So i was wondering what is the general worth of the certificate. I didnt learn coding in school so the only thing i can put in my resume for programming experience is the certificate when i finish the course. Will that make finding jobs harder? I think many employers would rather hire someone that learned programming in school than on an online course.
Hey @d_r_k,
I think tech is one of the rare fields where traditional school isn’t always necessary and, in some cases, can even be a disadvantage. For example, if you graduated more than five years ago and don’t have any certifications or projects to show that you’re staying up-to-date with current languages and libraries, it might work against you.
Since this field evolves so quickly, schools often lag behind in updating their curricula to match industry changes. A good example is Angular’s big updates back in the day, which rendered a lot of older practices obsolete. At my workplace, we had to refactor a lot of code, and when we were hiring new team members for Angular-specific roles, the standout candidates were those who had certificates and projects demonstrating their knowledge of the updated version.
That said, traditional school learning isn’t entirely irrelevant. I studied computer science in school, but I didn’t land a job until I upskilled independently. The roles I wanted required knowledge of languages and frameworks that weren’t covered in my curriculum. For instance, I learned C++ at university but got hired for a Node.js position, which I had to learn independently and get certified in to show my expertise.
Certifications are highly valued in developer jobs because they demonstrate a willingness to learn independently and stay up-to-date with evolving technology. However, certifications need to be paired with strong practical work. A portfolio showcasing your projects is essential to prove your skills.
From my experience, most developers don’t rely solely on traditional schooling. Even those who attended university often get jobs based on their hands-on experience with specific languages or frameworks, regardless of where they learned them.
Regarding our service, Scrimba, we’re partnered with MDN Web Docs, one of the most respected organizations in web development. While we’re not a traditional school, partnerships like this demonstrate that our content is recognized by industry leaders and is aligned with professional standards. This shows that platforms like ours are a legitimate and effective way to learn and prepare for developer roles.