Have you ever had a conversation with a co-worker about starting a new certification? While you say your end goal is to pass an exam, the truth is the hunger for a promotion or pay raise. If your current company doesn't give it to you, you know you can walk away with your new piece of paper and get the pay you deserve.
But the truth is this attitude will not benefit you as a professional. Passing a certification is excellent, and you should be proud of the accomplishment, but what did you really achieve that gave value back to your current position? Engineers think they are owed something because they learned how to do their current job better but is that all it is?
IT Certification Expectations
As I have worked through my career, I have found that many people have this attitude, and while it's not necessarily a bad thing, it does hurt the value of certifications. Often, I will interview a new candidate who passed a bunch of certs in a short period. When I ask details about using their new profound skills in the real world, they struggle to see the connection. This process means they can tell me the definitions and keywords of their new credential, but they have not found a link to apply these new skills to their current position.
Real-World Approach
Instead of taking this approach, I use certifications differently. While I have passed many exams, I have also skipped many because it's not the credentials I feel I need. Often, I will find myself at work, reviewing new software. For this example, think of any AWS Service on the market. Now, imagine you are tasked with using this service inside your production environment. Do you go on Google and review the service? Often, you find that you pick up bits and pieces of necessary detail that allows you to paint the bigger picture of the actual benefits of the service.
Instead of learning, piece by piece, I will locate the certification that covers this new service. I will then review the theory and perform hands-on labs to test the system in my private accounts. Once I feel comfortable, I start imagining how this new knowledge benefits my job. If I was required to learn enough information, I might take the exam.
Bringing My Certification Knowledge to the Real World
I performed this style of studying with Terraform. A team had written some template code, and it was pretty overwhelming for an amateur who used Terraform on a superficial level. I used the Terraform exam as a curriculum because I got tired of Googling puzzle pieces to my new required skills. Not only did I learn most of the missing skills, but I discovered Hashicorp's best practices and developed experience with additional features that I didn't know existed.
Sure, I could have stopped once I learned enough for my job, but I wanted to provide value for myself and the company. If you take the time to learn something, give it you're all. Take an extra few hours and learn the insides and outs. Of course, understand where this skill is beneficial and not. You don't need to become an expert at everything. But I believe if you use certifications to create a baseline for your future studies, you will find your ability to solve problems, analyze new tools and implement best practices will only become easier over time.