Online certification

[espectations]

Hi,

I have been working in the web development, SEO and SEM industry for the past 9 years and thought it advisable to actually get myself certified.

I was wondering if any of you could recommend specific certifications that are acknowledged in the industry. I would not like to pay good money for certifications that are not recognized worldwide.

My family and myself are planning to emigrate and my husband and me are applying for work at the moment.

So if there are any Internationally recognized certifications you could recommend I would appreciate.

[Webnauts]

If you really to do that, have a look here: http://www.onlinewebtraining.com/

[richmar]

I don't think espectations is looking for online classes. He said he has been doing SEO/SEM for 9 years. The link you mention only offers online classes on really basic stuff.

SEMPO (http://www.sempo.org) also offers classes, but I did not see anything on "certification." To my knowledge only Google offers a paid search certification process after viewing their online modules and testing which you can do at your own leisure. But that service is still free, I think.

richmar

[Tony_V]

I hear WEBCEO is making a name for themselves. You can get certified, in a few different levels. Not sure if they are recognized world wide however. But it would not surprise me if they are.

[bockereyer]

I'm not very keen on certifications myself. Let your work do the talking. Provide your potential clients with references. Good clients will recognize good work when they see it.

[southplatte]

I think the real question here is the type of certification being sought after.

There is the CIW certification path (http://www.ciwcertified.com) that offers several degrees of certification within the web design/development area.

You can also become PHP certified developer through Zend, as well as MySQL certified. I think there are a few for SEO/SEM though I have not researched them myself so someone else may be able to shed some light on the subject.

Personally, here is my take, my view and my opinoin on the certification ground----

Now the true question has to arise: Are employers looking for, and listing, these certifications as required, requested, recommended or desirable?

From my experience in searching for employment last year, I found that many are looking for degrees (2-4 year) some are looking for certifications (programming, CIW or similar) and ALL of them are looking for demonstrable performance, designs and documentable success. The nice aspect of degrees is the additional coursework in project management, marketing, people skills and math that go along with the technical side.

The main problem with certifications is they can be earned simply by taking tests that are supposed to simulate real problems, with real solutions and real concepts in a controlled environment with certain expected outcomes. To that extent, the certification pathway (not just web developing, but system admin such as MCSE, RedHat and Sun Solaris) has been clouded with so many resources that are geared only towards taking and passing the certification tests, the true "real world scenario experience" has been left out. When official curriculum is used, often times it creates very close to real world situations (often times the instructor creates a situation that would normally happen in the real world and the students must find the best way to fix it). However, when the tools used are nothing more than a 500 page cheat sheet designed to gain the certification, the actual knowledge of principles often times is lost.

With that more and more employers desire certifications coupled with the "experience" factor, and in the course of my interviews and eventual landing of employment, certifications were not as important as the potential employer knowing my skill set and knowing that I have the critical thinking, skills and essential knowledge to create deliverable results that are quantifiable and industry standard based (or forward thinking enough that they extend the industry standard). Many I have spoke to realize that certifications can represent great knowledge, but they also realize that certifications can represent great knowledge without any implementation and the best knowledge when implemented wrong will cause failure.

So, when it comes down to it, you must evaluate any certification opportunity that may present itself to you on several factors:

1) Does the certification stand-out among the list of acronyms people can buy to add to a resume? Example would be 10 years ago A+ was invaluable, MCSE was really huge, today, A+ is still valuable, and there are more MCSEs than ever that really have no idea how to be a true systems administrator, let alone systems engineer.

2) Does the certification have a history of high quality standards that genuinely show that the person holding the certificate will, in most cases, implment the knowledge on a level that drives measurable results? Too many times I have seen someone come in with an A+ certification and not know the first thing about proper safety when handling a power supply, why? Maybe the missed that day in class or maybe that was a detail that they don't remember from their test cram sessions.

3) Is the certification the only credential you are hoping to present, or is there more credentials to add weight to it?

4) Does the cost of the certification become justified with the wage increase according to market research on those who are certified in your field compared to those who are not? (let's face it, you may need to buy some books or take a refresher course to remember some terminology or methodology you may not use everyday, but is none the less on the certification test, plus pay for taking the test and any retakes if there are any) Sometimes the difference between certified and non-certified is less than $100/month increase, while my MCSE course cost several thousand dollars, materials several hundred dollars and had I actually taken the test, the test itself would have cost several thousand dollars.

5) When evaluating employment, do you often find the certifications you desire as being listed as required? Listed as Desirable? Listed as Optional?

When I was in school my instructors repeated told me I should get my A+ certification. I never saw the benefit of paying the $300 for the test because I already had 9 years of experience in building, maintaining and troubleshooting PCs, servers and networks. The same might hold true in your case as well, you may have the experience that warrants most certifications as non-applicable as most certifications show entry to mid level knowledge of the subject (yes some show to the expert level) and you most likely are already above the level that certifications are to prove and have the demonstrable results to prove as much.

Just my thoughts and opinions on it as I do not hold most certifications in high regard, unless there is further experience and/or education behind them.

[Peter (IMC)]

If you worked with Adwords, it may help to become a Google Certified Professional

[mjtaylor]

I have to second bockereyer's position that your work should speak for itself. When I first learned SEO I took a class from Robin Nobles and was "certified". I put my badge on my home page - next to my membership icon in HWG and I forget what the third one was. They are long gone.

My own website placement, as well as that of my clients, speaks for itself. Only once in all the years I have done this has anyone asked me about my "qualifications" or certification. That was a corporate client, and the question was part of a RFP that was sent to a score of SEOs.

If you are asking this question, I have to assume you are looking for new business, and I believe your time would be better spent improving your site position or your site's call to action. Personally, I can't handle all the requests I get as a result of my placement in the SERPs; I believe you need to be found more easily.

FWIW, MJ

[chadhaajay]

Hello Sister,

I would recommend you to get WEBCEO certified. Visit the Training and Certiification section of thier website at the link below.

Web CEO: Web Promotion Software That Maintains and Analyzes Websites

WebCEO is a well known name in the SEO and SEM field and they have been in thid fiels from over several years now. My personal choice for you is to get WebCEO certified.

Sincerely,

Ajay Chadha (Director)
Chadha Software Technologies

[itispals]

you can sign up for the DMA Search Engine Marketing Certification Course. But you need to be a DMA Member for this and i am not sure of the cost involved for the membership and also the program.
DMA’s Search Engine Marketing Certification Program
May be this links should be of some help to you for other options:
Certify Me – Two Emerging SEO Certification Programs
As posted earlier Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization - SEMPO is also a wonderful option.
Here is another certification program from Marketing Experiments:
https://www.marketingexperiments.com...ffer.php?id=85

Hope this piece of information is useful.
With Warm Regards,
Palani
buckleupnow.com