Are IT Certifications Still Worth It?

When I first got into tech, certifications were practically the golden ticket. I remember back in 2002, armed with my A+ certification and a two-year degree from the Pennsylvania Institute of Technology, I landed my first real tech job at FAO Inc. as a level one helpdesk tech. It wasn’t glamorous—FAO was already in bankruptcy and circled the drain a second time not long after I joined—but it got me in the door. Certifications mattered then. But do they still hold up today? In this week’s Chaos Lever, Chris and I broke down three major points about certifications: their history, their real value today, and the thin line between "learning" and "memorizing."

1. IT Certifications: From Guilds to Gatekeeping

The concept of certification isn’t new—it dates back to medieval guilds. Back then, it was about proving your skills to join the trade. In the IT world, the first certification was the Certified Information Systems Auditor (CISA) in 1978. Back then, it was mostly for auditors, not tech professionals. But when the 90s tech boom hit, certifications exploded. Organizations like Microsoft, Cisco, and CompTIA turned the process into an assembly line of entry-level tickets into IT.

But the funny thing is, that gatekeeping didn’t go away. It just changed hands. Now, instead of guild masters, it’s tech vendors determining who’s "qualified." Want to be a VAR for a major vendor? Better have those certs, and not just one or two—some companies demand entire teams be certified just to keep partner status. That isn’t just validation; it’s a sales tactic. Certifications help lock VARs into specific vendor ecosystems, which is great for the vendor, but maybe not so great for your career flexibility. How useful is that Novell Netware expert-level cert today?

2. The Brain Dump Economy: Shortcuts or Cheating?

Let’s not dance around it—brain dumps are a thing. They were around when I was in the depths of vendor hell, and I’ll admit I used them to get through some of those exams. And the Pearson Vue or Prometric testing centers? Yeah, I was there, crammed into those beige-carpeted rooms with equipment that felt like it was pulled straight out of 1998. The brain dump economy emerged because the exams were (and still are) largely multiple-choice and repetitive. If you could memorize enough answers, you’d be fine. It wasn’t really about learning; it was about rote memorization.

This is where it gets murky. Brain dumps exist because certification exams are often less about proving knowledge and more about proving you can regurgitate proprietary information. And that’s by design. These vendors want you certified in their way of doing things. You’re not learning networking—you’re learning Cisco networking. You’re not learning cloud architecture—you’re learning AWS cloud architecture. Sure, it’s knowledge, but it’s knowledge wrapped up in vendor-specific lock-in. There's still valuable knowledge to be gleaned—I took the CCNA and I still use the concepts of CIDR subnetting and route protocols today. However, it's hard to avoid the vendor cruft and marketing slant.

3. Are Certifications Still Worth It? Maybe…But Maybe Not.

So, are certifications still worth it? The answer, of course, is the consultant's favorite: it depends. If you’re just getting started in IT, certifications like CompTIA A+ or Network+ are still good ways to get your foot in the door. They show you know something and might get you past the first round of HR filtering. But for seasoned pros? The value starts to drop off. Unless you’re working directly with clients who demand it, or your job depends on VAR status, those shiny certificates on your wall are probably more for show than for go. And yes, that includes top-tier certifications like the CCIE. You might know a ton of theory and have memorized all the command line switches, but how much do you know about doing the actual job?

The real accelerator to IT employment? Networking—no, not the Cisco kind. The social kind. If I could go back, At the end of the day, knowing the right person in the right company can get you further than any cert ever will. With the exception of my first job in IT, every subsequent job offer was based on my professional network and previous job experience.

Your Thoughts?
I’d love to know where you stand. Are certifications still worth the price of admission, or are they just corporate marketing masquerading as education? Drop a comment, share your thoughts, or better yet, tell me what got you your first break in tech. Maybe it was an A+ cert...or maybe you just knew the right person.