Computer Certifications

In the past, to enter the IT area, it was enough to have a technical knowledge acquired in a basic computer course, which also taught basic hardware knowledge, but as time passed, more and more it was demanding more and more, mainly due to the high competition in the IT area, and the difficulty of finding professionals trained in the labor market by professionals in the people management group (or human resources), who often do not have technical knowledge in the area to assess the professionals' knowledge.

For this, several companies have adopted the certifications, which is a way of attesting the knowledge of that professional effectively, by a group that really understands the technical subject, with only professionals looking for certified professionals, than testing their knowledge one by one. one, just perform the common selection procedure like any other employee of the company.

Here in Brazil, the practice of certification is still not so common, precisely because many of the certifications are valid and recognized, much more outside of Brazil than here.

For each professional area in the IT area, there is a type of certification, from technical knowledge in hardware support, software development, server configurations, routers, blade server operation, mainframe, among others.

Here, companies commonly accept higher education training as a general rule for professionals in this area, but if the professional wishes to have a career outside of Brazil, many countries do not recognize higher education courses in our country, so their case is certification.

To get an idea of ​​how rigid the process is, a Cisco Certifiate Network Associate (CCNA) certification exam costs an average of US $ 250 per exam, lasts 60 minutes in Portuguese (with dubious translations) and 90 minutes for in English. In addition, the identification of the candidate is about biometric reading, and during the test you can have nothing but a pen and a small blank paper, just for sporadic accounts, if you need to.

A Brazilian boy held a CCNA certification, and having reasonable English, he had the opportunity to work in Canada, in the area of ​​network support.

Maybe CCNA is too complicated for you, but there are others that are recognized all over the world, each one more common for each region.

The company CompTIA (www.comptia.org), has done many tests and trials, at affordable costs for all professionals in the IT area. Despite not being recognized here in Brazil by most companies, many companies in the United States have already adopted their recognition. However, for those who wish to have a career in Europe, traditionally, there is the EUCIP (http://www.cepis.org/index.jsp?p=1116&n=1118), which is also a form of certification such as CompTIA, for professionals of the IT area.

Although some of the certifications are currently valid, such as Microsoft certifications, there are options that do not have an expiration date, such as the CompTIA and EUCIP tests, in the case of the second, only until the end of 2010, and from January, there will also be an expiration date for these, needing to retake the test every 2 or 4 years to have a new certification (each with its cost).