Certs may act against you at interview time. If you get a data science cert and put it on your resume, then the interviewer may start asking you related "i'm s

Certs may act against you at interview time. If you get a data science cert and put it on your resume, then the interviewer may start asking you related "i'm smarter than you" questions about it regardless of whether it has anything to do with the job. OTOH, Certs may help you at hiring time. If the company is on the fence and is questioning you skills in a particular area, then the cert may be the thing that pushes you over. One way to play it is to not put it on your resume. If you find out during the interview that the job fits your certs well, send a thank you email explaining that you'll throw in some bonus certs (but wait there's more!) for free and your cert training fits well. This way you delay their knowledge of your training until the person possibly has bought into the idea of hiring you and needs to convince other people. Certs as a learning tool, I think are great as long as they don't cost a lot. They give you something to feel good about and an excuse to spend all that effort learning the material.