Low-stakes Certification Tests
Question: "The market is being flooded by certification tests and classes. They are expensive but easy to pass. Are they worth it?"
There are vendors whose main or sole activity is the provision of low-stakes certification tests and/or certification preparation classes. These vendors are responding to market demand from candidates and employers alike.
We see this phenomenon in the current certification inflation situation in Agile/scrum. It is also in IT and to some degree in product management.
Low-stakes certification tests serve a basic purpose of gauging yourself. They mean very little regarding competence or employability.
The problem begins when low-stakes certification programs are confused with or misrepresented as medium-stakes and high-stakes certifications.
Contrary to low-stakes certs, medium and high stakes certs are intentionally designed and built from the outset to certify knowledge and display a grasp of the subject matter.
Blackblot had created several product management certification programs and tests. It can take up to a year to create a statistically-valid professional certification program, with the aid of certification experts and a psychometrician.
The point to make is that a distinction must to be made between low-stakes certifications vs medium-stakes and high-stakes certifications.
For more information, see the Product Management Certifications – A Bit of History and Are They Worth It? article.