If you have ever been on the angriest website in the world a.k.a. Reddit and have read a post in a tech subreddit about certifications, then you’ve surely seen people claim how worthless they are. It’s an argument that will never die.
I’ve made a post on this site before talking about whether or not certifications are worth it, but I wanted to expand the discussion and talk about more than just that.
With the exception of actual on-the-job experience, there are three main ways we can get experience that is relevant to the majority of tech jobs out there.
Four-year degrees are the minimum for a ton of jobs, but the requirement is slowly decreasing. College degrees rarely teach specifics. This is by design. Universities are not supposed to teach imminently relevant skills. They are supposed to build a foundation upon which students can begin to understand the world, and with a focus on specific areas. I focused on computer science and business administration.
I have a Bachelor of Science in Computer Information Systems. When I got my first job, I basically knew nothing. Sure, I recognized certain words and immediately understood certain concepts, but I didn’t know how to work in a data center. My university successfully elevated me into a citizen with a broad understanding of the world around me, but I didn’t know how to recycle app pools within IIS. And that’s not a bad thing.
Degrees show potential employers that a candidate is capable of committing to a long term and challenging goal. Degrees prove that one has an aptitude for learning, along with a general understanding of the liberal arts.
When it comes to actually meeting employer expectations, there is nothing more important than actually knowing how to do the job. And yet, it is not everything.
There is a good reason why companies aren’t hiring people who only have a portfolio of personal projects. How can they be sure this person can work in a team? Universities force collaboration. How can they be sure this person won’t say something wildly offensive? Universities are a bastion against ignorance. And how can they be sure this person can stay motivated and meet their expectations? Universities weed out people who fail to follow through and cannot stay focused.
There is an exception to this, and it is called the military. I have worked with many people who do not have a degree, but did serve in the military. I would argue that the military prepares job candidates better than the majority of universities.
But if one does not have a degree or military experience, then the employer is taking quite a large risk on someone who can only vouch for themselves.
And finally, we are back to tech certifications. Whereas universities focus on theory, tech certifications focus on the imminent skills that one should possess to qualify for a very specific job function.
I was a student in Georgia Tech’s online Computer Science Masters program for a couple semesters and I ended up dropping it. I didn’t really have any experience with tech certifications when I was finishing my undergrad degree. By the time I had started the Masters program, I had a good bit. I couldn’t stop comparing the graduate degree program to certifications. I felt like I was wasting my time, so I quit.
I think that graduate degrees have value, but the effort it would take to finish the program would have shut me out of certification opportunities for years. That’s how much I value them. Sure, they expire while degrees are forever. But that’s the point! Certifications prove an understanding of some specific skill that employers are actively hiring for.
Certifications do not replace university degrees and they do not replace hands-on experience, but the value they offer is somewhere in between. They prove to employers that someone has the ability to learn new things and that someone has the motivation to expand their skill set.
While certifications can certainly help, they are not enough on their own. The four-year degree remains a hard requirement for many employers. Certifications without hands-on experience will only demonstrate an understanding of the theory without a demonstration of the skills themselves. When it comes to augmenting a resume and getting an immediate advantage over the competition in the job market, it is hard to find something better than an assortment of relevant certifications.
If I had to rank them, I will always rank hands-on experience first. An extensive portfolio showcasing the skills we are hiring for should always be paramount. I personally do not put too much of an emphasis on degrees, but that decision may not be mine to make as many employers require it. Let’s assume it is, and if so, then it’s an automatic second. Lastly, there are certifications. But just because they are the last thing we might consider does not mean that they do not have an impact. They very well could be the deciding factor in a candidate pool of twenty or thirty otherwise similar job seekers.
I also firmly believe that most certifications can be earned in a single month. Certain professional and expert-level certifications very well could take up to a year, but that’s still well below how long it takes to get a degree. In short, get certified and put yourself ahead of the competition. Good luck!