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Certifications don’t get you hired.
Let me say that again, because I know it might upset some people.
Certifications do not get you hired.
If they did, everyone with a certification would already have a job. Right?
What certifications really do
I’m not saying certifications are useless.
They matter.
They help.
They open doors.
But they are not the reason someone gets hired.
Believing they are is one of the biggest mistakes people make in IT.
A pattern I see all the time
Someone gets a Linux certification.
Then another one.
Then cloud.
Then security.
They proudly list them on their resume.
And then they message me:
“I have all these certs… why am I not getting interviews?”
“Why did they pick someone else?”
“What am I missing?”
This is where reality hits.
What actually happens in hiring
When a hiring manager sees your resume, the certification gets you noticed.
That’s it.
It doesn’t get you hired.
It doesn’t get you trusted.
It doesn’t get you paid more.
It simply says:
“This person has been exposed to the material.”
Interviews are not exams
This is the part most people don’t understand.
Interviews are not about memorization.
No one is thinking:
“Wow, this person memorized a lot.”
They’re thinking:
Can I trust this person in production?
Will they panic when something breaks?
Will they take ownership or make excuses?
Can they think under pressure?
That’s what decides the offer.
What experience teaches you
From my own corporate experience, I can tell you this:
I’ve worked with people who had zero certifications and were rock-solid professionals.
And I’ve seen people with multiple certifications freeze the moment something didn’t work.
Companies don’t hire confidence from paper.
They hire confidence from thinking.
The difference between two types of learners
I see this clearly in my courses.
Some students ask:
“What’s the answer?”
“Will this be on the exam?”
“Do I need to memorize this?”
“How can I remember all the commands?”
Others ask:
“How would this work in real life?”
“What happens if this service goes down?”
“Why am I learning this?”
“How would I explain this to my manager?”
“What’s the right way to troubleshoot this?”
Guess which group gets hired faster?
Not the better test-takers.
The better thinkers.
A quote that says it perfectly
“Knowledge is not power.
Applied knowledge is power.”
What actually gets you hired
Pay close attention here.
What gets you hired is:
Your ability to explain problems clearly
Your ability to walk through scenarios logically
Your ability to say, “I don’t know, but I will figure it out.”
That one sentence is more powerful than ten certifications.
Certifications are tools, not identities
If your confidence comes from the paper, you will struggle.
But if your confidence comes from understanding the fundamentals and the why, you will grow.
This is why many people get stuck:
They stack certifications
But never practice real-world thinking
Never practice ownership
Never practice explaining decisions
And then interviews don’t go well.
The shift that changes everything
You don’t need to quit certifications.
You don’t need to start over.
You just need to change how you prepare.
Stop asking:
“Is this enough to pass?”
Start asking:
“How would I use this at work?”
“What problem does this solve?”
That shift changes everything.
Final Thoughts
Certifications can open the door.
But your thinking gets you through it.
Use certifications as a foundation.
Layer them with real-world thinking, communication, and scenario-based practice.
Do that—and you become very dangerous in the job market.