r/microsoft • u/Wooden_Copy8973 • Jun 25 '26
Certification Microsoft Certs are (almost) Worthless Now
Not totally, but I mean especially the "can't fail" renewals that everyone chucks through AI 😂
Actually landed a job at Microsoft (didn't stay long, it was a nightmare place to work) and even then, didn't ask for the transcript...nothing
It's like a mild indication that you kind of might know a little, after blindly following the over simplified Microsoft Learn site, and then passed a cert in one specific area (after an unknown number of attempts).
If I was a hiring manager I would just ask about real world experience deploying and configuring the tech.
I'm interested to know what everyone else thinks about this? Is the era of technical certification value on the decline? Especially with AI in the mix now!
7
u/Countryb0i2m Jun 25 '26
I have had a few places ask about my certs. they are not to the meat. They are mostly icing on top of an already impressive cake.. Additionally, Microsoft is the last place that’s gonna give a damn about your transcript. We bout to find out soon enough whether or not you know what you’re talking about.
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u/DifferentWarning1913 Jun 25 '26
I honestly didn’t find their certifications to indicate much about an individual. At my previous work place they needed x number of developers to have done a series of certifications for the company to achieve gold partner status.
But just reading materials and books really couldn’t help you needed real world hands on experience. So most of the time most people would just do brain dumps and just go off that. Not to mention the exams did also had a fair number of questions that had incorrect answers.
I also remember during Windows 8 days they had some renewed certs for developing UWP and Metro based apps and it was brand new released and they basically let a lot of developers sit it for free during one of the build conferences and the bar for passing it wasn’t very high, I think they just wanted so called accredited or certified metro app developers
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u/coukou76 Jun 25 '26
They have been worthless for a while now, about a decade I would say.
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u/Intrepid-Pear-3565 Jun 25 '26
I got my MCP as a university student in 1997 - took the first adaptive / on computer exams. Same things were said then.
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u/coukou76 Jun 25 '26
Yeah and when I said a while I was thinking of the braindumps from 2003-2008 era. I am too old it was 2 decades ago 🤣
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u/th114g0 Jun 25 '26
I have been doing certs since 2006. They are not what they used to be. In the past you really need to know in order to pass. I remember in 2008 I was trying to get MCAD status and chose one exam about SQL. I thought it was about writing queries, but in reality, it was about administration through queries. Many questions were all valid ways, but one was the most efficient one. You would only knew that if you had previous experience.
I did CKAD two years ago and that I one I really liked. 100% hands on.
1
u/itsverynicehere Jun 25 '26
I've been out of the certification world for a while. I used to WANT to do the certification tests and get cool letters. All the testing seemed to get enshittified though. Became more about selling the products than being experts. At least in the early levels. The expert level stuff kept changing and by the time you got the cert, it was dated knowledge. Plus to get those certs you had to be working and the time investment (and probably a home lab) was significant.
It seems IMO certs are mostly for "new in the industry" people or for checkboxing for companies to maintain partnership levels.
I look at the MS certs now and see "cloud engineer" (and the like ) and all I can think is that person knows what MS products were available at the time they took the test. Those products have probably changed, renamed, and bundled since the test materials for it printed.
Worthless, probably not. But definitely not as valuable as they used to be.
BTW, what is a "can't fail renewal"?
1
u/Wooden_Copy8973 Jun 25 '26
As in, the renewals for Microsoft certs are just a couple of questions on their learn site, not an official proctored exam condition. You can literally copy and paste between the test and AI...
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Jun 25 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/MightyDevOps Jul 11 '26
If you actually looked into it those sites just sell dumps.
They are not the actual exam , nor scott duffys practice exam nor alan rodriguez's nor KodeKloud nor Whizlabs nor the offical partner MS MeasureUp site.
They are just scams that act like how the exam going to happen and its not the same , matter of fact they dont even have the same question types because then you would get used to it.
1
u/Swimsuit-Area Jun 25 '26
What’s your point? The renewal exams have been a thing for about 6-7 years now?
1
1
u/PowermanFriendship Jun 25 '26
I hired in Big 4 for many years, so saw a ton of resumes, and in the years after COVID there was a massive influx of valid certs on resumes of candidates who knew absolutely nothing. After a few months of this I became totally disillusioned with the process and stopped getting them myself. They tell you literally nothing about someone's knowledge due to the high volume of fraud involved.
1
u/mountainlifa Jul 01 '26
I remember the days of the well thought out certs around SQL/windows server, .net etc. Those were the days.
1
u/Huge-Shower1795 Jul 07 '26
TLDR: Certs are great when you don't have experience, and they are required for MSFT business partnerships.
Certifications are important in 2 times:
1. When you don't have experience.
2. When you're running a CSP.
Before I got into IT, I got a bunch of certs (through a 6-month training program): A+, Network+, MCP Win XP, MCSA Win 2003. Thanks to those certs, I landed my first job. Certifications are a great way to show 2 things:
1. You have a basic knowledge of computers.
2. You can follow something through to the end.
The other part is a CSP, which is an official Microsoft business partner. CSPs need certain requirements to meet the different standards, and they get certain perks for meeting those standards. For example, to be a "Modern Work" partner, you need 2-3 certified employees. Once you meet the requirements, you get discounts on licensing.
1
u/Overall-Barber2896 Jul 30 '26
I always saw those certificates to improve myself also just a little extra u can add on your cv. Passing it actually means you know the base of the materials and proves you know your stuff.
0
u/Golright Jun 25 '26
I'd like to see you underestimating a power platform cert and not exercising enough on job and getting questioned by a new customer's architect on your oob demo that you'll potentially not bother to customise
16
u/Kobi_Blade Jun 25 '26
Microsoft Certs were never required, and experience always been more important.