Technical Certifications are NOT worth it.. Here's why!

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[DorianDevelops]

How do you feel about technical certs?

[Thomas-odki]

certifications are definitley worth it the only reason I have been considered for internships and jobs. Coding might be different but Cybersecurity/IT should def have them. getting a bunch is a bad idea but having at least 1-2 is certainly helpful

[syn]

I got a job 2 weeks after getting A+ certified. I think it was worth it as a first step out of retail/fast food.

[getgoodorstaybad]

I disagree, I did the A+ net+ sec+ route and got a tech school IT cert saying I finished their tech program. Starting from zero knowledge they were immensely helpful and were a good introduction to IT. Experience definitely speaks louder, but to get relevant experience I had to get certs to get me in the door. The training programs I did to get the certs were fairly in depth and I feel like I learned a lot along the way. I enjoy and agree with most of your videos but in my experience certs are worth it.

[TaHrPa]

As someone who's been in IT for 7 years I have to say relevant certificates are a MUST for SOME positions like Networking and anything to do with Azure/AWS. I've never seen the company hire a NOC engineer without at least CCNP or a server guy without MCSA. It's a bare minimum.
As for programming - absolutely no certification is required. Just your personal knowledge and skills.

[David_]

Sorry bud, but you're talking outside your field of expertise here. In my experience, my technical certifications took me from making 40k yr to making well over 6 figures in 5 years. Granted, I also had an undergrad degree but it was in an unrelated field. Moreover, in every hiring panel I've been in, I always look at the candidate with certifications.

I always recommend people work up to mid-level certs asap, and then branch out.

[roseyodyssey]

I agree with most of your videos but I feel like this one is very misleading. This video is coming from "Software Developer/Web Developer" perspective, it doesn't even consider what the certifications actually teach. It is laughable that you are recommanding building a home server to become a network engineer - besides the fact that it is freaking expensive to properly build a home server (Just watch Craft Computing to get a taste) - when in the "real world" you will rarely be asked to configure a pfSense on a Proxmox Hypervisor. Don't underestimate the scale of maintaining an enterprise network infrastructure, knowing how to properly configure a Cisco/Juniper switch is as important as knowing the theory. These certifications exists for a reason. I got my first job because of CCNA without no background experience at a very big enterprise. Yes, they are for putting your foot at the door of IT world but don't be fool that you can just brain dump the whole exam without knowing a lot of theory. Some certs even recommand or require that you have a certain amount of experience in that field.

EDIT: Also cert exam prices are a drop in the ocean compared to college degrees.

[Showmatic]

They're pretty important in Cybersecurity and maybe general IT, but for web dev and for many software dev jobs, a portfolio is often enough to get started.

[yanksbroncs]

First job, no. If you’re in the industry and have very little experience, it can definitely help to get a much better job. Getting cloud certifications will 100% open up doors for you. Big companies incentivize them so they can say they have a “GCP SME” on staff. You still need to have exposure to the platforms or industry.

[artillla]

Personally, I wouldn’t be where I am now without IT certs. 7 years ago, no college, no skills, dead end job… The certificates gave me some foundational skills (at the time Net + and CCENT) and something relevant to put on my CV so it wasn’t just binned.

Now I still occasionally do certs, more so the validate the skills I have at the time. Because hell, I put a lot of effort into learning topics may as well put a little bit more and have something to prove it. And I find this goes a long was for promotions and salary discussions.

The dumps are a real problem though… But if you’re doing them and interviewing, you’re only fooling yourself…

[LearningandTechnology]

On this one I’ll disagree. I’ve been in the field since the mid 80’s and have seen several “waves” of certifications. Some were “golden tickets”, some were “paper carts” and the list goes on. The cert alone is not going to change who you are, but studying the material for the certifications will create a broad range of skills that you can then build upon. For some they are an entry into new skills, for some they are a ratification of skills. I think that saying they aren’t worth it may be over-simplistic and might steer people away from tools that can help them in their careers.
Full disclosure: I have several certifications and acknowledge that not all certs are equal - but a solid CCNA or specialized Cloud, Infrastructure cert can go a long way.

[KevtechITSupport]

I have trained over 300 students in IT. Some got jobs just having comptia a+, some got jobs without nothing just projects, some got jobs with only a computer science degree. It goes back to the resume, home labs, how you market yourself, having a good linkedin profile, and who you know along with references.

[vfryhn]

I think certificates have some value just to show them up to the world and become a little more "valuable" for some employers, but also I think nothing is more valuable than to have real world experience and show it out there with projects that you have done

[chrisroberts]

I think it depends on your industry. I'm currently a developer in the defense sector, and for the level I am at Sec+ is required to get admin rights and access to the database.

[ramonsito]

Sorry i have to disagree. I believe certifications is your way in, at least for HR side.

[GenXdad]

Jeez.. thank goodness I came to the comments. I'm looking to get into developing and have been considering the free Google certs. I now know to get them. Thanks IT Community.

[paul]

The CompTIA "trifecta" got me started in IT and was the reason I was able to get an interview. Dorian is right, they won't get you a job. But getting you into the interview room is many times all you need.

[sebaba]

The only certs i would consider would be aws/azure. Teaching my self to become a web dev and I think for someone with no experience, no degree(in CS field) and only projects and independent stuff to show, a cert in those cloud services that alllwaayysss show up in the job search might be a good idea. I wouldnt take so many though, just take for example an aws cert at the same time i am doing and hosting a webapp with aws to really drill it through my brain.

[dougbitemore]

Ok so i have about 4 cents on this subject.

So im finishing my first year as a systems administrator and before this job i had no professional experience in IT. I had spent 5 years building gaming desktops so i certainly didn't come in with 0 compute knowledge. Before i landed this job i had obtained my ccna and security + certification. Now i added the Python PCAP and Azure Az-104 to my resume.

As for certifications i feel like people get the wrong idea about them, i view them as a learning tool that gives you something to show for your work if you pass the exam. Now if you only use brain dumps to prepare for the exam then you will obtain very little applicable knowledge for the real world. You must focus on LEARNING the material conceptually and practically if you want to improve your prowess in that field. That is where certifications hold the most of their value imo, they are incentives for learning platforms and broadcasting that knowledge to the world. If you only use brain dumps to obtain your certs then that'll show quickly in the real world or interviews.


That being said certs arent the end all be all you'll always have to learn material outside of those domains in the real world. But certs imo gave me the necessary edge to learn the foundational skills & concepts to grow as an administrator. You can accomplish all of the above without certs but certs gives you something to show and a direction to persue a skillset.

[benlabrum]

Certs are great because they also show you are serious about what you want to do and are willing to put in the time. Certs are also good because they give you a baseline knowledge that you can build off of, especially if you are new to the field.