Certification - May 2008 - (Page 17) along only no one but the staff attorney, HR and the net administrators did it. It is now becoming where a chief security officer (CSO) has a purpose greater than the networks — he or she encompasses all forms of data. With greater responsibility comes more specialization with training and thus more money for the CSO hopefuls. In the general IT world, it’s just a large piece of the pie mostly due to the massive amounts of electronically retained data versus hard copy.” self in your customers’ shoes: Would you rather hand over thousands of dollars or euros to a company that had unqualified staff or would you rather hand over your money to a company that had qualified staff? Anyway, Microsoft has already done a study on the benefits of hiring an MS Certified Professional.” ChuckH added: “OK, I don’t normally join in on the postings, but I had to join just to have the opportunity to address the issue of certified versus non-certified. There are two valid reasons a company should seek current certified persons and upgrade their current employees. First of all, anyone can go to school and anyone can get on-the-job training. But would you allow your lawyer, doctor or architect do a single job for you if there wasn’t some form of third party validation — bar exam, medical exams, etc.? You might think this is extreme, but consider this: Let’s say there is a break-in to your network and client or employee data is stolen. Now you are in court with the lawsuits and the prosecutor asks you, ‘Did your network engineer sufficiently secure your network? How do you know he was completely qualified to ensure all measures were taken?’ Third party validation and certifications give you the answer to these expensive questions. As we move further into technology, questions that are common in the human resources management arenas will become common in our IT world.” Agree? Disagree? Have something else to share? Your comments and thoughts are always appreciated on our forums. Please visit them at www.certmag. com/forums. 8 – Ben Warden, editor@certmag.com What’s in It for Them? Traditionally, a cert is obtained by individuals studying the material themselves or taking a class with the goal of eventually landing a job. Increasingly though, companies are wooing IT professionals by offering them time and resources to update their existing certification or acquire a new one. This trend sparked one CertMag forum poster to ask why. “From an employer’s point of view — why would I want to pay for existing employees to get certified and to maintain their certification?” MichaelB asked. “I need to build a business case and I’m looking for reference material. Everything I found so far is related to the value from an individual’s point of view or from an employer recruiting for a person. But if I have security people already, why would I want to spend the money to have them find other jobs? Can you help?” Wagnerk replied: “You’re not, as an employer, helping your staff look for other jobs. You’re investing in and valuing your staff by training them up. By having qualified staff, you can increase productivity and give your company a bigger edge on the competition. Put your- May 2008 CERTIFICATION MAGAZINE 17
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