Information Technology

The experts in information technology hold a special place in the labor market. Many staffing agencies specialize only in finding of such experts. Moreover, a resume of the expert is added to the database of these agencies in the presence of special education and a certificate confirming the professional knowledge. Certification is an integral part of decision-making process of hiring and promotion of staff in companies.

From the position of the applicant: in order to be confident in the future, to be competitive in the IT market, it requires not only extensive knowledge and experience, the applicant need to be certified and obtain professional status. This will provide maximum assurance of employment in USA and in any country in the world. From the position of the employer: in order to maximize a confidence in the effectiveness of investment in the company's information resources, to protect an automation system against errors and faults, which may result from the work of unqualified expert, to improve the quality of customer service, it requires an independent, objective confirmation of specialist knowledge (Tajfar, 2008).

Testing in international testing centers is precisely such an objective and consistent method of assessing the competence of the staff. Questions in the tests associated with the key tasks that experts should deal in their daily work. Large corporations and companies that develop software and hardware offer new tests almost simultaneously with the issuance of new products or new equipment. There are special schemes to pass the tests to get different ranks and statuses. Microsoft, for example, has eight certification programs, Novell - five, etc. List of companies that offers technical specialists to get international recognition and affirmation of their skills is great enough (Elliott, 2004).

Basic certification programs are offered by the following vendors: Microsoft, Oracle, RedHat, Cisco, IBM, Novell, Sun Microsystem. The first company that started using a specialist's certification program was Novell in 1989. It was the program Certificated Novell Engineer (CNE) that defines the requirements for the engineer-administrator, which could support the information systems based on products of Novell. By 1993, nearly 20 leading IT companies have established their system of certification. At the same time, it has been revealed a leader, the Microsoft Company, on the market of certification programs (Bocij, Greasley and Hickie, 2008).

At its core, the certificate is a document in which any company (Microsoft, Sylvan Prometrics, Brainbench, Novel, etc.) officially confirms knowledge, accomplishments, and experience in the field of information technology. Certificate is not just an indication that its holder has passed the theoretical foundations of the course but documented evidence of high professionalism of certified specialist