certification

are they worth it?

[brdwlsh]

is it worth it take the certification tests for things such as HTML/CSS etc? (like the ones offered on the w3schools site)

i know that every little thing on the resume helps, but are these really taken seriously?

what about photoshop, illustrator, and quark as well?

basically, i want to know if it is worth it, for an entry level person like myself, to shell out some money for these certificates.

thanks
brd

[txbakers]

I don't think so. HTML certifications are not really certifications.

Certifications attached to a company, such as Cisco, are worth something.

[simonuk]

A portfolio of high quality web sites you have designed are still better to have imo than certificates.

I own a web design company and I ignore all qualifications and certificates. Instead I go straight for the web sites they have already designed.

99% (I kid you not) of people sending in CV's with degrees and diplomas don't know their arse from their elbow when it comes to designing a good quality web site.

We've learnt that qualifications and certificates don't mean a thing when it comes to web designers because designs and trends move to fast for their classes to keep up.

Simon.

[IeuanJ]

Certifications for HTML, CSS etc. are normally not worth the papaer they are written on and certainly not the fees charged to yourself.

However certifications for products like photoshop, quark etc. can be useful as long as they are issued by the company who make that product (i.e. Adobe for Photoshop). As mentioned, much, much more useful is a portfolio of past work (with references) or if you don't have much past work then at least a decent amount of example work.

So don't shell out for anything unless it is ratified by the company of that product. Besides, it isn't always the case that everything on a resume helps, sometimes if a potential employer sees low level certifications they may think that you are scraping the barrell. More useful is a shorter list of quality achievements.