Why I stopped chasing certifications after 8 years

I spent 8 years getting every certification I could find for IT support, thinking it would land me a better job. Then a hiring manager told me flat out that actual experience fixing problems mattered way more than the paper. Has anyone else found that certs don't carry as much weight as they used to?

3 comments

3 Comments

spencer_owens581mo ago

Saw a post on r/ITCareerQuestions last week where someone said they interviewed 50 people and the ones with actual homelab setups always beat the cert chasers. Got me thinking about how technical interviewing has changed, they focus more on troubleshooting scenarios now than asking what certs you have. Read another thread where a guy with A+ and Net+ couldn't even boot up a test server because he never had to do it before. Paper knowledge just doesn't prove you can fix something when it breaks.

charlescraig1mo ago

My cousin's an IT manager and he says the same thing about homelabs, but he also hired a guy last year with nothing but certs who's been one of his best troubleshooters on the help desk.

matthewdixon1mo ago

Changed my mind on this honestly. Used to think certs were the gold standard. Then helped a buddy set up a simple home server last month. Dude had his CCNA but couldn't figure out why DHCP wasn't handing out IPs. Took me five minutes to spot the rogue firewall rule. Certs teach you theory but homelabs force you to actually break shit and fix it. That's where the real learning happens.