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Ask HN: Any certification that is worth it? Legitimately helped your career?

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Re: Ask HN: Any certification that is worth it? Legitimately helped your career?

#271

Post by gzer0 »

deepzn wrote: post #257
astral303 wrote: post #255

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Au contraire, AWS has a stable of foundational services that have not moved in a long time and a worthwhile knowing, no matter what service-du-jour gets rolled out. Not a moving target at all.

The cert expires in a couple years, and you have to get it again, with some new stuff added though.

I've got my AWS solutions architect associate and professional, they expire in 3 years.

Azure is the worst offender, offering certs that expire in ONE year. No thanks.

Google certs expire after 2 years.

Re: Ask HN: Any certification that is worth it? Legitimately helped your career?

#272

Post by wonderwonder »

MerelyMortal wrote: post #242
hattmall wrote: post #227

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How long did the certification take and how did you go about getting it?

I got the cert 10 years ago (EPA 608, not automotive EPA 609). 60 minutes of studying two different study packets I found online. Found a local test-giver, and called them up to schedule the test.

And after that you felt competent to do your own repairs? If so I know what I am doing the next few weekends.

Re: Ask HN: Any certification that is worth it? Legitimately helped your career?

#273

Post by frakkingcylons »

GuB-42 wrote: post #186

Driver's license. Maybe it sounds obvious, but if you don't have a license, you are crippling yourself. Even if you don't have a car, not having a license means you don't even have the option of renting one. Also, is is so "obvious" that if an employer notices that you don't have it, he will wonder why. Are you too stupid to drive? Crippled in some way? Economic problems? Have some criminal history? Alcoholic? You ma…

I have no earthly idea what you are talking about wrt drivers licenses. It’d be a mere curiosity at first but nothing beyond that.

Re: Ask HN: Any certification that is worth it? Legitimately helped your career?

#275

Post by mandmandam »

matsemann wrote: post #256
GuB-42 wrote: post #186

Driver's license. Maybe it sounds obvious, but if you don't have a license, you are crippling yourself. Even if you don't have a car, not having a license means you don't even have the option of renting one. Also, is is so "obvious" that if an employer notices that you don't have it, he will wonder why. Are you too stupid to drive? Crippled in some way? Economic problems? Have some criminal history? Alcoholic? You ma…

Is this some American car culture thing? Never heard someone mentioning it as an issue. If anything, in my circles owning a car is frowned upon.

It's an American thing. You're expected to drive from 16 on. Public transport is generally inferior to other developed countries, and carries an abhorrent level of cultural baggage. Being told someone rides the bus is seen as an insult (!) over most of the country.

Up until very recently, the big costs of running a car - 'gas', insurance, the car itself - were relatively cheaper in America than nearly anywhere else. Maybe now that Merkins are paying more for petrol their culture will adapt. However, cynicism would suggest a more Mad Max destination for us. We'll pry the guzzoline from their bullet-ridden bodies.

Re: Ask HN: Any certification that is worth it? Legitimately helped your career?

#276

Post by bawolff »

imwillofficial wrote: post #246
bawolff wrote: post #190

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Idk, i haven't been in the industry long enough to compare. Also, i work in security (in north america and not gov), maybe other areas are more pro-cert.

I also disagree with your first comment. Large amounts of difficult certs have never been a negative signal and I’ve been doing this for like 20 years. Especially in cyber security where a wide breadth of various knowledge is needed, certs can really help show who has the ”full-stack” so to speak. That being said, 20+ CompTIA cents isn’t going to move the needle for me. I say all that to say “it depends on the cert”

I think that's fair. I more saw it as the 20+ comptia certs.

Re: Ask HN: Any certification that is worth it? Legitimately helped your career?

#277

Post by Oras »

sloaken wrote: post #217

Non-tech - Toastmasters - I think it is called 'Competent Toastmaster' it is the first set. Consists of doing 10 speeches. Significantly improve your ability to talk in public and to do presentations.

Toastmasters have a certificate? I didn’t know about that. But how this will be measured and standardised considering it is a community run?

Re: Ask HN: Any certification that is worth it? Legitimately helped your career?

#278

Post by SoftTalker »

wonderwonder wrote: post #272
MerelyMortal wrote: post #242

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I got the cert 10 years ago (EPA 608, not automotive EPA 609). 60 minutes of studying two different study packets I found online. Found a local test-giver, and called them up to schedule the test.

And after that you felt competent to do your own repairs? If so I know what I am doing the next few weekends.

Correct me if I'm wrong but I think 80% of it boils down to "do not release refrigerant gas into the atmosphere"

Re: Ask HN: Any certification that is worth it? Legitimately helped your career?

#279

Post by ElemenoPicuares »

zdragnar wrote: post #232
ElemenoPicuares wrote: post #176

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Be careful about the bias in single-metric gatekeeping strategies like this. Contributing to open source projects, having side projects, et al are pursuits of leisure. Certificates are possibly the only foot in the door for folks working multiple jobs with kids, etc. and the government often pays the tuition for low income folks. Once you’ve got them, even if you’re more established, it would be crazy to leave them o…

> Once you’ve got them, even if you’re more established, it would be crazy to leave them off of your resume, right? Recruiters and hiring managers go through so many resumes, the last thing you want is to have someone looking for a programmer to read about your basket weaving skills. My strategy has always been to tailor the bulk of the resume to the job I'm applying for. Bring everything else up during the interview…

We're talking about relevant certs, here.

Re: Ask HN: Any certification that is worth it? Legitimately helped your career?

#280

Post by [deleted] »

wonderwonder wrote: post #272
MerelyMortal wrote: post #242

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I got the cert 10 years ago (EPA 608, not automotive EPA 609). 60 minutes of studying two different study packets I found online. Found a local test-giver, and called them up to schedule the test.

And after that you felt competent to do your own repairs? If so I know what I am doing the next few weekends.

[deleted]
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