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Ask HN: Cloud certifications and job prospects. Is there a real connection?

As I'm getting a bit old (mid 40s) I'm thinking about getting an AWS certification in order to bump up my employability and better my standing in job market. I'm wondering though if there's any tangible connection between the two. What has been your experience with these and similar certifications?

more_corn 4y ago
I was doing aws for years before I sat the solutions architect exam. I learned a lot and would recommend it to anyone operating in the space. I hire and having that cert goes a long way towards showing you know your way around AWS.
Terretta 4y ago
AWS certifications from AWS are reasonably legit. That said, most certifications are a negative indicator of competence. This is supported by direct experience and research studies. At the prior 3 institutions I was CTO, we routinely screened out resumes with a laundry list of certifications before even speaking to candidates. Note this is not about having certifications, it’s about mediocre candidates attempting to signal competence on the resume by listing a pile of cert-mill nonsense. The negative correlation is so high, when hiring at scale just toss the ones with certs (but give recruiters a list of exceptions, e.g., AWS, CNCF, etc.). // Again, there are exceptions, and AWS first party certifications are among them.
beaylott1986 4y ago
In UK context, many job ads for DevOps/Platform/SRE/Cloud roles will ask for AWS SAA if AWS is being used. I see other certs listed far less, whether AWS or otherwise. AWS SAA does seem to be the best value one in this sense. I'm currently working on AWS SAP.and wondering if there is any point tbh as I hardly ever see on job ads. The AWS SysOps Associate exam is actually far more rigorous - questions are harder IMHO and it has a lab now so I would personally view someone holding that more favourably. All clouds have partner programmes (mostly agency consultants) where status is partly linked to number of certified staff at different levels. For AWS specialty certs count same as professional in partner programme so for AWS partners they should just get them to do the easy AWS specialties like security instead of SAP. I think the certs just help to get CV in front of people, they won't help much after that.
whoknew1122 4y ago
My certifications led directly to getting my first job in tech. And there are AWS partners and other companies which require a certain percentage of their workforce be AWS certified. I think AWS certs are valuable.
clowen 4y ago
As a hiring manager, the certs are ok, but the experience is what matters. I always ask engineers this "What do you think about the AWS documentation?" If you've had to actually parse through it yourself to learn how to get something working, that's more valuable.
- hazmazlaz 4y ago
  Honestly compared to all other cloud platforms I've used I find AWS documentation to be amazing. I use AWS all day every day in my job and the only resource I've needed 95% of the time is the AWS docs. It's my first and last stop mostly.
- Zealotux 4y ago
  >What do you think about the AWS documentation? Is "I only ever get things done by reading third-part AWS documentation" a valid answer in your book? :c)
  - more_corn 4y ago
    Compare and contrast with GCP documentation.
dam_broke_it 4y ago
PAPER TIGER; unless you have the experience.....
PaywallBuster 4y ago
YOu can get the certs by studying and doing quizzes on the online learning platforms. You probably want to get hands-on experience and put stuff up on Github if you actually want it to make a difference.
bearjaws 4y ago
I very positively favor engineers who took AWS certifications. Even the most basic Solutions Associate means I can trust that you at least know what I mean when I say 'SQS', 'KMS' and 'ECS'. I prefer every engineer at least have foundational knowledge of AWS. We use IaC to template out everything and put 'training wheels' on our infra, meaning engineers might not spend a ton of time in AWS, the real benefit is in communication. Especially since I want engineers to feel confident to use our IaC to build solutions that scale and discuss how it could better suit the engineering teams needs, rather than just having an 'OPs team' drive application decisions.
- Bilal_io 4y ago
  I know AWS is the most used cloud platform among the many out there. But wouldn't you be missing on really talented people that have only worked on Azure or Google Cloud for say 10 years? Or is it the expectation that any OPs engineer should know the fundamentals of all the big players?
  - more_corn 4y ago
    If my environment is AWS and someone has experience with GCP I’ll pass in favor of someone who knows AWS. The concepts are the same but the day to day is quite different.
  - bearjaws 4y ago
    GCP and Azure is fine, although I hope they would take the time to learn AWS lingo.
  - trhoad 4y ago
    I would say the skills are largely transferrable as the product offerings are analogous in many cases.
mountainriver 4y ago
Honestly if I see a cert I run the other direction. To me it speaks to the type of person, I would much rather see open source or just experience
- more_corn 4y ago
  I tend to be skeptical of a resume heavy in certifications, but if there’s real experience and a display of competence seeing AWS solutions architect certification is a plus not a minus.
- dc-programmer 4y ago
  I see how people come to adopt this perspective. However, because so many tech workers appear ambivalent about their job and tech in general, any signal indicating effort to take control of their career direction is positive. Every member of a software team does not need to super star autodidact. In a lot of cases it would actually be counterproductive to have such a composition.
  - mountainriver 4y ago
    Thats a fair point, showing some level of effort is better than none. I generally want teams with just a few rockstars than a bunch of decent engineers. I've just found them to output far more at higher quality.
- clusterhacks 4y ago
  Years ago, I used some personal projects and a database certification to make some desired job changes. I advise any person to leverage both training (traditional education, certification, etc) along with a demonstrable portfolio of work to do the same. Even now, I occasionally do a MOOC and earn the certificate just for personal interest. I hope hiring orgs don't run away from candidates simply because they undertook a certification. But I understand the caution - my org has had bad experiences with coursework-only MS in computer science career changers who turned out to not have any real skills and maybe not even any desire to learn any real skills.
- jpitz 4y ago
shyn3 4y ago
It really depends on where you want to work. If you want to work at a large organization, I really recommend it. Thing big blue and such. A lot of their government and f-500 contracts are with entities that have contracts which state, "all our employees/contractors are certified." I have been told by recruiters they can easily double most people's salary, this is for AZ-204/400 certs.
- nikau 4y ago
  The AZ-900 exam reminded me of the Simpsons episode, "Pepsi? Partial credit!"
trhoad 4y ago
I think it can only help. Employability aside, you might even enjoy doing them! The AWS certs aren't to be sniffed at, even if your experience after completing it is only theoretical (better than nothing).
akulbe 4y ago
I have 6 certs, earned over almost 30 years in the business. They used to be flashy, eye-catching perhaps. Now… I would say they don't mean much. Knowledge? Experience? NOW we're talkin. As one other comment suggests, they help you get vendor status… but if you don't have the requisite knowledge to back up the paper, they're not worth the paper they're printed on.
connor11528 4y ago
For me getting an AWS cert before I started job hopping helped in my confidence. It cost time to learn the material but I felt more confident that I had knowledge of the cloud platform. Doing a cert also exposes you to a wider arrange of services than what you'd normally use if you were trying to build something and ship it out the door. A cert will never replace or exceed real world xp in value tho

more_corn 4y ago

I was doing aws for years before I sat the solutions architect exam. I learned a lot and would recommend it to anyone operating in the space. I hire and having that cert goes a long way towards showing you know your way around AWS.

Terretta 4y ago

AWS certifications from AWS are reasonably legit. That said, most certifications are a negative indicator of competence. This is supported by direct experience and research studies. At the prior 3 institutions I was CTO, we routinely screened out resumes with a laundry list of certifications before even speaking to candidates. Note this is not about having certifications, it’s about mediocre candidates attempting to signal competence on the resume by listing a pile of cert-mill nonsense. The negative correlation is so high, when hiring at scale just toss the ones with certs (but give recruiters a list of exceptions, e.g., AWS, CNCF, etc.). // Again, there are exceptions, and AWS first party certifications are among them.

beaylott1986 4y ago

In UK context, many job ads for DevOps/Platform/SRE/Cloud roles will ask for AWS SAA if AWS is being used. I see other certs listed far less, whether AWS or otherwise. AWS SAA does seem to be the best value one in this sense. I'm currently working on AWS SAP.and wondering if there is any point tbh as I hardly ever see on job ads. The AWS SysOps Associate exam is actually far more rigorous - questions are harder IMHO and it has a lab now so I would personally view someone holding that more favourably. All clouds have partner programmes (mostly agency consultants) where status is partly linked to number of certified staff at different levels. For AWS specialty certs count same as professional in partner programme so for AWS partners they should just get them to do the easy AWS specialties like security instead of SAP. I think the certs just help to get CV in front of people, they won't help much after that.

whoknew1122 4y ago

My certifications led directly to getting my first job in tech. And there are AWS partners and other companies which require a certain percentage of their workforce be AWS certified. I think AWS certs are valuable.

clowen 4y ago

As a hiring manager, the certs are ok, but the experience is what matters. I always ask engineers this "What do you think about the AWS documentation?" If you've had to actually parse through it yourself to learn how to get something working, that's more valuable.

hazmazlaz 4y ago
Honestly compared to all other cloud platforms I've used I find AWS documentation to be amazing. I use AWS all day every day in my job and the only resource I've needed 95% of the time is the AWS docs. It's my first and last stop mostly.
Zealotux 4y ago
>What do you think about the AWS documentation? Is "I only ever get things done by reading third-part AWS documentation" a valid answer in your book? :c)
- more_corn 4y ago
  Compare and contrast with GCP documentation.

dam_broke_it 4y ago

PAPER TIGER; unless you have the experience.....

PaywallBuster 4y ago

YOu can get the certs by studying and doing quizzes on the online learning platforms. You probably want to get hands-on experience and put stuff up on Github if you actually want it to make a difference.

bearjaws 4y ago

I very positively favor engineers who took AWS certifications. Even the most basic Solutions Associate means I can trust that you at least know what I mean when I say 'SQS', 'KMS' and 'ECS'. I prefer every engineer at least have foundational knowledge of AWS. We use IaC to template out everything and put 'training wheels' on our infra, meaning engineers might not spend a ton of time in AWS, the real benefit is in communication. Especially since I want engineers to feel confident to use our IaC to build solutions that scale and discuss how it could better suit the engineering teams needs, rather than just having an 'OPs team' drive application decisions.

Bilal_io 4y ago
I know AWS is the most used cloud platform among the many out there. But wouldn't you be missing on really talented people that have only worked on Azure or Google Cloud for say 10 years? Or is it the expectation that any OPs engineer should know the fundamentals of all the big players?
- more_corn 4y ago
  If my environment is AWS and someone has experience with GCP I’ll pass in favor of someone who knows AWS. The concepts are the same but the day to day is quite different.
- bearjaws 4y ago
  GCP and Azure is fine, although I hope they would take the time to learn AWS lingo.
- trhoad 4y ago
  I would say the skills are largely transferrable as the product offerings are analogous in many cases.

mountainriver 4y ago

Honestly if I see a cert I run the other direction. To me it speaks to the type of person, I would much rather see open source or just experience

more_corn 4y ago
I tend to be skeptical of a resume heavy in certifications, but if there’s real experience and a display of competence seeing AWS solutions architect certification is a plus not a minus.
dc-programmer 4y ago
I see how people come to adopt this perspective. However, because so many tech workers appear ambivalent about their job and tech in general, any signal indicating effort to take control of their career direction is positive. Every member of a software team does not need to super star autodidact. In a lot of cases it would actually be counterproductive to have such a composition.
- mountainriver 4y ago
  Thats a fair point, showing some level of effort is better than none. I generally want teams with just a few rockstars than a bunch of decent engineers. I've just found them to output far more at higher quality.
clusterhacks 4y ago
Years ago, I used some personal projects and a database certification to make some desired job changes. I advise any person to leverage both training (traditional education, certification, etc) along with a demonstrable portfolio of work to do the same. Even now, I occasionally do a MOOC and earn the certificate just for personal interest. I hope hiring orgs don't run away from candidates simply because they undertook a certification. But I understand the caution - my org has had bad experiences with coursework-only MS in computer science career changers who turned out to not have any real skills and maybe not even any desire to learn any real skills.
jpitz 4y ago

shyn3 4y ago

It really depends on where you want to work. If you want to work at a large organization, I really recommend it. Thing big blue and such. A lot of their government and f-500 contracts are with entities that have contracts which state, "all our employees/contractors are certified." I have been told by recruiters they can easily double most people's salary, this is for AZ-204/400 certs.

nikau 4y ago
The AZ-900 exam reminded me of the Simpsons episode, "Pepsi? Partial credit!"

trhoad 4y ago

I think it can only help. Employability aside, you might even enjoy doing them! The AWS certs aren't to be sniffed at, even if your experience after completing it is only theoretical (better than nothing).

akulbe 4y ago

I have 6 certs, earned over almost 30 years in the business. They used to be flashy, eye-catching perhaps. Now… I would say they don't mean much. Knowledge? Experience? NOW we're talkin. As one other comment suggests, they help you get vendor status… but if you don't have the requisite knowledge to back up the paper, they're not worth the paper they're printed on.

connor11528 4y ago

For me getting an AWS cert before I started job hopping helped in my confidence. It cost time to learn the material but I felt more confident that I had knowledge of the cloud platform. Doing a cert also exposes you to a wider arrange of services than what you'd normally use if you were trying to build something and ship it out the door. A cert will never replace or exceed real world xp in value tho