Certifiable!

This summer unexpectedly — finally! — afforded me the most precious commodity of all: time. After wrapping up my latest engagement and securing the next one within a couple of days, all I needed to do was wait: at least two months... As part of our excellent Squad Zero (bench) group, I set about contributing where I could, but — more importantly — preparing for the next client by certifying some of my expertise.

Certifications have long been a bug-bear of mine. My colleagues and friends seemingly, endlessly, announce their latest awesome achievements on LinkedIn, adding to my ever-growing sense of Imposter Syndrome and wondering how they do it, before diving back into work and remembering that I still do make a difference, somewhere. Then there are the monetary costs, exams, time... was it all really, truly worth it? Surely I have been successful and picked up more than enough expertise without certificates?

The first domino topples

As fate would have it, the Chief Technology Officer Program program with IE University I enrolled in at the turn of the year began in the summer. The format was great, the mixed learning material interesting, and the staff and students were engaging and friendly. Best of all: I wasn't out of my depth! As hoped, there was plenty of new material to learn, particularly technology forecasting, which I am currently putting into practice.

That brilliant experience, coupled with immense pride from my 93% grade, gave me the confidence I needed to find and complete as many useful certifications as possible. Eight, it transpired:

Why select these courses?

Firstly: to certify my existing knowledge. For many of the certifications, I knew the subject matter well. Despite not touching production GraphQL code for nearly 3 years, I completed the Apollo certification at the first attempt. As software engineers, we often cannot demonstrate our skills outside of a working setting, so these certifications increase my credibility within my company and clients have increased confidence that I have good knowledge of the subject.

Many of the courses ensured my existing knowledge was up-to-date. Oddly, GitHub Foundations proved this most: despite using it regularly for over 10 years, the GitHub Projects updates seemed to have passed me by, and I used my new appreciation for it almost immediately for an internal accelerator migration.

For Neo4J, however, I wanted to resolve a particular blind-spot that worried me: graph databases. Graph data modelling was suggested as a solution not long before I moved on from a previous project, and now having undertaken the excellent Neo4J certification, I can't stop seeing data as graphs! Whilst I am still frustrated with myself for not doing so sooner — when, though?! — I will now ensure that graph databases are mentioned in the same conversations as their SQL and NoSQL counterparts.

Lastly, for CockroachDB and ScyllaDB, I am preparing for the future. We often think that Disaster Recovery is enough, but what happens when a hyperscaler accidentally wipes out your entire estate? The resiliency of these truly distributed SQL and NoSQL database technologies is incredibly impressive, and an important tool in your design arsenal for clients where guaranteed uptime and performance are paramount.

The experience

What followed next were wildly differing learning and certifying paths. Some were completely free, online and on-demand; particularly Neo4J, which provided excellent course material and a difficult yet enjoyable exam, complete with swag! The larger providers — AWS, GitHub and ISC2 — rely on proctored exams, either online or in-person, and are best complemented with exam preparation courses from providers such as Udemy. I found the online exam proctors to be overbearingly petty inspecting the home environment, but maybe there are people hiding cheat sheets around their rooms? The software for those exams is pretty dated, particularly for the in-person test, and made for a fairly stressful overall experience, which I am not looking forward to repeating for future recertification.

As frustrating as some test experiences were, the material for all was useful. As hoped, it filled gaps in my knowledge, taught me new skills, and the odd random nugget: I had no idea retinal scanners could detect pregnancy. There were some frustratingly specific questions around vendor technology implementations that are only necessary in certain scenarios, but usefully, most of the training material could be applied more broadly.

The two biggest commitments are, as expected, time and money. I was restricted to free or specific reimbursable certifications, and given the quality of those free courses, I will be even more selective of future paid certification. Despite having a good grasp of most of the material I intended to learn, it was still surprising how long it took to wade through it all. Gaps between coursework and the available slots for proctored exams didn't help, so I would advise planning your certification schedule.

There is no doubt though, that being awarded even a small certificate is a great feeling, often coupled with relief! Even a little extra self-assurance that I do have some of the knowledge I feel I need has removed a bit of nagging doubt. I wish there was more swag, though.

via GIPHY

Continuing the journey

Overall, I'm incredibly lucky to be able finally certify several skills in one go. I highly recommend reviewing the excellent free courses and their certifications, although I will be more selective over future commercial options, particularly when self-funded. Watch out for providers like the Linux Foundation, which regularly offer discounts. With change constant change in software engineering, retaining these certifications will no doubt be challenging, although if you back up newly-learned skills with practical experience, this should be easier to navigate. The biggest problem, as always, is finding and making the time...

I'd love to hear about courses and certifications that you recommend, so please let me know!