Back in the day when I was still an IT Professional (or maybe I still am but definitely to a far lesser degree), IT Certifications were the thing to have.

For those who aren't aware what certification is, it's the IT industry's attempt to teach people to become qualified experts at using their products. Every IT brand has these, and the more popular ones here are those from Microsoft, Cisco, Lotus and IBM to name a few. There are certifications for every level, from mastering MS Word to setting up LANs and server systems.

It helps end - users and companies find qualified people to keep their systems running, but its also a great cash cow for the brand as not only does it assure the experts they train will be walking promoters of their products but getting certified per se is expensive as it involves several pricey exams.

As someone who had undergone certification myself a lifetime ago, I understand the appeal. On one part there is the need to know how good you really are and on another level there is the prestige of having several certifications to your name. And finally there is the almost guaranteed pay scale certification promises let alone almost sure employment abroad. And let's be honest, that's the promised land for a lot of Pinoys.

And so that's exactly what I thought when I went to PowerMac's launch of their training center yesterday, and that's why I thought that classroom above will be far too small to handle the hordes who are about to fork over a lot of cash for certification.

So anyway, here are the rates. Sadly the accompanying CD did not include a softcopy of what we got in the press release so I had to take pics:

Here's info on the certification courses:

and there are also non-certification courses, which are pretty affordable imho.

If there's anything I admire about Steve Jobs its that he has added value to Apple products simply by adding a sense of privilege, an air of exclusivity to them, as if you're part of an elite club that's doing things better than anyone else. If you approach them from a purely tech point of view they are amazing, true, but not as much as how the Mac faithful claim them to be.

It is this single factor imho that allows them to price their products so much more higher than the rest even though I honestly feel they deliver just the same level of quality. They are still machines at the end of the day but you can never convince a Mac fan of that. To them they might as well have been manufactured by unicorns, guided by angels.

It is also this factor which will make Apple Certification so much more desirable compared to others. And with that desirability is again the ability to charge more than usual. Apple fans will not want to pay cheap for servicing their computers, assuming that if its cheap it's no good. I've no doubt that Apple certification will therefore allow you to charge an arm and a leg and people will still line up to pay it. It's the closest thing to a golden ticket in the IT world imho.

Press release here.

‹ previous

36 of 272

next ›