A COMPARISON OF EMPLOYER'S VALUE FOR VENDOR AND PROFESSIONAL CERTIFICATIONS

摘要

Research literature defines two categories of computer certification as being "professional" and "vendor." The purpose of this preliminary study was to compare employer's value of these two certification types. Two questions this paper will answer are: (1) Do employers value professional and vendor certifications equally when hiring programmers and analysts? (2) Do employers value professional and vendor certifications equally without regard to position? Although the respondent size was very small, statistical significance was found for the first question. It suggested that employers did not value the two types of certifications equally when hiring programmers and analysts. Employers appeared to favor vendor certifications over professional certification for these two technical positions. However, the second question failed to reach significance, suggesting that employers do value professional certification as well as vendor certification without regard to position. Future research is warranted to follow-up on this preliminary study.