Certs in your email signature?

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Do you put certs in your email signatures?

Where I work people have their degree letters after their names in their email signatures, that's quite normal.

My line manager just told me to take my certs out of my email signature.. I always thought certs counted as 'letters after your name' and if you had earned the title you were entitled to use the letters after your name.

I haven't asked why I've been told to remove CCNA from my signature, there is no company policy I am aware of that prohibits the use of letters after your name and plenty of people have 'B Sc', 'MA' etc in their email signatures.

You'd think that an IT department would be pleased to have professionally certified staff.

I'll find out exactly why I was told to remove the cert letters form my sig on Thursday when I have a 1-2-1 scheduled.

Anyone else come across this or able to shed any light?

 

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I guess it depends.
A lot of companies have some kind of corporate image and may have strict guidelines on what your signature can look like.
It's only sensible really.
The problem I guess with certs is that they can indicate an affiliation or preference to a certain company or product.
A degree or Phd etc is regulated, and whatever institution you studied with, you will have met certain requirements.
A cert on the other hand is awarded by a company, rather than an overall body. It's tough to know where the line is, and I'm sure there are people who will disagree with what I just said.

In short, I suppose it comes down to company policy. If it is fair and applied across the board, there's little you can do about it.
You're quite right though, a 1-2-1 with your manager is the best way to clear this up.

 

I had an incident with the company I worked for previously. I was there for 6 years, and it wasn't until I had already put in my 2 week notice that the IT director informed me that she didn't like me putting my certs in my email signature. Since I wasn't actually in the IT department, she didn't want anyone to think that I was in the IT department. Now, there wasn't any policy in place for this, it was just that the IT director didn't like me doing it. I guess due to the fact that out of a total of 1000 people, I was the only one in the company who had any certifications. She couldn't even network 2 pc's together, but since she had AS400 experience, they made her the IT director.

I guess it depends on the company, or more to the point, it depends on who it will offend.

 

I only have my job title in my sig. On the other hand, in my author's bio, I list my certs right after my name.

 

And your title is "wascally wabbit"???

 

Hi Pete

If the company has a policy then follow it!

Academic qualifications are usually allowed, tho my own organisation does not use them, certs are never used as a company does not have a charter to issue them Universitys, professional organisations do.

 

Thanks for the feedback all.

I can see the distinction between Academic qualifications and certifications awarded by companies and how they can probably put a few noses out of joint.

I'm really not looking forward to that 1-2-1 tomorrow, I think my employers know what's going on due to the large amount of phonecalls I've been taking out in the stairwell.....

I've got 2 back to back interviews (with agents) tomorrow evening and another one with an actual company on Tuesday. I've had a couple of agents ask me to amend and re-write my CV to emphasise different skills so I am building up quite a nice repository of CV's- soon I'll have a tailor made one for all different types of job lol

 

i release procedure but you would have thoguht companies would be proud of their staff having certs

 

Aw...you peeked.

 

Nope.... you pubwished it here....

 

Well if I'm a wabbit...uh, rabbit, that must make you...

 

I have never done it in my present job but in the past I found that using my certs after my name intimidated the un-certified in the department! For some unknown reason uncertified "experienced" people are really scared of the certified person?? I wonder why - try putting DHCP, DNS, ARP after your name, see how long it takes them to work it out!!! lol!!!!

I originally put them after my name because some users would actually ask if I was trained or qualified etc...problem was that they started asking why the others in the dept didn't have them! This upset my collegues and I was asked by my manager to remove them from my email signature.

So if you want to upset the clueless numpties in your IT dept then put your certs after your name, it was good fun watching them go in the manager's office one-by-one to complain...oh the good old days...hahaha!!!

 

Now this is speaking for myself only, from my outlook on the world, so I don't want anyone taking this as if I'm knocking them if you think differently....

I would never put my certs in my email signature for the same reason I would never hang all my certs on the wall. To me the certs are pretty meaningless. To me it's the knowledge that is important, and if I can't communicate my knowledge or ability without announcing it to the world through a piece of paper hung on a wall, or written at the end of my emails, then my certs really don't mean much.

If people don't know, or can't see, that I'm fairly competent unless I show off the certs I have, then all the email signatures or pieces of paper hung on the wall are just so much junk. To me the email signatures and pieces of paper are just glitz, and I'm not a glitz kind of guy. I value substance over flash at all times.

Anyway, that's why I, personally, would never advertise my certs that way. To me they represent a path I have taken to obtain knowledge, and that's all. I would never advertise a degree that way either for the same reason. I have seen way too many "educated idiots" to ever be impressed just by a degree.

 

Yeah, I've seen way too many "un-educated idiots" to ever be impressed by "experience"...

Don't forget that it works both ways ffreeloader - it's just that there isn't a cert for idiocy!

 

I agree. I've worked with guys that said they had years of experience in the HVAC field, my old career, and they couldn't repair anything, nor did they know anything.

I was specifically referring to people like the guy I knew who had a degree in Mechanical Engineering, but always drove a car with an automatic transmission because he couldn't drive a stick shift. I mean, if a person is that mechanically challenged how in world did he ever get a degree in Mechanical Engineering? I would hate to try to use anything he ever designed.

 

i don't drive stick and ive got the same qual!!

but i can do. i see your point freddy, i wouldn't trust him either!

 

You're pulling my leg, correct? Or are you seriously telling me that you have a degree in Mechanical engineering, but have never been able to figure out how to work a manual gear shift?