Microsoft Certifications...usefull or useless?

My wonderful work suggested that I should go ahead and go for some Microsoft Certifications, in my case the MCSD.NET one and they'll actually pay for it. They seem to think its a big deal and will be benefit me greatly...I suspect its likely for their benefit and they can use it for their marketting purposes. Not sure how it'll help me cause i'm not gonna get paid anymore than what my cheapass salary is.

And the only way it'll actually benefit me if I leave this company (kinda defeats the purpose don't you think?). However, I'm quite aware that a lot of IT companies really don't care for certifications anymore. While a few actually do (a peer and friend of mine landed a very nice position with Northrop Grumman because he had his Microsoft Certification - so he claims). But considering that 80% of this material is completely useless in the real world anyways, should I even bother wasting my going through studying for crap that I won't even use - even though my job is paying completely for everything (including study materials)?

Short answer, yes. It may never be worth anything - but it can't hurt.

There's a couple of things to consider:

First of all, most companies that offer to pay for employee certification, also attach a condition to it -- that you have to commit to continueing to work for them for a certain time, typically a year. Should you quit within that time frame, they often make you pay back either all or part of the certification costs (which can be quite substantial, depending on the certs in question)

You are right that the company gets a marketing benefit from being able to boast that all their employees are -x- certified. In my mind, there should be -some- kind of compensation for the additional certification. If not immediate (due to the cost they incurred getting you certified on the short term), they ought to give you an idea of what you can expect on the longer term. this is *not* expensive for them, and free for you -- unless they let you do all your studying and preperation during your work day, any major certification requires a major chunk of your free time as well.

your options basically boil down to these two:

1) Go with the flow, and get the certification. Makes you more valuable to the company, and supposedly also more marketable if you are looking for a new job. This also allows you to bargain for a higher salary easier, thanks to your 'increased value to the company'. After all, if they didn't consider certifications valueable to the company themselves, they wouldn't send you to get them, now would they?

2) Decline. This might cause resentment for your boss, since in their eyes you're rejecting a 'free' great opportunity to 'better youself'.

And an after-thought regarding the long-term benefits:
"Where do you see yourself 5 years from now?" (don't you hate that question during job interviews? ;-)
Pretty much all the microsoft certifications are time-limited. They either expire after a couple of years, or once the 2nd major upgrade for whatever it is you are certified for hits the streets. Do you see yourself looking for another job in that time frame? If so, you get the benefit of being able to list te additional certification on your resume. Do you expect to still work for the same company for those years? If so, the certification will probably have expired again by the time you're in the market.

Is certification important? It really depends on who you ask. Some companies won't even consider hiring you without them, many others don't care one way or another, and a few may even hold it against you. If you haven't worked in your field for very long, certification can give you an edge. If you already have a decade of hands-on experience, it may not matter much. In this case, your own company obviously is one of those that values them.

I work in support in a software company right now. I've been advised that the best way to get into being in devlopment is simply to present some examples of work to the development manager.

I think the one that benefits most from these courses is MS.
The courses are expensive and you have to repeat the lessons / tests within a certain amount of time in order to keep the certificate earned before. So for them it's an easy way to get a regular extra income.

They don't hurt, but this depends on what your obligations are to get them.

I shold take a MCSD.NET instant no question asked.

You will learn some special triks and stuff you will not learn the other ways. Its always good to have a MCSD in wallet..

You will defiinatly be in a stronger position to negociate for a salary increse with certification than without.
Be very careful though that thay are not creating a goldenHandcuff situation wereby you have to pay for the certification retrospectivly if you leave within so many months. (As Xlsior said. But I just wanted to join in)

Useless.

useless!

It is definitely worth doing if they are paying for it. The certs don't hurt and you might even learn something :O

Do check on conditions though. X is right, most employers want a one year commitment.

Your required to keep up with the cert otherwise it is useless, meaning every so often you have to go back and pay to get re-certified. Useless to get it for free if the company requires you stick with them till it runs out and have to pay for it anyhow down the road...

Besides, there are new certs added every year, so all those MSCD guys are now getting questioned at work "so when you going for your .net cert?". It's a vicious cycle.

Neuro: Back in 1998, I got my self-paid MCP for Windows NT Server 4.0. It actually helped me getting some job interviews that I might not have gotten without it. The paperwork -does- count. Especially when you apply for jobs with the German stock exchange or the United Nations (where I work now). HR departments in bigger places usually base their decisions almost solely on that kind of crap - completely disregarding the recommendations of the people that have interviewed you. Sounds nuts? Welcome to the Dilbert reality!

I never updated/upgraded my MCP, though. It was a door opener, but now everybody is more interested in my international experience that I have collected over the last decade.

If the company pays for the certificates, you would be well adviced to go and pass the exams. Certificates don´t hurt you, even if they really look ridiculous at first sight (like a United Nations "Security In The Field" thing, for example).

Unless, of course, your company wants you to sign an additional agreement that states that you will pay everything back the day you leave them (which is quite a common practice, but usually limited to a two or three year period, at least where I have worked). But if you have no plans to get another job, even that might be acceptable.

Just my 2 cents. :)

Personally, I think vendor certifications are generally good (some suck!) It is a nice 'forced march' down a learning path that you might not otherwise take. It is wise to beware of propaganda embedded in there.

I have many networking and security certifications from various vendors/organizations. I am positioned on some contracts because I have these certs. If I did not have them, I would not be eligible. That's life.

because I have a <CERT> does not instantly make me an expert but It did raise my knowledge of the subject.

I think you should consider doing it (especially since it is free)

Minor nitpick: Just because something has no monetary cost doesn't make it free. You'll have to invest a significant chunk of your personal time, plus it will significantly increase the cost of switching jobs during the year or so afterwards.

..useless..rely on your skills and demonstrate that...

Keeps me amused - last exam to get MCAD.NET in a few weeks time :-)

Thanks for the input guys. It appears that there was no agreement of any sort of me having to pay back anything. They did stress however, that if I end up failing more than once, I'll have to pay for it out of my own pocket the next time around. They also want me to actually bill some studying time on certain work hours too. It seems like for those you who have taken it, it has benefited you somewhat to certain degree. Guess it wouldnt hurt (and i may actually learn something in the process!) considering they're also paying for my studying time..heh. It does suck that I have to take it again after two years though. But I don't intend on being here within two years so it may be a good thing after all....

You can't fail more than once. The answers are readily available on the Internet.

Don't know about the MCSD, but some folks at work are MCSE's (NT&Networking). Not that they know more than I (everyone with a fair understanding of Windows can query the knowledgebase), but it looks good on contact cards ;)

Btw, we're used to call them "Minesweeper Consultand & Solitair Experts" ;)

So I've heard........

Depends on your point of view.

HR people and the likes of recruiters get a woody over someone that has this on their resume'. So, having it listed in your list of experience *may* get you the edge over someone else if you're looking for a job.

In practice though, I'd say they are fairly useless. I know a fair number of people who have these certifcations and they are very poor to mediocre software developers/engineers. This has actually put me off from pursuing certification myself. In a way, this activity cheapens it to the likes of one of those college degrees you can obtain simply by paying for it by mail order.

From my understanding, if you can memorize and regurgitate what you memorized (whether you absorb any actual knowledge or not), you can pass the test.

I used to be MCSE certified. It did actually help be get a (system administration) job. Sure you pick up a few things along the way (some of which you wish you hadn't) but for the most part, there's no way you're going to be able to memorize all that (at once).

Getting MCSE certified was most certainly not worth the money, and I consider it the biggest waste of my time ever (although CISCO certification is a pretty close second - hrmm starting to see a pattern here), but at least I got 12kgs worth of reference material (seriously), so I could at least look like I was doing something incredibly tedious and time consuming when the principal came by.

And by the way, if you think the BlitzMAX manual is bad, wait until your books from Microsoft Press arrive - complete with "cut out and glue in" addendum sheets. Oh joy.

Ironically six months after I was hired partially because of my MCSE certification, the school began a transition to Solaris because the Microsoft School License Agreement was getting too pricey. Go figure.

So in other words, it somewhat helped you too..

If the employer is paying for it, it's probably not a bad thing for you to do.

Are they requiring you to do so? Or is it just something they are urging you to do.

Some companies will provide this as a "benefit" to being an employee, knowing very well that the average employee won't find the time or energy to cash in on the opportunity.

It depends for what type of company you are working for. I am working for a company who is doing projects for other companies and if I am not certified I won't even be considered to be send to the client. So for me it's very important (although I am moving more to VMware certifications atm) to become and stay certified. Although a lot of people saying it is worthless and it's too easy to obtain, the fact is that it's practice for large companies to go by the certification because that's the only indication (next to the experience on you cv) to get and idea of your skill level. I agree that experience is more important, but managers don't always see it that way.

It WILL help.

Not really, no. It's not really that difficult to get an IT job in Denmark. Particularly if you're not too picky about what you want to do (Concorde and SAP spring to mind).

I could of sworn you said that.

Well it was an assumption on my part, not a statement of fact. I might have gotten the job anyway, but there's no way to tell, since I was certified at the time - and I haven't really wanted a similar job since.