Are Certificates From Code-Learning Websites Worth Anything?

They can be part of the story you tell about yourself, but depending on the reputation of the source, they could be a negative signal (which is silly because you're not learning in just one place).

Try to put yourself in the shoes of an evaluator who is going to put a lot of kneejerk bias into the process. MIT is worth more than Codecademy, but by how much and should you put both?

I don't think these certificates tell a potential employer a whole lot; they don't say much about how you work, how quickly you can get things done, how easily you can adapt, etc.

What they can offer though, is quickly show that you pass at least a minimum standard and aren't just pretending to know things when you can't even open a code editor without a manual.

As a purely personal note, I'd be more interested in reading what someone thinks of a certificate: Did they just absorb everything like a sponge, or are they already skilled enough to have opinions and disagreements with things being asked? Can they formulate specific criticism if they disliked something about the certification process? Are they seeing the bigger picture, or just focusing on getting ceretified and that's it? And so on..

If I had a penny every time a coworker gloated about a certification just to ask for help on trivial things later, I would have an unsafe amount of pennies right now.

I believe that at some point they had a true value (like, CERTIFICATE in a global, standard way that the person knows the subject) but over time it turned into a) a pay-to-win way to have your resume shine over your lack of experience or b) turn into trophies like the badges we get on DEV (at least the badges are cool).

Does this mean that I'm against people getting certifications? Obviously not, do what you want. But in the end, if I'm on the hiring side, I will try to find out if you really know what you say you do in a practical way. And, if I'm on the "being hired" side, it will be a huge red flag for the company if you only look at the certifications and where did you get them.

But I may be wrong, usually I am on these matters :P

The certs themselves are basically worthless, the learnings however can easily form part of a portfolio. I have loads of them from early days and fundamentally the vast majority of them only prove that you watched a series of videos, they don’t prove any learnings.

What I learned from all of those courses must of which I am still using 10+ years later, but I’d never attach them to my cv or resume and expect the person on the other side to treat them with any value.

Hi,

In my opinion, it depends on several factors, like industry recognition and the job market. I find certificates valuable for learning new topics, but just presenting a certificate doesn't fully showcase your potential. Demonstrating practical examples of what you've learned through projects, sharing your thought process through discussions, and your experiences have a bigger impact on potential employers.

As Ben mentioned, "It can be part of your story about yourself."

It is all about how you use and present it.

General rule is that certificates should be appropriate to your current skill level and position you are applying to.

For example imagine someone applies for senior developer and has certificate "OOP programming basics in JS" granted 1 month ago, this is red flag that he may be underskilled. But the same certificate for junior dev is perfectly fine and proves that he actually had contat with specific topic.

The only exception that you should always include are ISO certificates. For example if you want to write car software and did ISO 24089 course - brag about it at any skill level :)

I review resumes and do interviews. For entry-level hires, I wouldn't pay any attention to certificates like that. For experienced hires, I might see it as a minor red flag since they should be able to fill the available space with more meaningful material.

It depends on how the certificates are awarded. I know for some of these sites you get a certificate for just viewing the video's. And even the sites that do a test/quiz/exam after the course are doubtful when they can be taken at home without supervision; what's it worth if you can do the test/quiz/exam with the possible answers or AI right next to the exam?

Now Adobe has a certification program that requires you to go to a exam center where you are doing a exam supervised, I did this a few times for getting a Magento certificate. For me these certificates are actually worth something. They also expire after a year, which is a pain in the ass, but I suppose they are more valuable that way.

Something is better than nothing.

I don't think they are worth much in a professional setting, but, for us personally, as learners, I think the motivitation they provide are well worth it. ✨