Managing your skills: ...how do certifications help?

Skills are one of the most valuable assets of a person in today's knowledge economy, eg. programming skills of a software professional, managerial skills of a corporate leader, specialized skills of a doctor, etc. One of the most difficult things, besides acquiring the much sought after skills, is to effectively manage and market those skills. What I mean is that once you have mastered a skill through relentless hardwork, perseverance and effort then you must work hard to manage that skill effectively. The worst thing would be to loose that skill over a period of time.

Many a times, we forget what we actually learnt in our school. Similarly, some skill that we had picked up in the early years of our career gets lost in oblivion, simply because we never thought of refreshing that knowledge at a later stage. Certification exams help us in revisiting those concepts which are fundamental for that particular skill. With internet and online resources, preparing for certification exams has become quite easy. There are a number of websites which help professionals in their preparations for certification exam by offering practice tests, mock exams and other resources. Some of the popular sites like www.skill-guru.com offer mock tests on Java, EJB, Oracle, Groovy, etc. besides a number of other subjects while there are other sites like www.scmzone.org which focus only on specialized subjects such as Supply Chain Management. Whatever be your skillset, you need to find the right source to prepare for the certification exam of your interest. That will go a long way in helping you to manage your skills effectively and get ahead in your career.