Chartered Institute Membership?

Discussion in 'Professional Associations' started by Ross, Dec 5, 2009.

  1. Ross

    Ross Bit Poster

    40
    2
    66
    Hiya,

    I was thinking about becoming an Associate Member of a Chartered Institute and apart from the obvious benefits they may offer, do industry and employers recognize these and take them into consideration when mentioned on a job application?

    In most job applications there is a section for Professional Memberships and I feel pretty weak leaving it blank when I have written a killer application, and do people use the letters after their names or does that make you look pretentious?
     
    Certifications: I.T NVQ Levels 1 and 2, ECDL, A+, SDI, Senior SDI, ITIL, NVQ Management L3
    WIP: CompTIA N+
  2. UKDarkstar
    Honorary Member

    UKDarkstar Terabyte Poster

    3,477
    121
    184
    If you have a read around other threads in this forum you'll see alot of us are BCS Members.

    BCS - The Chartered Institute for IT is the professional body for IT professionals and awards Chartered IT Professional (CITP) status which is an assessed award.

    Aside from that there are various mambership grades and more info can be found at :

    http://www.bcs.org/server.php?show=nav.10530

    Other bodies can award CITP if they have been authorised to do so by BCS. Similarly, there is also a Chartered Engineer award by the Engineering Council. Criteria for this are quite strict and may depend on your academic record and/or experience. The CEng is awarded through several professional bodies including BCS.

    Overall, yes I'd say professional body membership is worthwhile. As Chartered status is not a requirement as for something like aspects of Accountancy, for example, it is not currently the be all and end all to a career.

    If you want more info then I suggest you go along to some of the local BCS meetings for wherever you live and get chatting to some of your peers.
     
    Certifications: BA (Hons), MBCS, CITP, MInstLM, ITIL v3 Fdn, PTLLS, CELTA
    WIP: CMALT (about to submit), DTLLS (on hold until 2012)
  3. Kitkatninja
    Highly Decorated Member Award 500 Likes Award

    Kitkatninja aka me, myself & I Moderator

    11,140
    555
    383
    Good for you :)

    It depends on the organisation and sector/industry. I have seen jobs that have stated membership into a relevant professional body was either desirable or essential, and I have seen jobs that have not.

    As for post-nominals, it depends on whether I'm being formal or not... Of course those people with 3 lines of post-nomials may be bordering pretentious, lol :)

    -Ken
     
    Certifications: MSc, PGDip, PGCert, BSc, HNC, LCGI, MBCS CITP, MCP, MCSA, MCSE, MCE, A+, N+, S+, Server+
    WIP: MSc Cyber Security
  4. JonnyMX

    JonnyMX Petabyte Poster

    5,257
    220
    236
    I think having a few memberships is an advantage.
    You're correct that they give you access to resources (some more than others) and they are a good opportunity for networking.
    Too many though and you can't keep up with all the 'resources' and you end up wasting them.

    Choose wisely too.
    Some, like the BCS, require you to meet certain entry requirements at various levels so they actually mean things within the industry. Others just pretty much rubber stamp you as long as you pay the membership fee.

    I've also read that having too many on your CV can imply to an employer that you are over-committed outside work, but not sure if that's true or not.
     
    Certifications: MCT, MCTS, i-Net+, CIW CI, Prince2, MSP, MCSD

Share This Page

Loading...
  1. This site uses cookies to help personalise content, tailor your experience and to keep you logged in if you register.
    By continuing to use this site, you are consenting to our use of cookies.