Certificate or certification?

Question

I know this may be a common sense question, but forgive me, I trying to figure out what is better a certificate or a certification. Why I ask is that I'm going to school for a Medical Administrator and wanted to take some additional course(billing and coding), and there is a school in my area besides the one I'm going to is offering courses. One of the courses you take will give you a certificate when you complete it. I'm just confused is to what can I do with a certificate when applying for a job? I wonder if they will take me serious or laugh me!?!?! I know I'm over acting to the issue, but could some one GIVE ME SOME KNOWLDGE ON THIS ISSUE!!!!!????!?!?

Answer 1

A certificate; ha! ha! it is to laugh.

A certificate is a nice to have piece of paper that is not as important as a degree, even an associate’s degree. With a certificate you MIGHT be qualified to do something, the employer has to take a chance on you.

A certification is a document that says you have been trained, and tested in a specialized area on a standard accepted by the industry. A certification is PROOF that you can do something.

My brother-in-law is a computer network engineer. He never graduated college though, but he has taken a lot of certification courses. That and his experience make him a very valuable (and well paid) person. In fact his is more valuable than a college graduate with a degree in Computer Science. The graduate has no experience, and more importantly no certifications. They are also trained in the more abstract of programming. But there are a lot of computer program packages out there that business can use right off the shelf. To administer their networks and to install and maintain those programs someone like my brother-in-law is needed.

On a scale of 1-100 I would put a certificate at 20, a certification at 50, an associates degree at 75 and a college degree at 100. Experience can make up a lot of that difference and multiple certifications can do even more.

I know a medical student who is studying to be an Emergency Medical Technician (EMT); effectively a paramedic. She has had a lot of schooling in her field all ready. When she finishes her class, which is only 3 months long, she will receive a Certification. She WILL BE an EMT. If she only got a certificate then it would mean she MIGHT be able to do some of the work that an EMT can do.

The bottom line is what kind of job can you get when you complete your course. That is the question that you have to ask. A job as a medical document processor just requires a specialized knowledge of the medical field and the required forms. A Medical Administrator is someone who manages medical document processors. You need a degree in that field before you can enter management, along with some business courses (which I assume are in the later stages of the course plan.

In your case a certificate might be a step along the road to getting your certification or your degree. It will almost certainly NOT qualify you for anything more than an entry level position.

Answer 2

A certificate is a piece of paper, like a degree, that says you completed a course of study.

A certification is obtained, generally, by passing a professional exam in a certain profession. You usually will have to obtain so many CEUs in a duration of time to re-certify every few years.

When applying for jobs with a certificate, that will tell the employer you took your time to engage in study in the field you wish to pursue as your career.

No professional organization will laugh at you if you took your time, energy, and money to invest in your future.

Answer 3

I suggest to go ahead and take the course. People will know that you know billing and coding when they look at your resume in your education section. Something you can be proud of.