A recent survey of HR managers shows that employers give greater weight to work experience than professional qualifications when selecting candidates to fill IT posts. 72% said that relevant experience in IT was better proof that candidates were capable than professional qualifications.

The Computer Weekly article is at -http://www.computerweekly.com/Articles and the survey is at - http://www.e-skills.com

At iT4C we have always felt that volunteering added very usefully to experience and hence to your CV. Now we have evidence that experience counts more than paper qualifications to those important people in HR. So if you aren't getting the extra experience you need in your mainstream role, volunteer and build your experience.