Certification - September 2008 - (Page 30)

INTERFACE Show Me the Skills: Collabera Values Demonstration of Knowledge AGAThA GILMORE In today’s competitive IT marketplace, Collabera looks beyond the degree and values the lessons learned. Four-dollar gas, rising food prices and high-profile layoffs: It’s hard to avoid the effects of a sinking economy. But despite recession woes, IT professionals are in luck. The outlook for IT hiring is very positive. In fact, according to Computerworld’s firsthalf “2008 Vital Signs” survey, nearly 40 percent of IT managers said they expect to increase headcount this year, up from 33 percent in 2007. As a result, getting a degree in IT is looking more and more attractive to college students every day. Meanwhile, there are arguably more certification tests available now than ever before. With such a boom in IT education, many companies must turn to other mechanisms to differentiate between potential hires. Collabera is no exception. The $325 million global company provides services mostly to the top 2,000 companies in the areas of application development and management, independent testing, outsourced product development, enterprise software solutions, business intelligence and data warehousing. Collabera operates 22 offices and six distribution centers across the U.S., Europe, India and China. To satisfy its business needs, Collabera seeks candidates who demonstrate both technical expertise and management capabilities, and hires mostly mid-tier individuals who have between five and eight years of experience — although recent college graduates and senior professionals together account for about half of new hires. The company therefore distinguishes its more than 4,000 employees not by their academic background but by their experience — both technical and nontechnical. “Education has become table stakes in the new economy,” said Kevin Elder, vice president and global head of communications and media at Collabera. “You really can’t pass go and collect $200 until you’ve 0 CERTIFICATION MAGAZINE September 2008 got that baseline education; it’s entirely too competitive of a marketplace. What separates folks is what they’ve done with it.” That’s not to say Collabera doesn’t value formal education; it’s just that it represents a foundation for growth rather than an end goal. “Education is important in that it establishes that someone had the ability to start something and finish something,” Elder said. “And the assumption is that when [the person] is done with that education, they have a body of knowledge. [But] the conversation moves very, very rapidly into how they’ve applied that knowledge and [in] what specific circumstances have they been able to take what they’ve learned and apply it in a business context — and then ultimately what the value and the result of that was.” Likewise, certifications at Collabera substantiate a professional’s knowledge but don’t constitute a make-or-break qualification since the company doesn’t generate any revenue from software licenses. Vendor-specific certifications, however, can play an important role when it comes to products for which the company offers support services. “For example, we do a lot of work around SAP, so it’s important for us that those staff members that are dedicated to our SAP practice are certified and heavily trained in that particular area,” Elder explained. “Another example would be Business Objects, which is a business intelligence software solution. And a lot of work that we do leverages HP’s Mercury platform [now Business Technology Optimization Software]. We’ll ensure in those specific product areas that our professionals are certified and trained on the latest versions of the software and also on specific functions supporting that environment.” Ultimately, however, what the technician has done with the certification is valued at a higher premium, since the experience gained in putting the education into practice can add the most value to the organization. “Our interest immediately moves to, ‘So what have you done with that? How have you used it? What is the benefit of that certification process that you went through to me as an employer?’” Elder said. http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=307702 http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=307702 http://www.g-c-i.com/ http://www.sap.com/index.epx http://www.businessobjects.com/ http://www.businessobjects.com/ https://h10078.www1.hp.com/cda/hpms/display/main/hpms_home.jsp?zn=bto&cp=1_4011_100&jumpid=hpr_R1002_USEN https://h10078.www1.hp.com/cda/hpms/display/main/hpms_home.jsp?zn=bto&cp=1_4011_100&jumpid=hpr_R1002_USEN

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Certification - September 2008 Editor's Letter Contents Data Stream Virtual Village Tech Careers Dear Techie Troubleshooting Academic Connection What We Like Look Ahead So You Want to Be an IT Major The Title Is Information Officer… Chief Information Officer Interface Network Administration: Working From the Ground Up Inside Certification Ad Index Endtag

Certification - September 2008

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