my perspective on certs

Certifications - at least the ones I have encountered most often - don't say much about a candidate's true skillset and capabilities. That's my take on the matter, at least.

They demonstrate that you're a decent standardized test taker, had the time and motivation to prepare, and were able to drop a large sum of money to schedule the exam. But beyond that? I don't feel they serve as objective evidence of one's skillset.

Many certifications exams can be passed in just the same way many people pass their college exams: cramming a ton of information into your brain in the days/weeks leading up to the test, and hoping for the best. And it often works out, speaking from experience.

In my pursuit of Salesforce certifications (which I earned primarily to benefit my employers' partner standing with Salesforce), I have learned a lot, but I'll be the first to admit that most of it is surface level understanding of the topics.

What certification preparation does provide is exposure to a wide set of features and concepts - which means that when it comes time to actually apply those skills, I know where to start looking... but it isn't until I dig in and get hands-on building experience (which I do have a ton of) that I truly understand the underlying concepts and feel comfortable claiming the skillset.

So are they valuable? In some ways, yes - but take them with a grain of salt.

Salesforce Certifications

Business Analyst | December 2022 - present

Marketing Cloud Email Specialist | Jan 2022 - present

Data Architect | July 2021 - present

Application Architect | July 2021 - present

Sharing and Visibility Architect | July 2021 - present

Experience Cloud Consultant | Jan 2021 - present

Sales Cloud Consultant | Dec 2020 - present

Platform App Builder | May 2020 - present

Administrator | May 2020 - present

Tableau CRM and Einstein Discovery Consultant | Sept 2019 - present

Platform Developer 1 | June 2019 - present

B2B Commerce for Developers Accredited Professional | Nov 2022 - Nov 2024

B2B Commerce for Administrators Accredited Professional | Dec 2022 - Dec 2024

Accredited B2B Commerce Developer | Jan 2020 | certification is now retired

Accredited B2B Commerce Administrator | Feb 2020 | certification is now retired

You can view my Trailhead profile to verify any of the above certifications.

AWS Certifications

Certified Cloud Practitioner | Dec 2019 - Dec 2022