Is Certification in IT Security an Absolute Must?

This is part of the What it takes to be successful in IT Security series. Click Here to see more

Keith Crosley: Depends on what one wants to do, but there is definitely value in things like CISSP certification . In my own job as a marketer, this isn't a requirement, but I have met a number of technical marketing, professional services and sales engineering types in our industry who have benefited from such certifications.

Misha: In now world, you should have certification if you want to invited to interview :), but I'd like to believe that it's still not must.

David Oxley: No. It's a great help, and almost always worthwhile. However, skill trumps certification in most circumstances.

Darrell Jones: No, experience and hands on knowledge is a must. Certification is a nice to have.

Robert Newby: Absolutely not, however it helps you get noticed in a crowd, and at a time when jobs are thin on the ground and hard to get, they are useful. I'm not a big fan of certification, but I have been a CISSP for 3 years, and just qualified for this year's CLAS intake - so I guess I realize the significance of them.

Lawrence Pingree: CISSP is a must for security engineering, CISA and CISM is important for management and audit.

Robert McArdle: To me certification is very important - when you attend a security course and go through all of the time and effort to get certification, a lot more of the content is likely to actually stay in your head afterwards. Certain certificates like those mentioned above can definitely help when securing a role - in a lot of cases the interviewer will also have them/be familiar with them, so its a quick way for them to know what skills you might have. That is not to say that people without certificates are any worse than those with them - some of the best people I know in security industry have very few certificates and are streets ahead of other people who have an alphabet soup of letters on their CV. Think of it this way, if you are interviewing someone for a job and the one requirement was that they must be a fast runner - do you hire the guy who goes for a run every morning, or the one with several gold medals?

Sebastian Bortnik:here isn't an absolute must. There are a lot of issues and variables. In my opinion, the absolute must is knowledge. You can't develop on IT Security without your skills.
Nevertheless, certifications are an excellent added value to qualify for a job, or to have better chances.

Shakeel Ali : They are required to prove your skills level and background in security field.

Richard Stiennon : Not at all but it is a great start.

Vijay Vedanabhatla: If you have the experience to support it, you do not need certification. But the industry loves certifications.

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• Meet the IT Security Experts 

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