Are certificates a scam?

There are so many certificates out there. You can be AWS certified or you can be project management certified. University gives you diplomas, but are they a scam?

Not necessary.

Let’s define what scam means. We will start with the definition of fraud

” a person or thing intended to deceive others, typically by unjustifiably claiming or being credited with accomplishments or qualities.”
“mediums exposed as tricksters and frauds”

This means that a scammer could potentially perform a fraud on you.

To be a scam, you need to waste your money on something that won’t provide you with benefits.

I have spoken with people who pass some of the hardest certificates and I would agree that you can’t pass them by pure luck. So there is a true value that was assessed. And a lot of time that value is measurable and at the end of the certificate you receive an assessment of how to improve in the future and what you need to focus on.

In this way, the certification is not a scam and really provides value to the company and to the person who possesses such a certificate.

If you want to be better in your field of work, look for industry recognized education and certification and go for it. It is the best investment ever!

The take away!

Certifications in the industry are not a scam and really provide value for the holder. Recognizing their effort and expertise in the topic.

If you want to become certified, first look for valuable certifications programs which are recognized globally and go for it.

Aleks Vladimriov is a Senior Software Developer, recognized Project Manager and Soft-skilled trainer and a coach.

Aleks Vladimirov

Solution Engineering Manager at Thales | Senior IT Professional | Startup Mentor and Product Manager

Bio

Aleks is experienced Product Manager with an engineer background and over 10 years of experience as a software developer. He works with different governments and is responsible for negotiation features and requirements, understanding the customers’ needs and supporting the senior management with regular reports and analysis. He held various positions starting as a software developer, moving to a team leader and software architect.

He strives in waterfall and agile environment alike. He is certified Scrum Master and Prince2 Practitioner and he knows how to design business processes and help teams optimize their work.
During his tenure, he had to wear many hats, prioritizing business requirements, delegating work and mentoring team members, creating mockups with Balsamiq, providing MS Project plan to the senior management.

He had worked in many international teams, located in the same city or distributed in different countries and continents. He had been a team leader of cross functional international team of 8 people.

In his current position, he is very much client focused. He has excellent presentation skills.
He delivers training sessions on presentation skills and leadership and he had helped hundred of people to improve their presentation skills.

He is also interested in creating more positive changes in the workplace by using entrepreneurship skills.
He had won startup competition where his team had validated and develop a business idea from scratch.

In his free time, he writes in his blog about effective product development.