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I am a first year CS student who has just taken my first 2 CS classes which introduce programming and I learned Java and basic CS. I was recommended by a few friends that I should do those certs like CS50 or MIT intro to CS and python on online sites such as edX and Coursera, but my question is are these certs really worth it in terms of job prospect.

Now, I don't mind taking the course in terms of learning, but I find it a little pointless since I can't show people without paying the 200 dollars for the certificate. I would like to know if it will really help me stand out among others besides from obviously coding competence and problem solving. Is it really worth paying the 200 plus on these courses? Since I am new to the field, I would like to hear from experienced people or perhaps even people who have done these certs.

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    If you can easily cheat, then I'd say the certs are worthless and possibly counter-productive. It really depends on the cert. But yeah, the certs from edx and Coursera are worthless. Do those courses because of the skills and knowledge you get from them, not because of their certs. Don't worry. You won't waste your time if you do some of those courses. People will notice whether you know your stuff or not.
    – Stephan Branczyk
    Jun 3, 2021 at 18:54
  • Are you studying at a university? Then your degree will probably be far more valuable than such vanity certifications.
    – Mark Rotteveel
    Jun 5, 2021 at 7:48

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They are not worth it

See this post.

Most certificates are offered by companies who's main source of revenue is learning products such as Coursera. These companies have a vested interest in making the test not too long, and pretty easy to proctor online. They also are incentivized not to make them too difficult. The longer you study the fewer certificates you can "earn" per year.

On top of that, there are so many different tech stacks, and so many different methodologies, and they change per year, I'm not sure a certificate would be worth anything for those reasons alone.

The WAY better thing to do, is do side projects and post them publicly on GitHub. They don't have to be ground-breaking, just use some new cool technologies you're interested in, and see what happens.

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Some certs do matter and can be very beneficial, but when I say that I'm talking about the professional qualifications and they tend to be technology/platform specific ones that you'll look at once your career takes shape. Taking some basic intro courses/certs such as you describe can be slightly helpful in lieu of other formal education that would supersede them but you're already doing a CS degree so they're pretty pointless.

Now I don't mind taking the course in terms of learning but I find it a little pointless since i cant show people without paying the 200 dollars for the certificate.

The course itself might provide some useful learning for you (YMMV) but I certainly wouldn't be spending any money on the certificates!

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  • That's a really insightful distinction between generic and specific certs and the context of where exactly one is applying with them.
    – Levente
    Jun 4, 2021 at 20:53
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Certificates in the coding context

As pointed out by @GabeSechan in the specific field of coding, certs may get evaluated differently than in e.g. the pretty close field of project management (which, due to its proximity, may alter or influence our perception of certs).

From firsthand experience in evaluating applications from people intending to join our web-application-developer team, I can attest that a Github profile with projects demonstrating continuous engagement can be 1000x more convincing (and attractive!) than some certs; so much so that coding certs amassed can actually come across as deterring: "why had this person invested so much in all these things, they seem really desperate to create some appearances here. But why don't they convince with a transparent Github account?"

Certifications in general — as in, perhaps outside coding :)

Certificates may do an important contribution to your life, but not necessarily how you imagine it now.

  • Preparing for obtaining certificates (aka learning) will inevitably teach you new things (much of which is probably worth its while).
  • Certificates may open doors that could remain shut / could favor other candidates otherwise.

Once you get in, you can utilize all your knowledge, not just what preparing for the cert had taught you.

If obtaining certs had contributed to your becoming a more competent contributor, all the better. But ultimately, you have to be you in order to realize your potential. It's not the cert that will deliver the contributions; it remains you who in the end has the impact.

Pursue what interests you, and plan and carry out your actions according to your own values (remain on the ready however to consider adjusting, on cues from feedback). If you are finding yourself investing in certs, do it to ease your way forward, and not out of the expectation that they assign you additional value.

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  • I'm going to disagree. In IT, certs (used to) matter. In programming- nobody is going to hire you because you took a 6 week web course in AI. It won't make anyone look twice at your resume. The knowledge you get from the course can be valuable. The cert, not at all. If anything I think it harms a resume- a huge list of course certs instead of actually writing an app looks worse than nothing at all.
    – Gabe Sechan
    Jun 3, 2021 at 19:32
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    @GabeSechan fair enough, noted. Additionally, I indeed feel that a github profile with projects demonstrating continuous engagement can be 1000x more convincing than some certs. Let's see if I can save it.
    – Levente
    Jun 3, 2021 at 19:36
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Coursera, edX and similar don't matter at all. At least in Europe I've never come across a situation where they mattered. (But I have come across plenty of people on linkedin you celebrate their completing 5h online courses...).

However, there are IT certificates that can matter in some settings. It really depends on the culture of the company you work for. I'm currently at one that not only wants you to do tech certificates and pays for them but also pays you additionally if you do them. It's a minority, but such companies exist. What I mean are certificates that confirm your knowledge of some software, but also methods (e.g. agile, scrum).

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I am a first year CS student who has just taken my first 2 CS classes which introduce programming and I learned Java and basic CS. I was recommended by a few friends that I should do those certs like CS50 or MIT intro to CS and python on online sites such as edX and Coursera, but my question is are these certs really worth it in terms of job prospect.

Since I am new to the field, I would like to hear from experienced people or perhaps even people who have done these certs.

Talk to your department. Talk to your advisor. Talk to the job placement people at your college. They will know. They deal with this all the time. Many schools also offer opportunities to interview on campus. Some of these interviews are practice interviews, others are for internships and the like. Ask the people conducting the interviews.

It all depends on the positions you will be going for. I know that in the United states many government agencies require people being given privileged accounts on the network must have one or more current certificates from an approved list of vendors. You may find that even if you are a programmer they won't let you install software unless you have the certificate.

Your university can help you decide what these certificate options will do for your situation.

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