"If it takes a document to convince others you know your craft, maybe the real proof is still in the work itself."
(Or maybe I'm just too lazy to renew credentials every 2-3 years. Either way, here's why I don't have certifications - and why I'm completely okay with that.)
The Problem With Certifications
Let's be logical about this. Certifications claim to validate technical knowledge, but let's examine what they actually do:
No amount of practical experience and real life projects can compete with certifications.
- They're repackaged free information with a price tag. Everything in an AWS certification exists in AWS documentation (free). Everything in a Kubernetes cert is on kubernetes.io (free). Every coding certification? YouTube has thousands of tutorials (free). You're paying $300+ for structured access to information that's already publicly available.
- The "practical" components are sanitized nonsense. Spinning up a VM in a sandboxed environment with step-by-step instructions isn't real experience. It's "hello world" scaled up slightly. Real experience is production breaking at 2am and figuring it out. It's legacy code with zero documentation. It's budget constraints, time pressure, and conflicting stakeholders. Lab exercises teach syntax, not problem-solving under real constraints.
- The renewal model is indefensible. If you prove you can code in Python today, that knowledge doesn't expire in 2-3 years. Skills improve with practice, they don't decay. The renewal cycle exists for one reason: recurring revenue for certification companies. It's a subscription model disguised as professional development.
- They create credential inflation. The only reason certifications feel necessary is because everyone has them. It's not that they add value - it's that their absence is penalized. This is artificial scarcity created by the certification industry, not actual market demand for the skills they supposedly validate.
What Certifications Actually Are
Strip away the marketing and here's what remains: Certifications are an expensive filter that benefits certification companies and lazy hiring processes, not developers.
They don't teach anything that books, documentation, and YouTube couldn't teach better. They don't provide experience that actual projects couldn't provide more authentically. They exist because employers want a shortcut to avoid actually testing skills.
If a recruiter can't filter 400 resumes per month - their primary job - the solution isn't certifications, it's better recruiters. Certifications are a band-aid for broken hiring processes.
"Credentials are what you need when you can't show your work."
The day companies universally adopted take-home projects and pair programming interviews instead of checking cert boxes, these certification bodies would collapse overnight.
My Alternative
Instead of paying for renewals and memorizing multiple-choice answers, I invest that time and money into:
- Building real projects that solve actual problems
- Contributing to open source where my code is publicly reviewable
- Staying current with technologies through hands-on implementation, not textbook theory
- Writing code that compounds in value rather than credentials that expire
"If you optimize for the test, you become good at taking tests. If you optimize for building, you become good at building."
A Personal Choice, Not a Universal Truth
Look, this is my personal stance based on where I am in my career. If you have certifications, good for you - genuinely. You invested time and money into structured learning, and that's respectable. Many talented developers have certs, and many don't. Both paths can lead to excellence.
Or maybe I'm just too lazy to sit for exams. Who knows? 😄
My point isn't that certifications are evil or that people who have them are wrong. My point is that for someone with 8+ years of hands-on experience, I'd rather invest that $300 and 40 hours into building something new than proving I know something I've been doing professionally for nearly a decade.
Different stages of career, different needs. Career switchers? Certs can be a solid entry signal. Regulated industries? Sometimes they're mandatory. Recent grads building credibility? Makes sense.
But for me, at this point? My work speaks louder than any certificate could.
Who This Portfolio Is For
If you're looking for someone who thinks independently, questions assumptions, and backs up their opinions with logic - we'll probably get along great. If you need checkbox compliance and credential collecting, there are plenty of talented folks out there who fit that better.
Certs show what you’ve studied; your work shows who you really are.
No offense intended to anyone. Just being honest about how I approach my career.