Interview: Karl Liebman on The State of IT Certification and the Role of E-learning

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When organizations send their employees to training, they would be making a critical mistake if they failed to demand that those employees demonstrate that they learned the material through certifications.

Published 6/23/2005
By Anne Martinez

Karl Liebman is the Senior Director of Citrix Consulting and Education

GoCertify: Is the Citrix certification program currently experiencing growth, staying about the same, or seeing declining numbers of candidates?

Karl Liebman: We've seen strong growth in both our training and certifications programs. 2004 was a banner year for Citrix Education, definitively demonstrating an excellent post dot-com recovery. We're also seeing excellent growth in the early parts of 2005, where we already have year-over-year growth in all of our certification programs, including record numbers of newly certified individuals in our advanced technical certification, Citrix Certified Enterprise Administrator (CCEA). Of course, the certification programs are only one component, and we're equally proud of the growth of our instructor-led training (ILT) and eLearning offerings.

GoCertify: What do you feel the certification marketplace in general is experiencing, as far as growth?

Karl Liebman: For many certifications, the last few years have been difficult. On the whole, I'd like to think that the industry is growing again. For Citrix's certification programs, we've seen especially strong growth over the past two to three quarters, in many cases, such as our CCEA, breaking historical records. Some parts of the industry are struggling to recover, but are working to evolve their programs in ways that best suit the market's demands which, I am confident, will lead to a broader return to growth.

GoCertify: Do you feel that certifications will retain their resume boosting power or has their value leveled off?

Karl Liebman: Like you, I've often heard that some certification programs have lost value, but I have doubts about this. It seems to me that key global markets were tightening budgets and experiencing the naturally related hiring slow-downs and salary compressions. So, the flattening we have seen in some certification salary surveys, for example, is likely more reflective of broader economics than certification trends.

Certifications will always be valuable because they are the most objective, easily verifiable measure of a candidate's competence in a given subject. The old adage that there is "no substitution for experience" should be amended in an environment where organizations can demand experience and certification in hiring, two factors instead of one. Likewise, when organizations send their employees to training, they would be making a critical mistake if they failed to demand that those employees demonstrate that they learned the material through certifications.

Still, the certification industry has to continue to evolve in ways that best ensure that learners have the skills that organizations need. Citrix has continued to improve our exams and certifications, making them more challenging, more experiential, and thus more relevant. This has meant an evolution of our CCEA certification to which the market has already responded positively, and our market-leading newest certification, Citrix Certified Integration Architect (CCIA), which includes a hands-on lab exam.

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