Certified !== qualified?

Recently I had the chance to got some certifications on different technologies according the plan I designed at the beginning of the year... and combined with a discussion a saw in LinkedIn regarding if does they worth, I wanted to share my opinion about this topic.

While I completely agree on certified !== qualified, I personally think certification still worth but we need to have clear the real benefits we can get from there to avoid, eventually, disappointments.

Below are the main items I think we should consider regarding these processes.

Certifications might open a door, but they're not the complete solution

There are always different motives behind to make the people want to take a certification, one of the most common is while someone is looking to apply for a new job/position.

Depending on the position, it might list some “nice to have” items, and certifications are usually listed on this section. However, it’s just part of the expected profile. This should be implicit and obvious, however for beginners it would be helpful to clarify this point and we can not expect that once you get certified will reduce the recruitment process.

Something similar would apply for those cases that in the company is expecting to be promoted for the next role by getting a certification. There are guidelines in each company (or they should be), expected skills and level to claim for a promotion, but similarly, it’s just one feature/skill of the complete profile, so we need to have it clear.

They’re a nice differentiators in this competitive world, because not all the people have them. But they are not the only bullet in the list, keep in mind that.

Knowledge is the core

How many times you saw someone from the school cheating on an exam and get approved anyways? That’s one of reasons why the proctored exams exist. But even with that, we can not consider that, after getting certified someone is enough qualified for certain position.

The badge you can display on LinkedIn is nice, however it just that: an institution that verifies you passed an exam.

The real value behind a certification, and this is some of the times ignored or under-estimated, but it is the knowledge from the process, since the institute/company verifies the approaches, concepts and understanding about a technology, and from there either confirm your experience or learn new and valid concepts during the preparation for the exam.

Again, once you get the certification, you can share that fancy badge in social media and it’s great! However, the day when you face a problem to solve regarding X technology, the badge won’t help and the time you used for the complete preparation will be considered as an investment in case you got the knowledge or a waste of time if you only studied to pass the exam.

Optimize your time

Connecting with the above point, there is something we need to consider almost in every step of our career: time.

Who doesn’t want to know everything? Or in this case, get “all” (or many) certifications…

The most valuable asset is always the time, and we need to use it smartly

As a recommendation, plan as much as you can and take decisions based on that plan. Yeah, it can be modified during the way, new technologies, methodologies, etc. However, It’s quite important, at least, to define a career path and from there it’s going to be easier to decide if you need or not a certification (or any other process, asset, etc).

You will work with different technologies through all the projects on your career, some of them will be aligned on what you want and some other doesn't.

Let’s put an example:

Suppose that you’re a mid-level software engineer and currently working in a temporary project that demands Java as main programming language and AWS as cloud provider, your plan is to become a software architect.

So, taking the current assignation and trying to take advantage of that experience that you’re currently getting, it would be better if you apply for some entry-level certifications on a given cloud, in this case AWS, rather than choose for Java-programmer certification, right?

With this, I’m not saying that Java-programmer certification does not worth, but for the example context, we need to prioritize short, mid and long term impact for the invested time. It would be different if the person from the example would like to specialize in a short/mid term on Java solution and/or framework, on that case I would think the option would be the opposite.

Some additional recommendations:

• Take what you need and will apply in a short term - at the end if you don't apply you'll forget
• Consider expiration dates - not all, but some recommendations (AWS, GCP, etc) have expiration date
• Define a preparation plan: time and costs. At the end, evaluate if in your current context (project and personal time) will allow you to prepare well for the test
• Take certifications based on a career plan
• Play smart. Some of the certifications will list other ones as pre-requisite to take it, but some other just list them as recommended, but not blocking you to take it. GCP is one example. If you feel ready to attempt directly for a Professional level, go for it. But, if you’re just starting with GCP, choose entry-level one. Avoid unnecessary frustration.
• Decide by yourself. Everything is relative to the context, so listen and read all opinions, but analyze based on what you want.

These were the main items I considered regarding that discussion about if the certifications still worth… but, what do you think?