Are Certifications Worth It? A Practical, Opinionated Take
The Question I Get Asked All the Time
One of the most common questions I get is whether certifications are “worth it”. This question comes up constantly across the internet. Usually, the response goes something like this:
“Certifications are useless. They’re not real experience.”
That statement isn’t entirely wrong, but it also misses the point. Certifications were never meant to replace real-world experience. They exist to solve a different problem entirely.
The Short Answer (With an Asterisk)
Yes, certifications can be worth it, but only when they’re used intentionally, and paired with actual learning and hands-on work.
They are a tool, not a destination.
Why “Certifications Aren’t Real Experience” Is the Wrong Argument
The most common criticism of certifications is that they don’t represent real experience. That’s true, but irrelevant.
Certifications are about structured exposure:
- Baseline concepts
- Shared vocabulary
- A guided overview of a domain you may not have access to yet.
Ironically, the people most likely to dismiss certifications are the ones who already have experience, which makes it harder for them to remember what it’s like to not know where to start.
Certifications aren’t for experts. They’re for people building their footing.
When Certifications Actually Make Sense
Certifications are most valuable when you’re changing state, such as:
- Early in your career
- Fresh out of college
- Pivoting into a new role or industry
- Upskilling into a different specialization
- Trying to make your skills legible to recruiters
- Marketing yourself to clients or external audiences
In these cases, certifications act as a bridge, not proof of mastery.
Recruiters Need Black-and-White Signals
One thing many engineers underestimate is how little context recruiters have.
They don’t:
- Do your job
- Understand your tooling stack
- Infer nuance from loosely described projects
Certifications create a clear, standardized signal:
“This person has been exposed to these specific skills and concepts.”
That signal is about translation.
It helps turn your experience into something that can be quickly understood by people who don’t share your background.
Breadth Has a Delayed Payoff
Another common complaint is that certifications don’t reflect production reality.
That’s often true, but certifications do expose you to:
- Edge cases
- Niche services
- Architectural patterns
- Scenarios you may not encounter early on
Later, once you gain experience, you might recognize situations and think:
“Oh — this is that thing I remember from studying for that cert.”
Certifications plant mental reference points that mature over time.
Where Certifications Become a Problem
Certifications become a problem when they’re pursued just to collect them.
If you’re:
- Cramming to pass
- Disengaging from the material
- Never applying what you learn,
then the certification becomes a Pokémon card.
At that point, it’s no longer demonstrating competence.
The Right Way to Use Certifications
In my experience, the best approach looks like this:
- Study the certification content seriously
- Learn the concepts and the landscape
- Apply the material in a hands-on project
The certification provides:
- Structure
- Coverage
- Shared vocabulary
The project provides:
- Proof of understanding
- Muscle memory
- Something concrete to show
Projects don’t replace production experience, but they’re far better than going in cold.
A certification plus a real project is an honest signal:
“I’ve learned this, and I’ve applied it independently.”
Early Career, Pivots, and the Client Exception
Certifications matter most:
- Early in your career
- When you’re pivoting into something new
The major exception is client-facing work.
Many clients:
- Expect certifications
- Use them as credibility markers
- Require them for compliance or trust
If you’re marketing yourself, especially as a consultant or business, certifications help you look legitimate before someone ever reviews your work.
Everyone understands that a certification doesn’t make you an expert. What matters is whether your hands-on work backs it up.
If You’re Going to Learn Anyway, Document It
One of my personal philosophies is:
If you’re going to invest the time to learn something, you might as well make that learning visible.
That can be:
- A certification
- A project
- Ideally both
If you don’t want the paperwork, you must have the project. If you want the signal, get the paperwork and do the work.
Final Thoughts
Certifications aren’t useless. They’re just often misused.
They won’t make you an expert. They won’t replace experience. They won’t do the work for you.
But when used intentionally, especially alongside real projects, they can be a powerful bridge between where you are and where you’re trying to go.
The key isn’t collecting credentials. It’s making your learning real, applied, and legible.