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My work came up with a bonus structure around a certain set of industry certifications. I looked at all the certifications available and worked out a strategy t

by chasd00 2mo ago

My work came up with a bonus structure around a certain set of industry certifications. I looked at all the certifications available and worked out a strategy to max the bonus each year. It comes out to about $2.5k/month. So my side hustle is studying and taking tests. Over the last 5 years or so of taking tests + investing I’ve built a nice chunk of change set aside to help pay for college for my two boys (age 14 and 16).

abrookewood 2mo ago
That's clever and entertaining. Have you actually enjoyed any of them?
- chasd00 2mo ago
  I do actually enjoy them and they’re pretty much all in my wheel house. Well I enjoy them when I have plenty of time to sit down with a cup of coffee and study. A few times I’ve been under basically deadline pressure to get the exams passed in time to qualify for the bonus, that’s not fun at all. Over about 20 certification attempts I’ve only failed one :) (they’re all pass/fail).
  - abrookewood 2mo ago
    That's a solid success rate!
andreidbr 2mo ago
How much time are in investing in these certifications on average? i would imagine running out of things to study/certify in such a long time
- chasd00 2mo ago
  The scoring system is complicated but it comes down to passing about 4 new ones per year and then passing the renewal exams for all my current certs. Each exam takes about a month for me to be ready, maybe a total of 40 or so hrs. I have a family and my day job is very demanding so not a lot of free time. There’s about 60-70 available certifications but they have various prerequisite certs so you can’t just go down the list. I was fortunate in that when the bonus structure first came out I had a lot of experience but not many certs so it was easy at first but now I’m running out of certs to get that are related to my actual day job. However, I get the feeling the cert bonus thing is going to be cancelled next FY anyway. Sucks but at least I maxed it every year it was available and I have probably 75% of college for my kids paid for.
qikouki 2mo ago
That is very nice of your company to pay for the workers' certifications. Do you think it is useful to your work?
- chasd00 2mo ago
  It's useful for both me and the company, I work in consulting and these certs are an easy metric for clients to understand. The bonus structure was setup so that we can go to market with "X people certified in Y" as a feather in our hat. A certification by itself doesn't say much but when backed with a few years of project experience it's a powerful combination. So I take these tests for the bonus but they're also valuable to my firm and to me too, i'm always learning something new about a technology i thought i knew like the back of my hand. /i've replied to every comment, i know this isn't an AMA and I hope it's not too off topic.
  - xnx 2mo ago
    > "X people certified in Y" Let me know if your company wants to put me on staff at $0 salary and just get paid for the certs.
  - Aboutplants 2mo ago
    I really appreciate your company’s mutual benefit bonus structure. It benefits all parties in a number of ways that is sadly uncommon these days
runjake 2mo ago
This is unbelievably cool. And you look like a skilled go-getter to the corporate hiring machine.

by chasd00 2mo ago

abrookewood 2mo ago

That's clever and entertaining. Have you actually enjoyed any of them?

chasd00 2mo ago
I do actually enjoy them and they’re pretty much all in my wheel house. Well I enjoy them when I have plenty of time to sit down with a cup of coffee and study. A few times I’ve been under basically deadline pressure to get the exams passed in time to qualify for the bonus, that’s not fun at all. Over about 20 certification attempts I’ve only failed one :) (they’re all pass/fail).
- abrookewood 2mo ago
  That's a solid success rate!

andreidbr 2mo ago

How much time are in investing in these certifications on average? i would imagine running out of things to study/certify in such a long time

chasd00 2mo ago
The scoring system is complicated but it comes down to passing about 4 new ones per year and then passing the renewal exams for all my current certs. Each exam takes about a month for me to be ready, maybe a total of 40 or so hrs. I have a family and my day job is very demanding so not a lot of free time. There’s about 60-70 available certifications but they have various prerequisite certs so you can’t just go down the list. I was fortunate in that when the bonus structure first came out I had a lot of experience but not many certs so it was easy at first but now I’m running out of certs to get that are related to my actual day job. However, I get the feeling the cert bonus thing is going to be cancelled next FY anyway. Sucks but at least I maxed it every year it was available and I have probably 75% of college for my kids paid for.

qikouki 2mo ago

That is very nice of your company to pay for the workers' certifications. Do you think it is useful to your work?

chasd00 2mo ago
It's useful for both me and the company, I work in consulting and these certs are an easy metric for clients to understand. The bonus structure was setup so that we can go to market with "X people certified in Y" as a feather in our hat. A certification by itself doesn't say much but when backed with a few years of project experience it's a powerful combination. So I take these tests for the bonus but they're also valuable to my firm and to me too, i'm always learning something new about a technology i thought i knew like the back of my hand. /i've replied to every comment, i know this isn't an AMA and I hope it's not too off topic.
- xnx 2mo ago
  > "X people certified in Y" Let me know if your company wants to put me on staff at $0 salary and just get paid for the certs.
- Aboutplants 2mo ago
  I really appreciate your company’s mutual benefit bonus structure. It benefits all parties in a number of ways that is sadly uncommon these days

runjake 2mo ago

This is unbelievably cool. And you look like a skilled go-getter to the corporate hiring machine.