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For software development at least, they can help prove you know a concept, but they aren't going to do everything for you. So if it's on your resume it may help an HR/hiring manager see that you're willing to put your money where your mouth is to prove it, but they're still going to look for experience and other stuff too.
So, I guess what I'm saying, it'll help - but it won't do anything like replace a college degree either. They're good, but don't believe their marketing hype either.
If someone wanted to get into IT but was unable to get a degree for whatever reason, how would they do it?
I've been in IT for a few decades now with no degree. Just got a raise, I'm officially pulling in 12K a month pre-tax.
Here's how I did it:
Work a series of crappy non-tech jobs where I became "the computer guy" because nobody else knew anything.
Tear a calf muscle and have to get a desk job.
Get a phone monkey job answering tech questions. That job had an opportunity to start training other people.
Took the training skills and got a job teaching at a for profit tech school. They wanted me to teach their A+, Microsoft and Linux classes so paid for my certs.
School folded after 9/11, so I took the certs and became a system administrator. Windows, Mac, Linux, Unix phone systems.
After about a decade of that, had a bad experience, burned out, went back to a phone monkey gig for a tiny start up company.
Got IPO shares. Paid for my kids college.
Got bought by a GIANT tech company. Not FAANG level, but a few steps below that.
Now...
My KID... went to college, got his Computer Science Degree. Interned at Intel, had his first paying job at Intel, jumped ship to Oracle, and is now out engineering those AI systems that have everyone creeped out.
After getting a 4 year degree, he went from making the same money I did more or less immediately to making 3x what I do in less than 5 years.
Get an entry level helldesk job and learn all you can from your peers. After you become comfortable start asking the senior engineers for harder tasks.
There are plenty of skills that are in demand but have no certs. Scripting with Bash and python for Linux systems or PowerShell for windows are some examples.
Automation like Terraform or Ansible are also good to learn but have no official certs.
Help desk is the answer. The key is to work towards understanding the industry you're doing support in. A ton of companies love support members because they end up knowing the product, the use cases, and the clients better than most other folks in the company.
This is the way. If you can't find a way into a company you know you want to work for, start in Support. Shine, and move up and out.
If you applied at my company as junior IT, but you had some certs and "experience" doing IT (even if you lied), you'd get in.
If you had no certs, way harder.
But honestly, the CompTIA and AWS intro level certs aren't that difficult. You literally can watch YouTube videos for a month to master it. The annoying part is paying $200-400 to take it.
If you are using Linux for a year as your personal computer, you know more than you think.
I just did this - my undergrad is in an unrelated field and I was looking to pivot. Personally I got an A+ cert and targeted my applications to support positions that required it. It's not a magic button but it was better than nothing since my background was not tech related at all.
I've worked with people who had a GED and were tech support leads (and great at their jobs). If you are lacking in formal education, you'll need to prove yourself other ways. It won't be as easy but it's possible.
As a software engineer that is involved in hiring decisions, they are not worth anything with respect to software development jobs.
I look for, in order of importance:
And that’s it. Certs don’t ever even get considered.
So, you don’t hire entry level then?
Certainly should be considered for entry level roles because everything you describe is for more senior positions. If this is how you hire entry level, that’s a bit of a problem.
Why?
Conversely, as a system engineer that is involved in the hiring process for software development in addition to various types of platform and cloud engineering jobs.
I look for, in order of importance:
That's it. College degree isn't even considered, but if you got relevant experience in college that can count.
Most of my interview time is spent digging into technical details to see if you can back up your resume claims. The rest is getting an idea of how you approach challenges and think about things.
As far as certifications, they're often required to get in the door due to qualification regulations. Especially security certs. If you list them, I'll ask a few questions just to make sure you actually know what's up.
Good for getting your foot in the door. And their content can often be useful if you intend to work on the topic. For instance, I learned some things by reading the Security+ materials without having any intention of getting the cert.
Don’t employers want people with degrees too?
This all varies for the job and the cert or degree, but degrees are good. Certs might be good enough. Basically an employer wants to know you can do the job. Degrees and certs are ways they can verify that. Between you saying "I know how to replace a CPU" and some other schlub saying "I have an A+", it's easier to take CompTIA's word than yours.
And experience trumps all, usually.
IT instructor at a high school. When I started in the industry I had nothing but knowledge from personal tinkering. I currently teach classes on everything from ITF+ through Security +. Through knowledge gained from industry partners and vendors I can say that it’s not always required but someone with those certs will usually get more attention than you on applications. If money and time are an issue I can recommend TestOut’s library license. For around $900 a year you get unlimited access to a wide range of training materials including the entry level ITF+, A+, Net+, and Security+. I’ve been using this platform with my students, and while it has its shortcomings, it’s one of the better tools I’ve encountered. They are also owned by CompTIA so the content is aligned with their tests. If you have any questions, I’d be happy to have a chat. Career education is my passion.
I have a bunch of certifications. I use them as bargaining chips for raises and promotions. Like, showing them I'm continuing to grow. And at the senior level, they will always choose the guy with 10 certs + 15 years compared to others. I see it time and time again.
I can't say they ever helped me beyond that. Most of the testing felt like trivia rather than real world. I'm dumb AF and just really good at taking tests.
I think it's worth it only if you're fully okay that it's just a talking point, and not a measurement of your expertise, or that it will change your life. Also I hate that you have to renew it every few years.
My Career:
The above covers about the last 33 years of my career with 28 of it in IT.
I'd probably make more money if I refreshed some of my certifications, but working on the process side in really large environments means I'm not on call and I don't deal with emergencies at 3am. I currently work for a very very large defense contractor that you definitely have heard of. My wife is a physician and works an on call schedule that can be brutal at times, so I'm happy to not be on call. I handle the kids, while she's running off to the hospital saving some poor child.
I think the only certs that matter right are cloud certs. AWS, Azure, or GCP. Just my experience.
If you work on a government contract they could be written into the contract.
The Department of Defense has the 8570 baseline which defines which roles require certifications. Having these certs are helpful because you can't get these jobs without them. You can see them here: https://public.cyber.mil/wid/cwmp/dod-approved-8570-baseline-certifications/
