Certificate programs - respect, variability?

I hope this isn't a silly question I'm not sure it has a real answer, per se.

It seems like certificate programs vary wildly. Right? Even if you ignore all the ones that are non-RA, it seems to be that some might be < $600 while others are like $2500+? And some would be perhaps just learning 50 pgs of material or less, others where you study at least 8 thick books?

So my question is whether they are generally worth it as a whole. Because what if you spend 6+ months getting a cert that's more challenging, but your employer / prospective employer just takes one glance and assumes that all you did was attend a silly 2 day class? But I suppose in your resume you could write down that it was a 20 credit hour course without it being negative?

 

You're right, I don't think there's a single answer to this question. In my world the way it works is that employers know the certs that are offered by the local schools and a few others. Many employers, for example, will know about the PM certs offered by PMI. But if you live in Boston and earn a cert from some little school on the west coast then you can't reasonably expect an east coast employer to know what it really means.

 

I considered the same thing when I was looking at certificate programs. I went with a graduate certificate from a big name school - the University of Florida. I figured the name carries a lot of weight vs. a graduate certificate from American Military University (no offense intended). Besides that, I live about 2 hours from UF so it is very possible to have done it on site.

 

Yeah, that's awesome, they would prob assume you did it on site.

 

Instead of a certificate membership of a professional society might do more for your career (for example PMI is often mentioned on degreeinfo including Kizmet's post above). Benefits include:

• Periodic news/magazine/journal which keeps you up to date
• Periodic conferences where you can meet peers, here presentations, make presentations (adding papers to your resume enhances your credentials)
• Access to data that others have to pay for
• Many societies offer certificate or other credential programs

Annual costs are lower than certificates or additional degrees.

There is a good write up of the benefits of joining a professional society in Excelsior's "Live & Learn" magazine for Fall 2007 (page 16). I found it takes a minute or so to download this issue.
https://www.excelsior.edu/Excelsior_College/Publications/Live_and_Learn_Magazine_Fall_Winter_2007.pdf

 

So much for spell check - that should be hear.