Do I really need an IT certificate?

"The mind that opens up to a new idea never returns to its original size." - Albert Einstein

 
Because we're passing through the great era of "Digital Transformation," besides the market, the IT sector is being influenced too.  Among several changes that are happening, I want to talk about a specific matter, which is the growing incentive and facilitation to get IT certifications.

A few years ago, to get an IT certification (no matter what speciality), was something that demand effort, dedication and most times, was expensive. The certified professionals were more valued and some of them even were part of a select group, depending on what certification they had.

Nowadays many companies are providing easier ways to get certifications at foundation levels, which in some cases can even be free of charge. This is very common in fashionable matters like Scrum, Agile, DevOPS and etc.

We can clearly see this "certification fever" on LinkedIn when some company decides to make a campaign of study material and certification issuing free of charge.

But, is this a problem? Actually no. What happens is that the fact of certifications at foundation level being popularized creates a tendency of devaluation of those same certificates. A natural reaction of someone who had a hard time studying and expanded a lot of money to get the same certificate in a higher level.

But then did the free, entry-level certifications lost its value? No, but you'll need to be careful to not to become just another professional taken by the fashion of the moment.

I believe that a certification changes the person's mindset. It's impossible that someone who studies for any certification keeps the same old way of thinking. The practice and the experience expands the knowledge acquired and make ir solid. Experience without certification is almost equivalent to certification without experience. Whoever seeks a certification must seek his immersion into the market to put that knowledge into practice.

Knowledge takes no space. We're living the era of knowledge but, unfortunately, there are people who still want to restrain information.