create a network that is secure and efficient. (Koziniec, T., & Dixon, M. W., 2011)
Microsoft certifications
Certifications of Microsoft validate skills used in implementing the solutions of business
using the technologies of Microsoft. Microsoft offers the software of the core business and
productivity which is depended on by organizations. Microsoft keeps on updating its programs of
certification in order to align itself with the technologies that are latest and roles of jobs. By the
year of 2017, the program of MCP (Microsoft Certified Professional) had three key levels of
skills; MTA (Technology Associate), MCSE OR MCSD (Solutions Expert) and MCSA
(Solutions Associate).
 MTA (Microsoft Technology Associate) certifications indicate basic knowledge in
certain disciplines such as development of software, networking, databases and security

and are made for the students. Certifications of MTA do not require any basic knowledge
and are not needed when it comes to proceeding to the next levels of certifications of
Microsoft.
 MCSA (Microsoft Certified Solutions Associate) certifications are made for the
professionals working in IT and those seeking jobs in their career of early stages. These
certificates are a requirement in order to proceed to the level of experts of credentials of
the Microsoft.
 The class of experts of credentials of Microsoft comprises of MCSE Certifications for
the professionals of IT and MCSD Certifications for the developers of the software.
Where the certificate of MCSA indicates the in one technology that is core, certifications
of expert level of the Microsoft validate the individual’s variety of technical skills and
their ability build solutions of cloud that are optimized together with several platforms of
Microsoft. (Ray, C. M., & McCoy, R., 2010)
Oracle certifications
Certifications of oracle validate individual’s expertise and skills using the technologies of
business of Oracle that are popular including the DBMS of the Oracle. Certifications of Oracle
are one of the most credentials that are sought in the industry of IT specifically in the domain of
database.
The program of Certification of Oracle contains three levels of features of credentials of
Oracle in a number of disciplines which include the administration of the database and the
development of the application. From the bottommost to the uppermost, the main three levels of
the certifications of Oracle include the OCP (Oracle Certified Professional), OCA (Oracle
Certified Associate) and OCM (Oracle Certified Master). Certifications of OCE (Oracle Expert
level) and OCS (Oracle Certified Master) also are available for specific technologies of Oracle.
(Pierson, L. et al., 2015)

VMware Certifications
The pioneer industry that is leading in provision of products of virtualization and the
solutions to institutions and businesses all over the world is the VMware. Certifications of
VMware validate the knowledge and skills that are required to efficiently install, support,
manage and deploy solutions and products of VMware. The certifications of VMware are
available in two key areas of virtualization which are the; Desktop Virtualization and Datacenter
virtualization. The VMware provides three certifications in each of the domain depending on the
holder of certificate’s level of skills and the specific competencies that are technical. (Vakhitova,
G., & Bollinger, C. R., 2009)
AWS Certifications
Certifications of AWS indicate the skills used in designing and managing solutions of
software of platform of cloud of the ultra -popular Amazon. Cloud computing is highly
demanded distribution of pay as u use of the resources of IT through the internet. AWS (Amazon
Web Services) is the leading platform in the world that provides the cloud resources. More
businesses are continually shifting from the traditional services that are in-house towards
adopting cloud so as to reap the advantages of cloud such as reduction in costs and increase in
efficiency, the individuals having the certifications and skills from the solutions of cloud
computing that are latest, more so the ones provided by the AWS, will be able to enjoy a variety
of opportunities of jobs and salaries of top tier. (Karr, S. S., (2011).)
Requirements for Certifications
All the certifications require an individual to have at least some basic knowledge and
some professionalism in the related filed for a given period of time and a given pass mark is also
provided by the given vendor except for the certifications designed for the students. For example,
AWS certifications require that, the student should have;
 At least one year of experience in designing of an AWS distributed system that is
scalable, available, able to tolerate fault and efficient in terms of cost.
 Deep knowledge in one or more high-level language of programming.

 The knowledge required in identifying and defining the requirements for an application
that is AWS- based.
 Experience in deployment of hybrid systems containing components of AWS and are on-
premises.
 Ability to offer the best practices needed in building a secure and applications that are
reliable on the platform of AWS.
Others such as MTA, Microsoft Technology Associate do not require any prerequisite as they
are designed for students and are not needed to proceed in another level of certification.
(McGrath, S. T., (2012).)
Preparations for Certification
Before an individual can acquire the certification, they are required to undertake an exam
and before taking the exam, one is required or it is necessary to equip yourself with the necessary
skills and knowledge that will enable you to come out successful. Several tests of practice are
available for majority of the exams of certifications which one would be recommended to
undertake. The tests of practice can provide a person with an idea which can help them
determine whether they are ready or not to undertake the certification or also whether one is
required to finish more training before taking the certification test. If more training is required,
one can check out their choices for the training done online as well as go for the trainings
instructed by a tutor in their given local areas. (Al-Rawi, A. et al., 2010)
Once one is confident that they possess the required skills for the certification, they can
now take the decision of registering for their exam of choice. Various venders offer various fees,
requirements and even policies. Majority of the exams of IT certifications can be accessed at the
local centers of testing. It is advisable to select a comfortable and convenient center of testing
which meets the desired needs. Vendors of exams normally provide promotions and pricing that
is special, therefore it is advisable that one checks for the deals that are best on vouchers of
testing of certficication. One’s local center of testing is mainly the best resource fir the
information regarding the deals that are best on vouchers of testing. (Hunsinger, D.S. and Smith,
M.A., 2015)

Benefits of IT certifications
Possessing a certification offers individual various advantages which include the hiring
advantage. Being in possession of an IT certification offers an individual an advantage during the
hiring process when the employer checks the resume since the competition for jobs in the IT
field is stiff. Actually, sometimes the certification may be used to qualify someone for a job. For
example, if two equal candidates are competing for a job, the one possessing a certification is
likely to be picked leaving the other candidate. The certification basically adds value to the
resume which makes the employee give a second look to it which can be enough compared to
what the competition achieves. (Hunsinger, D. S., & Smith, M. A., 2015)
Another advantage is the retention of jobs. In an economic environment that is volatile,
businesses opt to look for ways that may be used to reduce costs which can mean that the jobs
are not stable. During this time, possession of a certification in IT comes in handy when
determining whether an individual will keep the job or start looking for another job. (Cegielski,
C. G., 2014)
Also, certification comes in handy when it comes in offering of promotions. When one
wants to get a promotion into a job that is well paying in a company, one is required to improve
their skills that they possess currently. In order to show this, the individual needs to earn a
certification or further progress up in the chain of certification in their present field of expertise.
(Hunsinger, D. S., & Smith, M. A., 2009)
Professional credibility is another advantage that comes with earning of a certification.
This is made possible when an individual acquires several certifications from one particular
vendor. No one can question an expert of internetwork who has been certified by Cisco, an
expert certified with solutions of the Microsoft or an architect certified with Red Hat. (Blackman,
A., & Rivera, J., 2011)

Conclusion and Recommendations
Based on the report detailed above, it is clear that IT certification is very beneficial to
both the employee and the employer to a great extent. Acquiring the certification helps the
employees to stand out professionally as they become more competent in their fields of operation
with the knowledge and skills gained through certification. They are able to excel in their careers
as they are able to step the ladder in their work places which help them receive a good amount of
salary. Certification also is beneficial to companies since, the employees are able to always stay
updated with the new technologies in their field of work since the certification requires renewal
which means that, each and every time they renew their certificates, they are able to acquire new
skills and knowledge in the outside world. It is therefore wise to recommend that IT
professionals and those willing to excel in their career to undertake the certifications. The cost of
the exams should also be reduced to a fair price so that many individuals can afford to sit for the
exams since the cost at times hinders some individuals from sitting for the exams.

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