How useful are certifications in Software Development?
Let’s review CIW: JavaScript Specialist v2.0
Hello my name is Nelson Sandoval , a self-taught full stack developer. I have written stories like “How I became a Web Developer, got a Google-udacity Scholarship & landed my first Software Developer Job in one year while working and taking care of my baby” or What I’ve learned after 1 year of becoming a Software Developer hoping these stories help aspiring software developers.
When you are starting a professional career as a software developer, there is always questions related to how important are college degrees or any kind of certification, specially if you are trying to get your first job as a software developer without professional experience.
Some people argue experience beats any certification, others say college or certifications are necessary and a must have to become a developer. The idea of this article is not to the debate about which arguments are right or wrong. The goal is to take advantage of the positive things that can help you develop your career successfully.
Software Development Certifications
CIW: JavaScript Specialist v2.0
I’ve been developing software for more than 2 years as a full stack developer with Javascript (vanilla, jquery, Angular & react) and Java(EE & Spring boot). I feel a little more sympathy for the frontend so I’ve taken all kind of certifications that can hep me to take my skills to the next level, like Udemy and Udacity courses. However, I was curious to know about certifications from big companies or well known companies for JavaScript. Something like Oracle’s certification for Java. So looking for official certifications I found out about Certified Internet Web Professional(CIW): JavaScript Specialist v2.0.
CIW is a certification created by a community of Web designers and developers in the late 1990s.
I had the opportunity to test for a few days uCertify CIW: JavaScript Specialist v2.0 course, which helps you to be ready to take the exam.
Taking into consideration that official certifications like Oracle’s for java or even Cisco’s are about theory and the deep knowledge on the language or technology. It turns out that the uCertify course was a really great alternative for mastering Javascript, this course has videos, cards, quizzes, good lessons and well explained. Going through the lessons and its content I recalled important concept like DOM manipulation. Concepts that I apply every week in my professional career and that are the core concepts under any library or framework. Of course as any official certification, it has a cost, however, as I always say, look at your local market, if it is on demand, it will worth.
It’s about the fundamentals, not the library or framework
As technology evolves, new libraries, frameworks and programming languages are born frequently. If you bet for a specific library or framework, you will struggle next time you have to learn a new one. Is well known in the software development world that big companies like google, amazon or even apple hire people not by the frameworks, libraries or programming languages they know. They focus on the fundamentals like data structures, algorithms, pattern designs and programming styles (object oriented, functional, reactive, etc).
Conclusion
Experience is key to be successful as a software developer, however, knowledge got at university or through a course certification like udemy, Udacity or a certification from a big company or community like CIW, play a role and send a positive message to companies. Many companies see certifications as a proof of our desire to be up to date with new technologies. They proof that as a developer we want to keep on learning new things, something vital in the software development world where changes happen often.
Thank you for reading!
