Should Software Developers Focus on Getting Certifications?

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Hey folks, we are going to YouTube comments. Uh, hey Code Commute, what are your thoughts on certifications like AWS, Oracle, and Springerts, are they worth studying for? Thank you for your advice. And this is from uh Joseph with some letters after. Um, so we'll talk about that. I'll give you my perspective on that. We'll get going here. Um, and just a friendly reminder for folks that if you want questions answered, leave them below in the comments. Happy to try and answer. Otherwise, you can send a message to dev leader on social media. That's also my main YouTube channel and um keep you anonymous that way. Uh, so if you want to write in with more detail, then uh then you're welcome to do so. And the for the record, the more detail I have, the the more specifically I can try and answer your question.

Otherwise, sometimes things are really general and generic and you might feel like the answer is kind of not that helpful because I don't have enough detail to give you a specific answer for your case. Um, so we'll get into that in just a moment. Uh, it's nice. I'm actually going to CrossFit for the first time this week. It's Friday. Uh, I had a milestone for the big project I've been working on last week. Um, was literally so burnt out and stressed out the the night before that I I physically got sick and I've been sick for the entire week since. So, there was that and then I was a backup on call. Um but on our team it's quite busy. So I've been essentially on call for up until yesterday. Today I have off uh from on call at least. And then I also had the other project I've been working on that requires my time before and after work.

So um yeah, I've been it's been a lot still. So this is uh kind of nice to be able to drive in somewhere and get some recording in. You'll notice if you're if you're following how many videos went out this week, it's basically it's almost none. I think I've I've only done four vlogs or something. So, uh compared to like 10 to 15, it's not a lot. Okay. Certifications. Uh I have I guess my own opinion on this which is probably going to be pretty biased one way and then I'll try to talk about some other perspectives but the uh the TLDDR from from my point of view from a hiring perspective is that uh I don't care. Uh I been software engineering manager for just under 13 years now uh at startups and um big tech at Microsoft. I've just I've never cared about certificates.

Um they don't I'll say it this way. It's not like having certificates is going to work against you by any means. Um but I have never specifically looked for any. I have never looked through a list of them and said like that's been a deciding factor or anything like that. Um, so when I am looking for software engineers, it's just not it's just not something that I have ever paid attention to or cared to to look for. Um, I guess the the reason why is most cert things that I've seen don't require a lot of uh what's a good way to say this? I I'm trying sorry I'm trying to find words that make it sound not I don't know like not insulting. Um most programs I have seen you don't have to put much into and you can get a you can get a aert.

So it's like um it it doesn't carry a lot of weight. I'm not saying that there aren't some that are hard to get or something like that, but the overwhelming majority of searchs that I come across, I'm just like, I don't I don't see that really adding any value uh when I'm looking for developers. And when I say any value, I mean like it's it's min it's minimal enough that like I just I don't care. Um, that's a pretty it's pretty short answer from from my perspective, but uh like I like to do on these channels, I like to talk about things from different angles because uh I have one perspective and it's obviously not going to be you know the reality in every scenario. So I think it's important we look at different angles. Um let's start from the perspective of someone who is very junior.

Okay. Um when you are very junior uh say even going for your first job one of the challenges is that um you don't have like work experience like prior work experience as a software developer. As a result, uh, resumes can feel pretty light. But the tricky part is that like there's you and a lot of other people in a similar situation. And, um, I try to remind people like given that you don't have experience at this point that's going to differentiate you, right? because you don't have the prior work experience. How are you going to differentiate yourself from places that are looking to hire uh you know beginner developers and are willing to take on new developers that have minimal to no work experience. By the way, there are places like this. I know that no one believes it anymore um because everyone's afraid of AI, but like if you're trying to build a team, you need to have continuity.

So, you need to have new developers. Um so if you are in this situation you're like okay like how do I make myself stand out? Okay I can put my school down I can put uh if I have worked on projects like awesome by the way I think that's one of the biggest differentiating factors as a as a new developer that doesn't have work experience. Um, you can put volunteer stuff like there's a bunch of stuff you can do. But I think personally that like if you are if you're able to put down certifications, it at least shows that as a new developer, you're like, "Look, I'm trying here. I am trying to go learn other things. I am trying to invest in myself and get better." Like, come on, man. You can't switch lanes if you're not like actively trying to move in front. Um, it's like a you can't see cuz I don't have my 360 camera on, but my wife actually does this when she's driving.

And I would say this to her face, so I'll say it on a recording. That's how I know I'm safe to say it. Um, she believes that when the signal is turned on, it means I can move there. Like it's me telling you that I'm I'm going now. But that's not what a turn signal means, buddy. You have to pass the bus. Come on. Um, yeah, putting a signal on doesn't mean I am going. It means I have the intention to move over. Yeah. So, this person just had their signal on, but they were like kind of almost sitting beside me, so you can't really merge into me. It's not physically going to work. And then they proceeded to uh not understand how to merge onto the highway. So, that was nice. Okay. Um, I think that if you're able to list search as a new developer that doesn't have experience, like I was saying, that uh it's something to help you stand out.

Right? At this point, as a new developer, in my opinion, anything you can do to help you stand out is going to be helpful. And that's because the and again not the words I'm choosing may sound insulting and I that's just not my intention but like the bar is quite um the bar for being the same as other people is quite low, right? Like I don't have experience. Maybe I went to college, university or a boot camp and maybe I have some projects. by the way, not even I've had resumes sent into me that don't have projects even. So, it's like the the chance that you're going to look very much just like someone else with a resume like that is is very high. You start layering in projects starts to differentiate what are those projects, right? Um again, just more and more differentiation. So I I do feel that having as a brand new developer trying to break in could be an opportunity and that person was going way too fast.

Like I was trying to get on the highway and that person was tailgating me. And you I don't know if you could hear how I was driving to get around the person that was going slow, but the person that just passed me was was tailgating me to get on the highway. So anyway, um so that's that's one thought, right? The other thing or the other perspective I want to share here and this is for me talking with other people about this, right? So um I'm going to go from the other side, right? So, not as a hiring manager, not just as a, hey, how can we try to make your resume stand out, I'm going to take it from the perspective that I've heard from people that have done certifications uh and and talked about it online or I've talked with them directly and that is that some folks that I've talked to actually feel that the structured approach for going through a certification is helpful for them for learning.

me. Personally, I do not. From the few that like I've ever started, like I don't even think I can list any that I've completed cuz at some point I'm like I just don't care to do this. Um, but from like clicking through and stuff, I feel like uh it ends up feeling very representative of a sort of like a a university like course setup that I remember like just having to memorize some stuff and I'm like I'm not actually learning here. Like almost like follow this tutorial and then hopefully you memorize some things and we'll give you a certification. And to me, it just feels like it's it's But that's me and that's just been my experience. The people that I've talked to have said the opposite. I'm sorry, I'm not saying everyone I've talked to about this says the opposite.

I mean, I've talked with some individuals, some that I've worked with that have said like going and doing certifications actually helps them learn new concepts uh and they feel that they understand things better. And I think that is a really, really, really good reason to do them if that's how it works for you. For me, it doesn't. So, I won't spend my time doing it. But I think if you're the kind of person who's tried it out and you're like, "Hell yeah, like I feel like I learned about that thing and that's kind of with me now and I could relever it." Yes, please go do that. Um cuz I am fully on board with trying to find ways to to learn new things and being able to apply new things uh expanding your skill set. Like absolutely. Um you know especially if you can go do that and then leverage it to go build uh some experience that you can report back on your resume or something, right?

Um or if you're not in a position where you're like actively searching for jobs and you're like I just don't care about my resume or something right now. If you're able to translate the C uh the Cert experience into something tangible, like hell yeah, right? I think that's great. So again, if you've tried it out and your experience has been positive, I'm not here to like talk you out of taking certifications, like that's not the intention of of this. Uh doesn't that doesn't benefit me in any way. Um, I'm just kind of sharing what my experience with SS has been. And, uh, some other folks have had the complete opposite experience, which I think is great. No, buddy. You can't. You're not moving over. That person was in a truck that was significantly larger. So, they could have done the thing where they say, "I'm putting my signal on and I'm moving." and that would have uh destroyed me.

So, thankfully they didn't do that. Oh, no. I just spilled my my water on myself. That's what I get. It's funny cuz I can't see. So, I dropped it and I was like, "Oh, good. It didn't spill." Like it stayed pretty upright and then I could feel my leg get wet. Damn. Damn it. I don't know how much I spilled now. Maybe there's a whole lot, but we'll see. Um, there's one more thing I wanted to say on Certs. Oh, um, so let me take a sip. the um the reality is I'm kind of talking about stuff from my exposure to different software development areas, right? Whether they've been my lived experiences or people that I've talked to. Um now I think it's important to mention that there may be jobs or there may be um even roles that are like adjacent to software developers, right?

So there could be some domains or there could be roles adjacent to software developer that benefit from search and sometimes maybe not even benefit maybe they have a requirement. I don't I don't know of any off the top of my head to be honest. So that's why I can't sit here and go rhyme off like fiveerts that for five jobs that you should go have kind of thing. Um, what I would say is like try if you're, you know, I'm giving you my perspective from software development, sort of from a generic domain perspective, but if you're like, hey, in I'm just making this up. If I want to be a software developer in the finance domain, I've never worked in finance personally. Um, I can't imagine that they have like required certs or something. I don't know. Um, required, right? But maybe there's something that's beneficial.

Maybe you have a certification for learning about some financial standards or something in uh in like computer systems. Maybe like I don't I don't know of one but maybe um and then maybe for uh roles that are adjacent to software developer. So maybe some type of IT support or you know something more specific for support. um perhaps there's uh certifications that are basically expected or mandatory and I I don't know the answer there, right? So I can't again I can't just tell you go take these ones. Um but I would say pay attention to that because you should be doing your research, right? like you watching some bald guy driving into CrossFit spilling water on his pants is one opinion, one perspective. And I thank you for being here, of course. Um, but you know, like you shouldn't shouldn't stop here and hopefully you don't, right?

I would I would love to be your your be all end all source of information, but that's just not feasible. And I would never recommend that. that's where people just like kind of stop their research. So, um yeah, definitely kind of explore a little bit further for your specific domain or your your role. But, uh in general, from a software developer perspective, that's kind of the the viewpoints that I would like to share with you. be curious to hear from you in the comments if you have um a different perspective or you know if you're able to say hey like were really helpful for me or you agree were not just you know share in the comments I think it's uh I think if you've seen some other comment threads on some of the videos you'll notice that like people do read them and uh

being able to share with the other viewers and stuff is helpful too because it's just it's more different perspectives to uh to layer in and I think that there's only only ways or opportunities to learn when we do that. So, uh I appreciate if you do that. I think other viewers do. So, okay, I'm pulling into CrossFit. This workout is going to be absolute Um this is the kind of workout that if I had been going all week and I saw it on a Friday, I would take Friday off. But I haven't been going all week, so I have to go do this one. I'll see you next time, folks. Take care.