Why do you need certifications in 2024?
Background: I hold several certifications, though none of them are particularly prestigious, such as PMP or ITIL. Despite this, after 7 years in the industry, I continue to receive job offers from former colleagues who tell me, “I know how you work, that’s why I’m reaching out to you.”
I recently published the findings of my investigations concerning fit certifications for Engineering Managers: Software and Platform fields — Engineering Manager IT Certifications 2024.
However, the question “Do certifications truly help you to get a job offer or promotion?” remains. Let’s figure it out.
There are three categories of answers:
- My opinion based on experience
- Statistics from reports and surveys on the Internet
- Actual cases
From my perspective
Certification doesn’t guarantee you a new job offer or promotion, as it doesn’t necessarily reflect your knowledge, critical thinking, and experience.
And, no, you don’t need certification to secure your dream job.
So, what value does certification in project management or for cloud environments hold?
Firstly, it instills confidence in your knowledge and internationally validates your expertise as per standardization protocols. In reality, it helps me communicate using the same technical or process language with others, ensuring we’re on the same page.
Secondly, and equally important, it serves as confirmation of your knowledge or experience for recruiters and hiring managers.
Of course, the success of an interview depends on you — your experience, project history, public speaking and presentation skills, interview aptitude, and more.
However, there’s an initial stage where the recruiter or hiring manager evaluates you based on your CV. If you have experience as an AWS Engineering Manager, your knowledge won’t be in question. But what if you’re an unknown entity, competing with ten other resumes? Certifications like PMP, Team Lead, and Cloud will certainly increase your chances of progressing in the hiring process, especially when recruiters use Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS).
Real statistic: When I was job hunting for a Technical Program Manager role, 9 out of 10 vacancies listed PMP and Agile certification as a requirement.
Lastly, continuous learning is a remarkable trait of intelligent and successful people. Being curious, and allocating time to absorb new information and ideas — is a proven key to success in life.
What statistic tells us?
According to a 2023 survey by Pearson Vue, of 21,000 certified candidates, only 27% received job promotions, 25% secured a new job in the same industry due to their new certifications, and 14% found a job in a different industry or company.
According to statistics from Fliar, based on 165 resumes, the certification section was utilized in 27% of them.
Recommend also reading Resume Statistics article on who is building their own resume
As expected, many individuals pursued certification with the goal of achieving a higher salary. Interestingly, this strategy was more successful this time around. Thirty-seven percent of respondents reported receiving a pay raise after earning their credentials, a significant increase from the 28% reported in our 2020 study.
Below, we present statistics from the USA. The percentage of adults aged 25 to 64 who consider their certification as their primary work credential, and find it useful for various purposes, varies. This depends on their highest level of education and whether the certification is utilized in their current job.
Yes, the data may not be up-to-date, but it still highlights significant trends.
In a Reddit forum discussion titled “Do these certificates help people get jobs?”, nearly 40% of the responses indicated that certification aided them in securing employment, particularly their first job.
Even without conducting internet research, having a certificate provides a significant advantage when seeking your first job.
No, I’m not suggesting that certifications only bring positive outcomes. Many resources are provided by education centers, which have a vested interest in promoting their courses and certifications. There are numerous sources for obtaining certifications, such as LinkedIn or Coursera. However, verifying the quality of knowledge obtained is always a challenge.
I couldn’t find independent surveys from impartial companies stating that PMP certification or Google Cloud certification increases your chances of employment by 50%. If you come across such information, please share it!
In conclusion, while some individuals may hold certifications without fully understanding the subject matter, the value of certification lies more in the learning, understanding, and application of knowledge gained during the process, rather than just the certificate itself.
Reality Check
I’ve encountered many certified individuals who seem to lack understanding, particularly in the realm of service management processes.
Service processes, while not the most glamorous topic, are a crucial part of business. Many successful companies have shown that excellent tech support, on-call availability, monitoring, and client-oriented approaches can significantly boost profits and reputation.
I was confronted with reality when specialists began to reinterpret terminology, such as redefining an “incident” as a “bug on Dev env”, or an “event” as an “incident”. There were instances when non-production issues required production-level responses, like a 15-minute reaction time for bug issues at UAT instead of the usual 1–2 hours.
At times, I wondered if I was the one misunderstanding.
As a disclaimer, I don’t possess ITIL certification yet. However, before assuming responsibility as the Head of service processes, I had acquired comprehensive knowledge and significant experience in numerous companies. But that’s just my approach.
If you’re an engineering manager, you might wonder why you should understand these processes if your main responsibilities lie in development, technology, and reliability, and in bridging the gap between business and technology.
Because these processes directly impact you and your team. For you, they’re not “events”, they’re alerts.
However, I believe certification is valuable. If a “service manager” insists that 95% memory usage is an incident despite no business impact and your team’s appropriate response, certification can equip you with the language to effectively communicate. It helps you understand and explain why it’s not a business outage and why your team won’t respond in 15 minutes. Certification, in this scenario, empowers you to protect your team from unnecessary tasks.
While you could certainly learn all definitions and explanations independently, certification can save you time and energy.
Bottom Line
Achieving excellence in your field requires a balance of certification knowledge, practical experience, and critical thinking. Certifications provide a structured foundation, the experience offers real-world application, and critical thinking guides the synthesis of both into effective decision-making and problem-solving.
In conclusion, while there are certain individuals who hold certifications without fully understanding the subject matter, the true value of a certification lies in the process of obtaining it — the learning, comprehension, and application of knowledge — rather than the certificate itself.
