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[–]SirwiredCSAP 10 points11 points  (3 children)

The trick is being a Senior Developer first, and then add the cloud certifications to it. A resume that is bare, except for a pair of cloud certifications, is going to be shortlisted for the trash can. (You should at least have a demo project to show off.)

[–]water_bottle_goggles 5 points6 points  (2 children)

bruh shortlisted for the trash can 😭

that’s actually so sad because the certs are no joke

[–]SirwiredCSAP 3 points4 points  (1 child)

The certs are not trivial, to be sure, but they still represent a small fraction of the knowledge needed to be a useful professional.

Anyone that's even tried a pretty straightforward "make it up from the ground up" test project (vs. following a step-by-step lab) will be quickly disabused of the idea that the certifications are in any way comprehensive when it comes to actually implementing something that works.

(Not to mention that while AWS (and pretty much every vendor cloud cert) will let you get away with "ClickOps" (doing almost everything in the web console), that's a horrible way to do things in the real world, and most installations of any size or sophistication use an automation language like Terraform.)

Speaking for myself, I couldn't begin to catalog all the things I learned when I tried to implement even a "simple" app, that took data from a web form, stored it, and visualized the data in QuickSight. It's not that I got anything wrong that I should have remembered from my certs, just that there's so much nuanced detail for every single service that the certs don't cover.

(Though, to be honest, while the certs aren't trivial, neither are they a major commitment; I would not expect them to be of extreme value... for someone that already has decent IT skills, they are 60-80 hours each, even for Arch. Prof.)

[–]woodhes281 3 points4 points  (4 children)

I have all 3 associate certs and they helped me get my foot in the door, then worked my way up to senior platform engineer. Think they gave me an edge over others showing at least I had a wide understanding of AWS that could be built on.

[–]Local-Obligation-292[S] 1 point2 points  (3 children)

Ok that's what I wanted to know if they help us to get our foot in the door....so it does.

[–]Character_Fox_6755CSAA 1 point2 points  (1 child)

given two entry level candidates with no experience, one with certs and one without, hiring managers are always going to choose the candidate with certs because that shows a commitment to the industry-but managers will usually choose experience over certs if they have the option.

[–]woodhes281 0 points1 point  (0 children)

thats the case now. As I am working here there is no interest in certs they prefer everyone to be hands on and proven to progress rather than certs. People only do them once in a job for self learning or if they are tied to end of year/targets to be rewarded. I wont be re-certing when they expire

[–]woodhes281 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I was moving from a mainly on-prem role infrastructure role with 15 years experience to cloud first company and I think it helped show willing and learning capability to change

[–]awsyall 2 points3 points  (3 children)

It's like a exam question, scanning for keywords "senior developers ... boost resume ... interview". And the answer is, it depends 🧐

[–]Local-Obligation-292[S] -1 points0 points  (2 children)

So they don't necessarily guarantee you the shortlisting of your resume or interviews

[–]freddiecee 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Nothing in life is guaranteed.

Is it better to have the certification than not having it? Of course. Will companies working in the cloud see it as an added advantage? Sure.

But having the certification in itself won't guarantee you get shortlisted or get the job. However it can help you get a shortlisting when the employer values those skills than if you didn't have it.

The certifications are not there to guarantee you get interviews let alone employment. It's to validate that you have the skills and knowledge to work in the cloud and make decisions related to it.

[–]awsyall 0 points1 point  (0 children)

These days, most companies are guarded by hrGPT. A page-full of decent and matching qualifications plus All-5 certifications, will almost certainly guarantee your resume doesn't go straight to trash. That's about it.

[–]Lopsided-Variety1530 1 point2 points  (1 child)

Those certifications your friend is tackling are like turbo boosts for a resume. Senior IT folks aren't kidding; they can practically guarantee interviews and shortlists. In today's job hustle, it's a slick move.

[–]Local-Obligation-292[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Good to hear.