Certifications: Are They Worth It?

Is it important? Yes and no.

Certifications can be more valuable for the company where you work than for you personally. Some certifications I pursue to force myself to deepen my knowledge of the content, but what really matters is your actual knowledge, not the certificate itself.

The time you spend working hands-on with a tool or technology is worth much more than the "paper." If you haven't had the chance to work with it yet and want a certification to "prove" your capability, it can be useful, but I believe a well-maintained study repository has even greater value. In the end, a certification only shows that you dedicated time to study, but doesn't a repository demonstrate that even better?

If you think a certification will increase your salary or guarantee your job security, I'm sorry to say, but it won't. I've obtained certifications that were required by my company and, honestly, they didn't change anything about my salary.

Can certifications be a differentiator between two candidates? Yes, but a good recommendation is worth much more. If someone recommends you by saying "You can hire them, this person is excellent," that carries far more weight than any certificate.

When I decide to pursue a certification, it's usually to test myself, to challenge myself and gain confidence. Sometimes, it can even be enjoyable. You know that person who enters a bunch of competitions just to know they passed and boost their ego? It's kind of like that.

Cloud certifications, for example, are the classic case of something that should be free. In the end, you're learning a bunch of services to "sell" solutions to clients. They're charging you to learn how to be a salesperson! These multiple-choice tests don't assess your execution ability, just whether you know where to start. Shouldn't they be free?

On the other hand, we have certifications like Linux and Kubernetes, which are more practical and, in my opinion, much more interesting. I personally obtained Kubernetes certifications for the following reasons:

1. Personal satisfaction.
2. The company reimbursed the cost.
3. To study more deeply.
4. To support the Kubernetes ecosystem, almost as a way to "pay back" for what I've already used!

I'm not against certifications; I just think that if the company needs you to be certified to charge more from clients, it should pay for it. If you already know the tool, you'll do the job with or without a certificate. The certification content can serve as a good study guide.

Those certificates you get for participating in internal training sessions or events, in my opinion, have no real value at all. They only serve to fill up your LinkedIn profile, and barely even that.

If you want to be remembered and become a reference in something, study with dedication, create content about the topic, and contribute to the community. Then yes, you'll get there.