Earning a certification is likely different from anything you’ve done academically in the past. It’s not your typical classroom learning, where you’re lectured on a particular subject, go home and review the information, and have a test at the end to evaluate what you’ve learned (and probably forget the information as soon as your pencil is down). Earning a certification like CAP takes real-world applicable knowledge, along with learned concepts and theories, and demonstrates to everyone, including yourself, you know your stuff.

There’s a reason taking the CAP exam requires a minimum combination of education and professional experience. This exam assesses your knowledge and proficiency on skills, concepts, and theories you use in your job; it also requires a level of dedication to ensure that any concepts, skills, or theories that you are not as familiar with are covered independently. Even in study groups, getting certified is truly up to you.

And, unlike traditional academic pursuits, a certification must be revisited constantly in order to keep current. As an added bonus, by recertifying every few years it guarantees you are always learning new skills and concepts to help in your daily life.

Certification is the perfect next step in your career, whether you have a college degree or not. When you have a certification, it’s easy to tell your current or future employers that your skills and knowledge are fresh, up-to-date, and relevant, wherever your career journey takes you.