Ask HN: Value of Technical/Programming certifications? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Value of Technical/Programming certifications?

3 pointsMoeDrippins3 comments

My company is CONSIDERING, and by that I mean, asking for opinions about, certifications. Specifically, what certifications if any should be considered for employees. These could be business/domain related, or purely technical.

My company's business is writing software for "large institutions"; which industry isn't relevant for what I'm asking here.

I'm curious as to anyone's thoughts about programming certifications. Are they worthwhile to pursue for existing employees, worthwhile to consider when looking to hire, contra-indicative, something else? All opinions welcome.

A priori thanks.

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IMHO, I would consider none of them to be relevant. While, in some cases, they provide minimal assurance that someone knows a very specific set of skills to a degree that allows them to pass a test, it is not indicative of the kind of person I would want to hire (I wouldn't say it is contra-indicative, though seeing the Microsoft certifications on a resume might make me throw up in my mouth a little). I want to work with people who love what they do. Certifications indicate mere competence. I'm looking for more than competence.

And, I've been involved in hiring decisions in the past (mostly my replacements), and I don't believe certifications have ever played a big role on the resume of anyone who impressed me. But, I would rarely hire an employee (rather than a contractor performing one task) for a specific skill, and that's all a certification shows you.

I took the Java Programmer Certification back in the day, and I remember thinking that it was not even that bad. I think if every programmer in that particular company I had been working for had taken the certification, it might have brought some improvements. At least you got to know some ins and outs of Java. It was very cheap, too, or so I remember (maybe 100€, could that be right)? I studied from a book, don't think taking expensive seminars for it would be necessary.

That said, I certainly wouldn't expect any advantages from putting the certification on my resume, and I wouldn't use it to judge the quality of programmers (as SwellJoe says in his comment). But for an existing team that does not consist of Rockstars, why not?

Certifications are contra-indicative in my experience, unless you are hiring someone to take multiple-choice tests (the answers to which are all over the web on "braindump" sites). I've often interviewed candidates with lots of certifications but when asked, so when did you use this feature/language/technology "for real"?, they come up blank. And of course, people who have been there and done that don't need to bother with certificates.

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