A variety of experts on programmer hiring say that having an in-demand certification can make it easier to find a job and can lead to salary increases. John Reed, senior executive director at Robert Half Technology, said that his company data shows that certifications for some skills can boost salaries to 10 percent higher than national averages. He added, ?That said, employers are not strictly looking to certifications, nor, in most cases, will certifications supersede hands-on experience. But certifications can give candidates an edge, especially if they reflect an aptitude for using the latest technologies.?
Several experts noted that certifications are more important for large enterprises than for small startups. Marty Puranik, founder and CEO of cloud hosting company Atlantic.Net, said, ?Part of the reason for this is startups tend to use newer technologies, which may not have a certification path available. Another reason is that the enterprise space tends to have more legacy code, and thus older languages in use that would have certifications available.?
