You need skills, but certification will help, no knowledge is lost. If you are jobless you might as well use your time improving your skills by getting some paper certs.

When your time comes. You will shine.

I'd rather hire someone with a certification and no skills than one with no certs AND no skills!!

Hi i think the better we come out of this certification syndrome the better for all youthb out there.U can only get a job with a certificate but really work with trhe skill one posesses.Its high time we stand up and forget the issue of job seeking and rise up to Industrial Revolution,
OBICHUKWU

One thing that's very common among IT job seekers i've found is that the certificate is the real "foot in the door" kind of thing. So without it you're not even considered (reasoning being if your really as good as you say you are why haven't you gone and done the certificate)

It gives you an edge over those that have equal qualifications.

Cetification! I love it, I have alot of it, about four of them, but the truth of the matter is that none of it has raise my pay. I have come to think about it, but am not disturbed because I know that Nigeria is lagging behind IT wise.

For your information, am working in a new generation bank that is strong in IT, but getting certified does not earn you promotion. It is for your private consumption. What they want from you is for their system to be up and running 24hrs, certification or not.

I encourage people who want to venture in certification to take heart and do it not because of immediate gain, but with hope that Nigeria may be a gaint in IT in future. One of my colleague just resign and went to london and his weekly pay is more than his one month pay while his here.

I invest alot in IT certification that hardly do three months pass without I taking any exam. I encourage anyone to take it, get the experinece, after all is only those with certificate and also experience that will be employed. so take heart and do it

l'm happy this issue is brought on this forum b/cos am about to take CCNA certification exam.

Although l'm working now but l hope it gives me good chances of getting a better job

u guys out there are really encouraging me. !!!!!!!!!!

Thanks to u all

I know that there are a few others on the site that also have CCNA (i got mine a while back) so you can get some assistence (so long as it's not just like whats all the answers to the exam )

Certification is good for securing a good job and also for career growth. However you need to have the right certification to match the employer needs if you are looking for a Job. If I need a Cisco certified Engineer, I wont bother looking at the CV of an Oracle guy.

Let me stress a little more: Certification + Experience gives you a better edge. Depending on employer, demonstration of either or both is required. The problem I see in nigeria is a lot of people with paali, hence the ones with a bit more experience always have the advantage.