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Ask HN: Are AWS Certs worth getting for experienced Devs?

14 points by Gold-Ask-lx ↗ HN
I worked for big tech out of undergrad (mostly frontend/mobile for a few years) moved on to work at a few startups where I naturally switched to do more backend/cloud infrastructure work. I never got a 'formal' education in terms of masters or any kind of certs. Would it be worth it for me to start getting some Certs (like AWS solutions architect - associate/professional) if I want to switch my career towards more solutions design/consultation? I don't know many people personally that went this path. I guess I'm looking to work for reputable agencies or consultancies and get assigned to different clients/projects instead of the usual big tech route of IC for a particular team of a particular company until that company decides to reorg you to another team.

Obviously not all Certs have the same value. I think AWS Solutions Architect - Associate would be the most adjacent 'bridge' for me, is there any other ones that I should be seriously considering? Seems like theres a new one every week nowadays with AI (which I've dabbled with before in some prior projects but nothing deep or extensive).

15 comments

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gokuljs
I really don't understand the point of doing this certificates seriously for what joy. i literally figured out lot of things through chatgpt deployed and scalled services. I am like its that easy. you just have practice it few times thats it.
ensemblehq
AWS Certifications do help to a certain extent to convey your knowledge of the AWS ecosystem to consultancies and their clients. I don't have a certification but almost all of the consultancies I've worked with advocate for it just to give the client more confidence. Mind you these are the larger consultancies with larger clients so they tend to like these certifications as a signal. Have you ever had a chance to work with the various components in the ecosystem already?
whs
I had one.

The only two reasons it was worth it is my company paid for it, and you can get a lounge space and some swag at reinvent. I never get to use it professionally

giantg2
I think they are worth getting. It's something a resume scanner might be looking for. I think that most AWS contracts cut the business a discount if a certain percentage of their IT team have an AWS cert.
Cyfrit
I actually got a free exam attempt once (I've forgotten which cert it was now), but because their proctoring software didn't work, I eventually just couldn't be bothered to take it lol. As for this, it really depends on your clients. These certificates are for laypeople to look at—kind of like how only non-native English speakers need to take the TOEFL.
cliglot
> i think you need to catch up

Likely futile though. The way to get jobs now is through network and connections. If OP doesn’t have those already, it’s unlikely they’ll be able to “catch up” in a reasonable amount of time.

brand_edge
I believe at your stage, your experience has more leverage than any other certificate. Hiring managers don't see the certificates. They just skimmed it. They see what kind of work you have done.

I can say that because I had been a hiring manager in tech for seven plus years. What I am looking for is this person who can do the work that we want, and the proof that you have of working with startups is bigger than any other certificate.

brand_edge
Have more leverage with your work that you have done in the startups.

Hiring managers are more looking at what kind of impact you can provide and what kind of work you can get done. A certificate is useful when you don't have experience.

I would say that go and apply. You will learn while applying.

fsuts
I would recommend certificates, they make you cover the whole subject in the round rather than just what you use in your job.

I have a friend who is an It architect and he also did one called TOGAF and said it was worth doing

https://www.opengroup.org/togaf

apothegm
They’re useful if you want a job with a big company that doesn’t have tech in its DNA.

Tech companies and startups associate certs with big traditional companies that aren’t really tech savvy — they’ll either ignore certs or see them as a negative signal. The idea being that certs show you’ve memorized something but not that you know how to think.

Small non-tech companies typically don’t know enough to look for such a thing.

austin-cheney
If you want to work with cool tech bros who prefer to talk about themselves then don't bother. If you want to get a job at some place more mature then get the cert they require.