--On Tuesday, June 04, 2013 03:49:33 PM -0400 m.roth at 5-cent.us wrote: > Well, there's another issue, Johnny: whatsit, $3k out of your checkbook? > I've yet to work for a company that would pay for that. Depends a lot on the company. Going back a few years, I used to work for a company (a VAR where we did a lot of straight-consulting work as well) that not only insisted that you get your certifications (in this case the high end Sun or Cisco certifications ... clustering, storage, networking, etc), but they would either pay for you to take the challenge exams or pay for you to go on the official course, including airfare, hotel, meals, etc. The courses themselves were typically upwards of $5k IIRC (not including travel and hotel), but the payoff was ensuring that their was no large gap in their employee's knowledge, plus the bragging rights of their certifications when the company would go bid on contracts. It seemed to make good business sense for them. OTOH, when I've hired people I may look at whatever certifications they claim, but the certs would also be one of the last differentiators that I would use, weighing much less than experience, the person's degrees, and that gut feeling you get from the interview. Devin