Certifications are a double-edged sword when it comes to getting a job. On the one hand, employers want to hire people who have advanced credentials, but those credentials often require applicants to have a minimum number of years of experience before applying. Holding entry-level credentials can serve as evidence of your skills and commitment, but not all employers are impressed by applicants who have an alphabet soup of certifications after their names but little to no experience, fearing that their knowledge is strictly theoretical, not practical. In fact, a recent Glassdoor study showed that big companies like Google, Apple, and IBM no longer prefer candidates with college degrees but candidates with relevant boot camp or vocational school experience (like ITProTV).
Anyone who has ever tried to find a job in any field knows that it’s much easier to land a position — especially one with decent pay — if you have a related degree. It’s so important, in fact, that many job postings specifically define degrees that applicants need to have earned in order to even be considered for the job.
However, as many people can attest, it is possible to get a job in some fields even without specific credentials. After all, most people change careers (not just jobs, but actual careers) at least a few times in their lives — proof that the subject that seems most interesting when one enters college at 18 isn’t always going to be their passion.
If you ask anyone who works in IT, they will probably tell you that landing their job was the easy part. Sure, competition can be intense, and amazing opportunities don’t appear every day, but when you compare the process of getting a job to the pressures of keeping that job, it’s easy to look back and think that the job hunting process was a walk in the park.
