Certifications create wrong incentives for engineers and recruiters
1–10 of 84 posts
Re: Certifications create wrong incentives for engineers and recruiters
#2Author/OP here. Just heard an interesting and relevant tidbit from someone who read the post. Apparently a while ago, Google fed resumes of employees into an ML model and correlated several metrics to the success of a specific engineer at Google. There was a lot of interesting data gathered from that but one that stood out was exactly that the number of certifications listed was inversely proportional to the engineer's success (measured as career progress).
Re: Certifications create wrong incentives for engineers and recruiters
#3> People often suggest that interviewing.io should create a certification that our users can post on their LinkedIn profile, e.g., something like “Top 10% performer on interviewing.io”
Rest of the discussion aside, “we will give you a certificate of being good at interviews” is one of the most absurd grifts I’ve heard in awhile…
Re: Certifications create wrong incentives for engineers and recruiters
#4> People often suggest that interviewing.io should create a certification that our users can post on their LinkedIn profile, e.g., something like “Top 10% performer on interviewing.io” Rest of the discussion aside, “we will give you a certificate of being good at interviews” is one of the most absurd grifts I’ve heard in awhile…
If I ever had to interview someone with one of these certificates they would get the most technical, least buzzword friendly interview in human history.
Re: Certifications create wrong incentives for engineers and recruiters
#5Author/OP here. Just heard an interesting and relevant tidbit from someone who read the post. Apparently a while ago, Google fed resumes of employees into an ML model and correlated several metrics to the success of a specific engineer at Google. There was a lot of interesting data gathered from that but one that stood out was exactly that the number of certifications listed was inversely proportional to the engineer…
I think that’s largely because people who get certificates often do so because they didn’t have formal (or close to formal, e.g. highly motivated dropouts) education in the field they are getting a certificate.
(also - job churn, and/or they may be slightly less autodidactic)
Re: Certifications create wrong incentives for engineers and recruiters
#6Author/OP here. Just heard an interesting and relevant tidbit from someone who read the post. Apparently a while ago, Google fed resumes of employees into an ML model and correlated several metrics to the success of a specific engineer at Google. There was a lot of interesting data gathered from that but one that stood out was exactly that the number of certifications listed was inversely proportional to the engineer…
Thanks for the context around the subject - piles of data don't mean anything until run through some kind of system and with a goal IMHO. That's an interesting wrinkle in the evaluation / desensitization of employees as humans. Metrics!
What's so hilarious to me in the big picture is how Google and AI in general realize they only make interesting news when they use finished products or concepts because their systems are evolutionally stupid and still can't make a decent song like a child at a piano.
Re: Certifications create wrong incentives for engineers and recruiters
#7Author/OP here. Just heard an interesting and relevant tidbit from someone who read the post. Apparently a while ago, Google fed resumes of employees into an ML model and correlated several metrics to the success of a specific engineer at Google. There was a lot of interesting data gathered from that but one that stood out was exactly that the number of certifications listed was inversely proportional to the engineer…
Confirming what we’ve suspected for decades. Certs are a waste of time and money.
Food for thought: So are degrees.
Re: Certifications create wrong incentives for engineers and recruiters
#8Author/OP here. Just heard an interesting and relevant tidbit from someone who read the post. Apparently a while ago, Google fed resumes of employees into an ML model and correlated several metrics to the success of a specific engineer at Google. There was a lot of interesting data gathered from that but one that stood out was exactly that the number of certifications listed was inversely proportional to the engineer…
I think that’s largely because people who get certificates often do so because they didn’t have formal (or close to formal, e.g. highly motivated dropouts) education in the field they are getting a certificate. (also - job churn, and/or they may be slightly less autodidactic)
Exactly! You get certifications to prove you can do a job (in theory); the most successful people never have to prove they can do a job.
Go look at all of Carmack's certifications, or Torvalds, etc.
Re: Certifications create wrong incentives for engineers and recruiters
#9Author/OP here. Just heard an interesting and relevant tidbit from someone who read the post. Apparently a while ago, Google fed resumes of employees into an ML model and correlated several metrics to the success of a specific engineer at Google. There was a lot of interesting data gathered from that but one that stood out was exactly that the number of certifications listed was inversely proportional to the engineer…
Link?
Career progress means that Principal Engineers don't have certs -- does that add any value to determine whether certs have value? I'd say Principal Engineers are typically the ones designing the courses and have no use for displaying their qualifications.
Re: Certifications create wrong incentives for engineers and recruiters
#10I took a C# certification on linked in yesterday. It took 10 minutes and was incredibly simple. And the questions were straight to the point C# language questions, pretty easy if you actually work with the language day to day. I liked that it didn't have any questions you'd only know if you happen to be working with the esoteric JSON library du jour, it was pure C# language spec stuff.
I'll let you know when I'm standing in line at the soup kitchen, but so far finding work hasn't been a problem.