Getting Cloud Certified: Is it really worth the effort?

My take on cloud certifications with their pros and cons…

Context

Background

If you had been following me, you very well know that I’m never a fan of certifications; especially the ones with zero hands-on evaluation. In the last few years, I have been learning, experiencing and trying different cloud platforms and finished many certifications too. To be precise I started with CKAD (Certified Kubernetes Application Developer) since it was a hands-on exam and no other certificate exam evaluation methodology could match it till date. Next I finished Azure Developer Associate and AWS Solution Architect Associate. Though I primarily worked on AWS, Google Cloud and Kubernetes ecosystems, I explored multiple clouds and always felt I learnt and remembered more by hands-on than theoretical knowledge.

Many of my Youtube channel followers, colleagues and acquaintances ask me this question — Is Cloud Certification really worth it? Hence, I thought of putting down my views on it.

Is it really worth it?

In my honest opinion, Certifications are worth. Period. It’s merely an indication that you have passed the bar. It’s no different from our degree certificates, except the fact that certificates spans for a few hours based on a single exam evaluation.

Pros

Trustworthy

Completing a certificate examination from a Cloud Provider gives the employer (be it your current employer or the one you are hunting down in the future) a trustworthy feeling in keeping you in the firm as they know your skills are valuable.

Badge of honour

Cloud certificates are treated a badge of honour to showcase the bench strength of organizations in acquiring deals with potential clients, hence candidates with certifications take a front seat compared to others.

Modernization Strategy

Every organization strives to provide modern infrastructure to attract great talent. Modernization is a key part of the roadmap and it requires Cloud skillsets. Having a Cloud Certificate creates opportunity to work for the right team to accelerate cloud adoption.

Cons

Theoretical Knowledge

If you had completed the certification and lack hands-on knowledge, then your certificate is no worth than trash. Hiring decisions in cloud/modernization teams highly depend on hands-on knowledge and hence theoretical knowledge may not prove 100% fruitful for the role.

No experience

Having no work experience sometimes creates dis-satisfaction from the hiring teams due to lack of on the field experience in working with Cloud. However, if you are able to justify the right projects or contributions via hands-on experience, you can convert this negative outlook to a positive story.

Conclusion

The Intention with which you cleared the certification should be clear. If you have cleared it with minimal knowledge or by means of dumps or other means then it’s not useful either for you nor your employer.

If you want to clear a certification for learning and gaining knowledge of the platform, then give your 100% in understanding the syllabus (choose any course) and give the exam with confidence.

All the best!