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Comment by jumpman500 | Hacker News Reader

I don't think tech courses or certificates have ever been a top consideration when reviewing backend engineer qualifications. Only if we're hiring for a specific technology that's niche. Most certificates just teach you how to understand/sell a specific technology stack which sometimes is helpful, but other times can make you not see simpler solutions. I'd check out what's freely available first.

Your 400 dollars is probably better spent making mistakes building your own personal project on aws/or some other cloud provider.

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I Agree, OP should gain to seek experience and read some books such as Release It! by Nygard.

Those certifications are worth having too. CKAD is a performance based exam and is therefore quite practical, which I think will make you a better engineer.

Highly depends many consulting shops have to have requisite amount of AWS certified professionals to maintain the partnership status with AWS. They highly value people who have appropriate AWS certs.

which AWS certs are these in particular?

Is worth considering other certs e.g. gcp, azure for the same reason?

Solutions Architect Associate is the way to go - definitely the broadest coverage and most approachable. Won't get you a job by itself but I would find it a bit odd if I was hiring someone who works with AWS already and doesn't have this.

> I would find it a bit odd if I was hiring someone who works with AWS already and doesn't have this

Is it? I work with AWS every day, and I feel like getting the certificate will add absolutely nothing to my expertise, so it’s just wasted money.

I thought the Developer and Solutions Architect were both a complete waste of time compared to actual day to day work with AWS.

I was an AWS employee for 5 years, launched a new AWS service, and don’t have that. I guess my dreams are crushed without the Solutions Architect Associate credentials, lol.

I was an AWS employee too and found that people building services basically lived in a completely different world, hardly ever actuallyusing AWS - so I'm not surprised.

Indeed, the AWS/Azure certifications are quite popular/sought-after & the only ones that seem worth getting, even for non-consulting jobs.

Also the Java Professional certificates are the big ones for Java shops.

Yeah, but then you'd have to work in consulting. ;)

A related idea is to just take the 400 bucks and spend it on AWS playing around. Spin up a few Kubernetes clusters, try out their various database offerings, maybe see if you can run a load-test and get your play system to auto-scale.

That would also require keeping a sharp eye on the billing side to make sure the total cost doesn't go over $400... but, hey, that's part of the learning, too!

To add to that: Document it, through a blog or other. Even if that doesn't get read, it's evidence, and hopefully it would.

It’s probably an L&D stipend

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