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by paranoidrobot 2303 days ago
> candidates can put anything in a resume to make them sound good

This is true.

However it's not like Certification is a good measure for competency or skill, either.

A lot of the big name certs have major issues with either being passable via brain-dumps, and/or they test for bad and outdated practices.

Certifications are unfortunately a contraindication to competency and skill.
2 comments
freedomben 2303 days ago
Disclaimer: I work for Red Hat and hold several certifications, so I have a clear conflict of interest here

I agree with your analysis there regarding outdated and passable via brain-dumps, which is why I both respect and pursue Red Hat certs (before I went to work there). They are damn hard and there's no way to pass them unless you have practiced your ass off. The cert transcripts also specify exactly which version of the tech you took your exam on (e.g. RHEL 7 or Ansible v2.7), so an employer can see if your skills are outdated. IME they are well respected in the industry.

No test or cert if perfect of course, but they're not all equal IMHO.

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anonsivalley652 2302 days ago
Some certs like A+ are a game to get the candidate to memorize useless, obscure trivia that is found in someone's test prep materials.

The exploitative training/testing racket is all about creating a subscription-like dependency with planned obsolescence to get steady, easy money for more testing and more exams.

Thank the various gods for, back in the day: TestKing.

Good certifications which can be used in certain safety-critical tech jobs include the US state-by-state Professional Engineer license with a brutal and comprehensive exam process plus required work experience.

In general, better exams are free-form responses and/or a panel interview (if they still do that) like CCIE.

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anonsivalley652 2302 days ago
Yup.

My boss had an MCSE but could only operate a Windows desktop as a power user and install Windows (server). He got this cert because of the "bootcamp" where they only taught to the tests and then they took the tests until they passed them.

Meanwhile, I was deploying GPOs and scripting remote cleanups of Blaster using PsExec... zero certs and no degree.

A+ is the mark of the beast and the coming of the second-stringer.

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