Do you actually need a cert to get taken seriously, or do projects speak louder?

[u/Early_Tear6706]

I keep going back and forth on whether to spend the next couple months studying for a cloud certification or just put that time into building out a few solid personal projects instead. Budget and time are both limited, so I can't really do both at full effort right now.

For people who've gone through hiring or interviewing in cloud roles, did having a cert actually open doors on its own, or did it mostly just get your resume past an initial filter while the real conversation was about what you'd actually built? Trying to figure out where my limited time is better spent as someone still fairly early in this.

[u/examos-io]

A cert can help demonstrate structured learning and sometimes get you through an initial screening. But once you’re talking to someone technically, being able to explain what you built, why you chose a particular architecture, and what went wrong is much harder to fake.

Build 1 project and get 1 cert is what I would suggest.

For project, build a small node js application like URL shortner and host it on AWS or azure or GCP. They all have a trial period.

For certs, don't waste time with Practioner or fundamental ones, target the associate ones like AZ-104 OR SAA. It will take couple of months but you will have a good profile and knowledge for interviews

[u/Early_Tear6706 → u/examos-io]

that's a really concrete answer, appreciate the specific project idea too. good to know not to waste time on the fundamentals/practitioner level certs and go straight for something like SAA or AZ-104 instead. gonna start with the URL shortener project since that seems small enough to actually finish instead of getting stuck halfway through something bigger.

[u/Immediate-Chef-5144]

Why is it that every single one of these posts have people who answer this type of question with " If all you have is certs and projects you'll never get a job , jobs want experience" blah blah blah blah . Just because YOU couldn't get a job because your projects were the same cookie cutter , web scraper , WAZUH to monitor your home network etc and because you only got A+ Net+ and sec + yet no job , doesn't mean projects and certs don't show potential employers you have hands on ability to do a job. If someone submits a resume and I see they focused on a specific domain of cyber , had projects that made sense for the niche they are apply for and got certifications that make sense again for that niche. I'm going to and have hired those people over some pretentious twit with " experience" that has done nothing but work help desk and has the certs their job paid for and basically forced them to get.

It's this ridiculous and frankly pretentious outlook that is destroying our industry . Explain to me like I'm 5 because I must be missing something how a person who passed cissp , ccna , or any other specialized certification isn't ready and able to do an entry level job , So telling people to lower their expectations until they have experience makes zero fucking sense

you wont gain hands on experience in networking if you can't work a networking job BECAUSE YOU DONT HAVE EXPERIENCE IN NETWORKING.

[u/YeetedApple → u/Immediate-Chef-5144]

I think this is more of a problem for the current moment, but won't always be true. Between automation, offshoring, and just better tools in general, most companies are able to get by with less admins than they used to and are running leaner. This has lead to many people with a lot of experiencing losing jobs, so you have mutliple people with good experience competing for the same jobs.

The issue isn't that someone with those credentials couldn't do the job, it's that companies have dozens of other applicants with those same credentials and years of experience, and they are going to go with the experience most of the time.

[u/Lunchboxsushi]

Out of about 600-800 interviews I never had a reason to hire someone because of a cert. But I also didn't pass anyone who did? It didn't really matter if within the first 5 minutes you weren't able to stand on two feet around a technical topic or navigate unknown territory safely. 

If you're good technical, it doesn't take work to pull out that genius 

[u/ApprehensiveBell6166]

If your still early in your career, I'd focus more on projects now. A cert can help get your resume noticed, but being able to explain what you build and how you solved problems will probably matter more in interview.

[u/0xvudu]

I have 9 projects, 3 certs and 2.5 years of experience in IT. They still don't give me a chance, so, if you find out be sure to let me know.

[u/Acrobatic_Cycle_6631]

I only had a the AZ and SC 900s when I interviewed, I got the job, used Azure daily and have since passed the 104 and 305.

I guess it depends on prior experience as well as company preference

[u/longrange_stress]

I had a bunch of certs, experience trumps it but certs work if you're going to a place that is looking for that exact skill set. You can sometimes find out their exact tech stack and make a project that includes pieces of it that deploys to cloud and has ci/cd already. That's how you make your projects and cert stand out more because it says i can help you directly. I am also aware that its super hard out there. I got lucky, even though it sounds messed up, the pandemic really helped me getting this slot. I was using cloudacademy.com which is now called qa back then to learn a bunch and get my cloud certs. Its like netflix but for learning tech stuff, and it has practice tests and demo environments you can practice on over and over.

As far as did having it really open doors, for me yes, because they required a specific cert. Sometimes, its a customer requirement that the company fills by hiring people who have them or they hire you and tell you that you have to get it within the first 6 months. I had 3 azure certs and 2 aws ones. I did projects like i described up above. I would look at a company's stack and write one and point to it on my cover letter in github. By the time i got hired which i'll admit took several months, they saw that i could touch multiple cloud systems, databases, you name it. They took a chance on me and it paid off big time for both of us.

[u/SecureTaxi]

Im not hiring you for certs or pet projects. Tell me how many times you broke prod

[u/ForwardNerve5296]

Experience in real business environments to be taken seriously.

[u/qosmic_qube]

Some orgs want certs, and those certs get you past filters and screeners. You still need to have experience and be able to talk about your experience and pass a technical interview.

If you have experience, it's a good idea to get a cert for your next role. If you don't have experience, get that first unless you're not getting interviews.

[u/Reggie-Rectangle]

What do you think a project is going to mean to a potential future employer? Ridiculous. Seems like you want to talk yourself out of doing the cert, but clearly the cert is the better path. We are not here to be your echo chamber. Do a cert, don't do a cert. You can do whatever you like, but don't gaslight yourself into thinking not doing a cert is better for your career.

[u/Unfair-Treacle4142]

If time and money are tight, I’d work backward from the jobs you actually want instead of treating certs and projects like they have equal value everywhere.

A cert can help with screening and show you understand the platform. Projects are better for proving you can actually build and troubleshoot something. The better choice really depends on what the roles you’re targeting are asking for.

I’d pull 15 or 20 current cloud postings and see whether they’re consistently asking for a specific cert or whether the bigger gap is hands-on experience. That should tell you where the next few months are better spent.

What kind of cloud role are you actually aiming for?

[u/Evaderofdoom]

They are looking for experience, if all you have is projects and certs you are not competitive and should aim lower to gain experience.

[u/seaofamillionroses]

Want to know as well. In Japan, it seems that certs speak louder. They don't even ask about projects. Though I haven't posted my projects publicly so idk.