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Technical Certifications a Huge Mistake (Google, Meta, Udemy...)
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Feb 7, 2024
"Technical Certifications a Huge Mistake (Google, Meta, Udemy...)" is a video that challenges the notion of relying solely on technical certifications, particularly those offered by major tech companies like Google, Meta (formerly Facebook), and Udemy, as indicators of proficiency or success in the tech industry. The creator likely critiques the limitations of such certifications, arguing that they may not accurately reflect practical skills or readiness for real-world challenges. The video may provide alternative perspectives on building a successful career in tech, emphasizing the importance of hands-on experience, problem-solving abilities, and continuous learning over certification credentials alone. Viewers can expect a thought-provoking discussion on the value of technical certifications and alternative paths to success in the tech industry.
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0:00
You know, when I first started my journey as a self-taught software engineer
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I totally made a ton of mistakes and really screwed up on a lot of things that slowed down my progress
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Now, that didn't stop me going from a construction worker to a software engineer who's now making over two hundred thousand dollars a year
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But avoiding some of these mistakes could really save a lot of time
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And here's one of the things that I would change if I could go back in time. When I was first starting out, I really felt lost
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And I was really naive about a lot of things in the software industry
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And what was important, what was not important. And one of those areas that I put way too much focus on
0:36
was in getting certifications, because I thought, hey, if I go and get these certifications, that's going to be a great way
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for me to build up my resume and have something to show, to prove that I'm good enough to get a job
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Or at least that's what I thought. So in this video, I'm going to share with you my thoughts on like the different types of certifications, how valuable I think they are
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especially now that I've had plenty of time to be on the other side of the table
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when it comes to interviews. Something that you've really got to consider is that there are different
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types of certifications out there. There are certs that are tied to tests, and some of those tests
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could be really recognized tests across the industry. And then there's also going to be certifications of completion
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And then there are certs that are going to be expected for different types of positions
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For example, some DevOps positions might require you to have a bunch of the AWS certifications
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And that's just something that's expected if you're going to be working in that role for a particular company
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Now, I do get a lot of questions from people about certs and whether I think that this certification is important
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or how valuable the meta front end developer certification is. And the industry is just simply too big for me to really go through
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and try and break down every certification of which one is worth it, which one is not
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So just up front, I'm not going to even try to do that because there is a lot that is just out of my area of expertise
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And there's no way for me to make a good judgment call there. So I'm going to focus more broadly on the concept of certifications
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because one of the things that I encountered when I was first working on collecting a bunch of certification myself was that
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I discovered that a lot of times people actually have a negative stigma
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when it comes to collecting certifications and just trying to fill your application with that
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Now, that's not going to say that everybody is that way, but there are definitely some people who look at that
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and when they see a resume that is just a check for a bunch of random certifications that they question, is that person
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actually focused on the right things? Are they more focused on trying to get certifications
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than they are in actually implementing and using that knowledge to build things and to develop the skills that are required
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to be a successful software engineer to actually generate profits for a company
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Now, I personally don't have a super negative disposition towards someone who is working on certs, but it does create that initial impression
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that, you know, this person is newer and is focused on the wrong things
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But I try to give people the benefit of the doubt there. Now, when it comes to actual certifications, as I mentioned
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there are different types. You could be doing ones that are test based, and then there are ones that are going to be just for completing a course
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Now, if you're talking about something like some of the Java certifications where in order to actually get those, you have to do a bunch of studying
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and then you actually go take a highly recognized test that you have to pass to show that you have a certain level of competency
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in those skills, then to me, that carries a little bit more value
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because it is recognized and those tests are recognized. And so there's kind of a benchmark of if you passed it
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there's an expectation of like how much you know about Java. But there's a whole ton of other certifications out there
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that are just more of a certificate of like completion from any place
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like Udemy to some other courses, to online boot camps, whatever. And when it comes to those kind of completion ones
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I just really don't view them as very valuable. And the reason for that is if you're on the other side of the table
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and you're interviewing someone and they have all these certifications of completion, it still leaves you wondering, OK, but so what
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Like, what did you actually do? You completed the course, but did you actually build the stuff yourself
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Did you try to take that knowledge and apply it to other things? You know, or did you just like look up answers, copy and paste
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what someone else has done? Did you just skim through the videos and there weren't any actual quizzes
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associated with that? It's just really hard to gauge how much effort someone actually put in
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and how valuable that certification is. So here's kind of my breakdown on what I value as far as documentation
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for what someone has accomplished. Obviously, if I see that someone has a computer science degree
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or a software engineering degree, that's going to hold value to me
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Or if they've come from like a trade school that's maybe like a specialized
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software engineering trade school, that's been like a couple of years of intense focus
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then that can have some value for talking about boot camp certifications. That's a little bit harder
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because there's so many boot camps out there that I just don't know about
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I'm not familiar with them. I may have heard their name, but I don't know how good their curriculum is
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And so I view boot camp certifications with a grain of salt
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or with a degree of skepticism. Now, it's going to be a little bit different if it's like a local boot camp that I have heard of that I'm familiar with
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that I know people who've graduated from that boot camp. I've worked with them, seen kind of the skills
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that they came with out of that boot camp. That could be a little bit different. I will give a little bit more credit to those kind of certifications
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because I have some familiarity. And I think most people out there are not going to be super up
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on all the boot camps. And frankly, I'm a busy person and I'm not going to take the time
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to really dive into looking into each boot camp certification or course completion certification that I see out there
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because it's just not going to be super helpful for me. And it's not how I want to spend my time
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When I do encounter that, I'm more likely to look and focus more on, OK
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what is it that this person has actually been doing? What job experience do they have
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What kind of projects have they done? And I would be very specific about trying to ask, you know, OK
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is this project one that was completed as part of a boot camp
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or is this a side project that you did on your own? If it's part of the boot camp projects, is this a project
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that everyone did the same exact clone type project? Or did you have to come up with your own idea and do your own unique thing
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Because I'm just not going to place a lot of value on applications
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or things that were built that just everybody is building, because, you know, then there's already going to be tons of examples out there
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that if someone gets stumped, they can just go look at they could copy it. How do I know how much work that person put into it
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Whereas if it's something that they had to come up with their own ideas, they're working on stuff on the side, then they're putting more thought into it
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They're actually having to work through the problem solving and having to like look up answers to the things when they get stumped
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and figure things out on their own, which is important for becoming a successful software engineer
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Now, if you're falling into that trap of worrying about all these certificates of completion, I just say, don't worry about that
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Focus on learning. A lot of these courses could have really valuable information
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And maybe you're in a phase where you already know a lot of stuff and you're just trying to brush up on some other areas
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Don't feel compelled to have to do an entire course and to have to
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you know, get that certification, go and pick and choose the areas that interest you or the gaps in your understanding
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and work on developing those skills and be wise with your time, because being focused there is going to be a lot more valuable
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than just worrying about doing everything, stuff that you've already know just to get that certificate of completion
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And if you're early in your journey and you have time to go to college and get a computer science degree, then that's totally what I would do
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If I could go back. I know it's not for everybody, but I do feel there is a lot of value there and that that is worthwhile
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If you if it makes sense financially and you have the time to dedicate
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to an actual college program to get that degree, if you're deciding to go down the self-taught route
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then you should watch this video. So I share all the things that I wish I had done differently
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The areas that I'd focus on, the strategies that I'd use to be more efficient
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and really speed up the learning process. What areas I'd focus on technology wise and the stuff that I would avoid
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Thanks for watching. I'll see you in the next one. Lates
#Career Resources & Planning
#Computer Education
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#Programming
#Standardized & Admissions Tests
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