On Certifications
Before I start, here is just a gentle reminder that these thoughts are my own and do not necessarily represent my employer.
The Nature of a Certification
The nature of a certification is to prove you have knowledge of something or possess specific skills. They do not, however, mean that you are a good employee or can put it anything in the certification to use. And yet, certifications continue to grow due to the nature of increasing demand from employers.
Job seekers earn them to prove they should land an interview. Hiring managers and HR use them to filter people (prematurely) and find the "right candidate". In this sense, they are absurd tools.
The collective worst part is that once a certification is earned, it's likely going to expire. This makes certifications both burdensome as well as a business more than a means of a company validating a person's skill set. As a burden, you must renew. Even if your brain stays up-to-date on all topics and you are a master of your content, you'll still give a minimum of 4 hours of your life booking, paying, and taking a certification test. It is 4 hours of your life you won't get back and likely didn't need to validate anyway in that situation.
In that regard, I give Microsoft an incredible amount of credit for letting you attempt to renew your certifications for free through their learning website free of cost. This is the right approach if they must make the certification expire. However, this may be due to thee fact Microsoft had a 2 year expiration which is utterly ridiculous to me. Working as a developer in Azure does not fundamentally change every 2 years.
Why we have certifications, and why I don't like them
We have certifications because recruiters, hiring managers, and many people are ultimately looking to do more with less. Sometimes, it is not benign and kind. We live in a world that has put almost everything into an algorithm. The algorithm simply wants more points to assess a human being for a role. This is why hackers are still awesome: they can break machines, systems, computers, and people.
Regarding those hackers. Many of the smartest people and greatest workers don't waste time on a certification because they don't need to; you can speak with them or assign them a goal and quickly know they are an expert.
As a foil, I actually knew someone who had gone to coding camps, could not build even a simple application to save their life, and earned all AWS certifications in a matter of months. Test dumps will do that for you. Did that mean someone who had 4 months of experience being trained into a software role that studied test dumps was better than someone who actively built AWS? Obviously not, but on paper, the story can fool many hiring managers, recruiters, and others.
As a business, it makes a cottage industry. There are incentives to have certifications, as it's a straight-forward tool to wield if you want to game the hiring system. Some of the most ignorant people I've ever known held numerous certifications because they studied a test and dumps rather than knowing the material. This is everywhere, including big tech, but it remains exceptionally prevalent in the contracting community. Hiring managers and recruiters want to get a contractor through the door quickly without investment, so certifications seal the deal. Younger workers may not remember the Microsoft certification scams of a couple decades ago that taught many to pass tests and nothing else.
Why I like certifications and also let them expire
Studying for a certification - and not just studying to pass a test - is a fantastic method to structurally learn material. It can be akin to a college or vocational school course. In a sense, the certification provides a means for you to study and know the material with an ultimate goal in sight. I use them for precisely just that. It is also very enjoyable to go through the process of learning with another peer who is studying.
Once I pass, does it mean I am an expert in the subject, or should even be responsible for it at work? Nope. But it means I know enough to explore and consider options in my job. I also receive the added bonus of feeling like I accomplished something...akin to a PlayStation achievement. As such, I won't and don't keep my certifications up and renew them if I don't have a reason to do so. I'll simply do the work.
The last useful nature of certifications is that it can make clients and external parties feel better about working with someone. Of course, I stand by my point that the certification doesn't necessarily mean anything, but if there is an agreed upon "value" in the comfort that certifications bring as a means to trust an external party consulting you, that's worth something...and that's why we ultimately have certifications, isn't it?
Why You Should Certify
If you are reading this and still on the fence regarding certifications, I'll be totally clear: I like certifications and am glad they exist. I just don't elevate the certification to mean something more than it does, and wish the rest of the world did not either. I would love for there to not be a cottage industry of answer banks and teach-the-test systems.
As such, let's have more people earning certifications who truly know the material. So, with that in mind, why don't you grow your skill set (or prove you know it already) and earn a certification in the meantime?
To read my recommended study paths for AWS Certifications, click this link.
To read my recommended study paths for Azure, click this link.