Is it acceptable (to employers generally) to get certified and share the success on LinkedIn in a technology that competes with the 'stack' they use?

Question

I'm a cloud solutions developer.

My employer uses the Microsoft Azure stack and is a 'partner' of Microsoft which means they get an affiliation with Microsoft that they can use to promote to customers etc. Part of that partner status is about having a given number of Azure-certified people in the company, of which I am one (I'm part of a large team of developers and they have many times the amount of people needed to meet that requirement). The company's sales pitches and proposals to customers include the use of the Azure stack and the benefits of that, and state prominently that they are a Microsoft affiliate. It is sort of a 'seal of approval' that the company is legitimate and knows their way around Azure.

The company sells services to businesses, e.g. an appointments management platform. The customer would sign up with my employer and receive access to this appointments system to use in their own business (doctor appointments, car mechanic appointments, sales visits, etc). It is a commodity product that we can 'tailor' to the particular customer's requirements with some extra consultancy. Most of the customers just buy the default version, a small percentage have an additional requirement like integration with some specific in-house system they already had.

In my personal capacity, I am now wanting to get certified on Amazon Web Services (AWS) and perhaps also Google Cloud Platform (GCP) (which are the main competitors of Azure). This is for my own career development reasons, as I want to be able to have more opportunities in the future outside of being restricted to 'only' Azure experience. AWS and GCP offer similar certifications to Azure as a cloud developer. I don't know what might happen in the future with my company. I am conscious with all the talk of recession that it's not a bad idea to be a bit more "future proof". I would do the study and test outside of work time.

My LinkedIn profile states my title and employer. I am "connected" on LinkedIn with a number of my colleagues including senior managers.

Would it be considered generally acceptable to get certified in a competing technology (AWS when the company is Azure based)? Is it a conflict of interest in some way? If it's acceptable to get certified, would it look strange to post to my feed that "I just passed AWS Certified Developer" with the badge? Is that 'undermining' the company? What would that look like to a potential or current customer who looks up my employer and associated employees?

Answer 1

All good IT staff know more than one tech stack, and limiting yourself to the stack your company uses is a good way to stall your career. I would feel more confident knowing that your company's staff know a range of different stacks, because it suggests that they've chosen Azure because it's best for what they're doing, not because it's the only thing that they know how to use.

Given your company is a Microsoft partner (although TBH, that doesn't mean much because a huge number of companies are), it would be wise to avoid publicly posting too much negative stuff about them on your LinkedIn - ranting about how terrible Azure is and how much better AWS/GCP/OCI are may not go down particularly well.

But there's absolutely nothing wrong with sharing your certifications.

Answer 2

We cannot speak on behalf of your company, we don't know how they will react to such a statement. Therefore, all that follows is generic advice.

From a professionalism point of view, it is desirable that IT professionals get knowledge in many different areas instead of sticking to a particular cloud / framework / stack / language. Many companies even switch cloud providers when they have to, even if they have strategic partnerships with a certain company.

As per Gh0stFish advice, I would refrain from criticizing Azure (in fact, I would refrain from criticizing or having strong opinions against any type of technology on Linkedin, as it may exclude you from a job that requires those technologies).

On the other hand, you getting certified in AWS should not have negative implications to a reasonable employer, in fact it may be positive. Companies sometimes work with the cloud provider at hand, but may value somebody aware of potential alternatives and able to study them and evaluate benefits/costs/risks.

Finally, if you want to be really cautious about this, just ask your manager, "Hey I have been certified in AWS. Do you mind me posting it in my personal Linkedin or may it conflict with our partnership with Azure?".

Answer 3

Education should never be seen as a negative. The fact that your employer "sells" a technology vendor that competes with your certification shouldn't be an issue to them. If it is, they're not a good employer. An employer should never discourage or penalize someone for furthering their education and training. If it were me, I'd post my certifications to my LinkedIn profile.

Answer 4

Would it be considered generally acceptable to get certified in a competing technology (AWS when the company is Azure based)?

Yes, it is generally considered acceptable.

Is it a conflict of interest in some way?

If you do this on your own time, there is no conflict of interest.

If it's acceptable to get certified, would it look strange to post to my feed that "I just passed AWS Certified Developer" with the badge? Is that 'undermining' the company?

It wouldn't look strange. It is not undermining the company.

What would that look like to a potential or current customer who looks up my employer and associated employees?

It would look like you enjoy learning and getting certified in technologies, even when they aren't used at your company.