I'm looking to reenter the job market and I'm curious about the current worth of certifications. Back between 2019 and 2023, certifications seemed essential at my last two jobs. We even had dedicated time off to pursue certifications, with our company covering costs for two each year. I had an AWS Cloud Practitioner cert that expired three years ago, so I'm wondering if I should pursue a more recent AWS cert, like Solutions Architect, especially given my work experience with Ansible, Terraform, and Kubernetes. Alternatively, is it preferable to just showcase projects I've built in my AWS environment? I've got about four years of experience, but there's a gap of seven months since I took on a sysadmin contracting role.
4 Answers
If you have some job experience, the need for certifications diminishes. While certs specific to cloud platforms can be relevant, especially for roles in cloud engineering, tools like Terraform or Kubernetes might not carry the same weight. If you can snag a certification like the Solutions Architect Pro, that could impress hiring managers.
Certifications can definitely be worthwhile if they push you to deepen your expertise. In tech, knowledge is indeed power! Some tough certs signal strong skills. For instance, the CKA or professional-level certs hold weight. But lower-tier certs like the AWS Cloud Practitioner might not be as impressive anymore.
Certifications can help you get past CV screening, but to really land a job, you’ll need to show your skills in interviews, possibly via live coding. They can be useful for learning new technologies, though! I took the CKA, which gave me solid Kubernetes skills, but I don’t see much reason to renew it with my two years of experience now. It did help me attract recruiters back then, though.
In my experience, I value candidates with real-world skills over lists of certifications. Sometimes having too many certs can backfire, as it might come off as trying too hard. Focus on your practical experience and how you can solve actual problems instead of just passing tests. If I see a CCIE, that's a solid cert! The rest? Not so much.
Totally agree! I've seen too many people with tons of certs but no real world application.
Yeah, getting certified does help you make those initial connections, especially in tech.