saan pay unay nga uso ti cercertificacion iti filipinas. ngem adu met itan dagiti ofisina wenno compania a kayatanda no certifiedka.

IT professionals not yet keen on individual certification
First posted 00:06am (Mla time) Nov 12, 2005
By Erwin Lemuel Oliva
INQ7.net

FILIPINO information technology professionals are not yet keen on getting certified mainly because they still don’t recognize the benefits that comes with it, industry observers said at a certification forum in Manila this week.

There is “low awareness” in the Philippines on the value of IT certification, said Michael Mudd, director of public policy for Asia Pacific, a member of the Computing Technology Industry Association (Comptia).

Given the state of the Philippines now, Mudd told INQ7.net in an interview, it’s best for its IT professionals, especially those in the software industry, to pursue individual certification programs.

“I’ll go for individual certification than organizational certification because this will at least prove to potential foreign clients that a company has certified skills. This will eventually increase the attractiveness of companies to foreign contractors,” he said.

Mudd believes the Philippines is now in a position to become a niche player in the offshore outsourcing industry. But this does not necessarily mean it has to compete directly with India and emerging markets like Vietnam.

“Our studies have shown that once IT professionals get certified, their careers improve. A national certification program for the Philippines will help put [it on] the map for outsourcing at least,” he added.

On the other hand, a local software development firm believes that such certification does not necessarily mean landing a job.

“Individual certification helps to some degree. But what’s more important is that company processes and methodologies are certified,” said Albert Sun, business development manager of local software development firm SystemaCorp (www.systemacorp.com ).

Systema is currently in the process of certifying its own methodologies and processes for developing software.

“Our systems are certified rather than the people as this will allow us to employ even lesser skilled people,” added Sun.