The problem with Vox's apparent preference for certification is that such processes are just as bogus as any degree. I cannot begin to describe how many times I've seen UL, ISO, or TL certifications handed out like Tic Tacs...after the requisite bribes and rear-kissing.

I've seen IT folks who are certified and those who have learned from experience. The latter are always superior to the former. Doctors and nurses are all certified (in addition to being degreed), and yet they kill over a quarter million patients annually due to malpractice. (In fact, over 7% of the U.S. population is essentially murdered or "manslaughtered" by the medical establishment.)

The answer to the problem of useless degrees and certifications is the free market. Those who demonstrate competence will be in demand while those demonstrating incompetence will not. There is one fatal flaw in this free market system, though: it requires the recognition of competence, a skill I believe is very quickly disappearing from the world, proportionately speaking.

Corporate America seems to have been well designed to completely fail to recognize competence, even if the individuals responsible for doing so are truly capable. Deming knew this long ago but was "kicked out" of the country for his attempts to reveal corporate stupidity. (Deming was welcomed in post-war Japan and is a big reason why they kick our butts so frequently.) We've been limping along every since. I've long said, as soon as one American corporation figures out how to manage properly, it will likely dominate its market.