Failure is No Obstacle to Certification

Like Mr. Miyagi once told Daniel-san, IT certification takes total commitment. You can't have one foot in, and one foot out, or you'll get squished like a grape. (We're pretty sure that scene from the movie is about certification.)

On the other hand, being committed doesn't guarantee success. And failing a certification exam doesn't mean that you weren't committed to learning, studying and putting forth a serious effort at the testing center. It just means that IT certification is hard, and that a lot of people don't get it right on the first attempt.

That's one thing that makes the story of Dominic Eldridge inspiring. Eldridge has a fistful of IT certifications and a full-time job with General Electric as an information security event analyst. Getting to that point, however, required driving over a few bumps in the educational road. As reported in Certification Magazine, Dominic encountered numerous setbacks in the course of earning nine certification in a little more than one full year. He failed certifications exams five times. At first, the failures stung.

What he quickly came to realize, however, was that fretting about failure is "a waste of mental energy." Rather, failure is an opportunity to learn more successfully and get it right the second time around. As Dominic explains it, "There’s no limit on how many times you can take an exam. Once you pass, people don’t even remember you failed, they just care that you’re certified."

That's an exceedingly worthwhile attitude, and a great reminder to anyone seeking IT certification that failing a test doesn't mean that you've totally crashed and burned. What's your next IT certification? Whether you're seeking CompTIA's A+, CCNA from Cisco, or maybe a Windows Server credential, don't be deterred if you don't get everything right the first time around. Failure just means that you have another opportunity to succeed.