CQA vs. Six Sigma vs. CRE - Which certification should I persue?

[sxbalasu]

Dear Friends:
I am planning to take any of the three in this december and i have started preparing for CQA. I hold CQE and i am in the job market for past three months after my graduation. I see in lot of job posting that they require Six Sigma black or green belt. I read in one of the threads that the hype of Six Sigma has taken over CQE. Is that hype still there. My belief is that BOK of CQE is so comprehensive that you can build upon that with any of the other certifications. Correct me if i am wrong.
I also posted my resume in our forum and i havent had any positive or negative comments from our forum friends. I am doing it again here to get some comments and help if you can.
So suggest me on my progress and also on my resume.
Thanks

 

[gpainter]

six sigma= job security

 

[sxbalasu]

Six sigma

Gpainter
I agree Six sigma=job security but i have to have a job to complete two projects. So thats what i am trying now.
Hoping to get one soon and i will got ahead with Six sigma. In the mean while i am preparing for CQA.

 

[JodiB]

Siva,

I don't have any opinions to share about the three certifications, but I did look at your resume.

Resumes can be formatted in various ways, but it is a common convention to start with most recent employment first and then work backwards in order. Yours was mixed up in dates. I'm not sure if there was a reason for that.

Also, your achievements were presented in table format for one position, yet in bullets for another. Perhaps consistancy would be better?

Your experience is very good and definitely heads better than mine. I can't see where you should have any problems getting hired anywhere at all. Good luck!

 

[tomvehoski]

CQA is good to have, and I found it easier than the CQE or CQMgr. It does look good on a resume to some. I took it after going through a five day ISO lead auditor course and found it somewhat easy, with the right references. Of course it has been about five years now, so it could have changed. It was worth giving up 1/2 a day on a Saturday to take it.

An additional advantage is that if you
want to go for RAB Lead Auditor training, you can take a two day course instead of the normal five day. Saves abour $1000 and three days of your life.

I have not done much with six sigma yet. I guess I am not convinced it is worth the major effort to become "certified", and can't give up the billable time to go through it.

Tom

 

[Arvind]

CQA versus CQE versus Six sigma versus CRE

CQA to CQE to six sigma to CRE is like High school to College to University to Masters.

Nobody gets job security from qualifications. May be it helps entry. You get job security from your contributions to problem solving on the job.

CQA can be considered entry level. CQE is like jack of all trades. Six sigma differentiates from CQE due to high weightage to DOE & RSM. Toughest is CRE and lot of guys donot dare to take it.

Bottomline is that
a) If you are in quality then CQA to CQE to CQMgr is better
b) If you are in engineering then 6 sigma or DFSS to CRE is better.

 

[Govind]

CQA to CQE to six sigma to CRE is like High school to College to University to Masters.

CQA can be considered entry level. CQE is like jack of all trades. Six sigma differentiates from CQE due to high weightage to DOE & RSM. Toughest is CRE and lot of guys donot dare to take it..

I have to respectfully disagree.

Every certification has its own objective and purpose. Reliability Engineer or Six sigma black belt may not have skills to perform auditing to a standard. An auditor may not have the knowledge to design an experiment or analyze return rates to confirm early life failures.

Recently I read in a discussion board, a person who failed CQA once but passed CQE, CRE,etc right in the first attempt. Calling a certification difficult or not is based on that individual’s experience and knowledge in that area of Body of Knowledge.

I found CQA as the easiest exam among the 6 certifications I did.
CRE as the most challenging. If a Reliability engineer decides to broaden his/her scope and plans to prepare for CQA, he/she may find CQA most difficult. CQA has many perception based questions. CRE has very limited of those.

In summary, I would say any order of arranging the Certification from easy to difficult depends on the individual.

Regards,
Govind.

 

[Jen Kirley]

All of the certs require some time "in service" - that is, performing one or more of the Body of Knowledge elements. Some are less than others. I would look at which you qualify for.

The ASQ Six Sigma cert also requires a project. If you can meet that requirement, it - ASQCSSBB - in my observation would probably provide the greatest leverage in job seeking.