Hey everyone! I'm a 23-year-old guy with a CS degree and quite a bit of experience. Currently, I earn significantly more than both junior and senior developers in my area, but I have trouble finding sponsorship opportunities to work abroad in places that offer better livable wages. My goal is to transition to a job in North America, Australia, or the EU so I can develop my career further instead of being stuck with low salaries and no room for advancement. I'm torn between focusing on Backend development or switching to DevOps. What certifications or steps should I take to boost my employability? Is getting a master's degree worth it right now? Any advice would be greatly appreciated!
1 Answer
I would say skip the master's for now. Degrees actually won’t have as much impact on getting sponsorship compared to relevant certifications and a solid portfolio. If you lean towards backend development, look into cloud certifications since a lot of companies expect you to be familiar with infrastructure as well, like:
* AWS Solutions Architect Associate (this is a must-have)
* AWS DevOps Engineer or SysOps Admin depending on what direction you want to go
* Terraform Associate (infrastructure as code is super trendy)
* Kubernetes CKA (knowing how to handle containers is essential)
If you decide to go into DevOps, make sure to also gain experience with CI/CD tools like Jenkins or GitHub Actions and monitoring tools such as Prometheus and Grafana. The key is to demonstrate your skills through real projects or open-source contributions. These will make a bigger impact on hiring managers than just your certifications alone. Once you have a couple of certifications and a strong portfolio, aim for mid-sized companies in the EU or Canada as they are often more willing to offer sponsorships than the big tech firms.
Thank you for the advice!