Skip to main content

Why I Stopped Chasing Certifications and Started Building Things

· 2 min read
Saikoushik Gandikota
Saikoushik Gandikota
Senior Platform Engineer

I have 5 cloud certifications. AWS Solutions Architect, Azure Administrator, Terraform Associate, and more. They helped me get interviews. They didn't help me pass them.

Here's the uncomfortable truth I learned after failing a few technical interviews despite having a CV full of cert badges.

The Certification Trap​

Certifications prove you can pass a test. They don't prove you can:

  • Debug a failing Terraform plan at 2 AM
  • Design a network architecture that survives a region failure
  • Explain WHY you'd choose one approach over another

Interviewers know this. That's why they ask scenario questions, not multiple choice. And that's where cert-holders without hands-on depth get exposed.

What Changed My Approach​

I stopped studying for the next cert and started building:

  1. A home lab on Azure — provisioned with Terraform, running AKS, monitored with Prometheus. Nothing fancy. But I could talk about every decision I made and every mistake I fixed.

  2. Open-source contributions — even small ones. Fixing documentation, adding examples, reviewing PRs. It taught me how real projects work, not how exam scenarios work.

  3. Blog posts (like this one) — writing forces you to understand something deeply enough to explain it simply. If you can't write about it, you don't know it well enough.

The New Rule​

For every certification I pursue, I must build something that demonstrates the skill. Got AZ-104? Build a landing zone from scratch. Got CKA? Deploy a production-grade cluster with proper RBAC, networking, and observability.

The cert is the theory. The project is the proof.

When Certifications DO Matter​

I'm not anti-cert. They matter for:

  • Getting past HR filters (especially at consultancies)
  • Structured learning when entering a new domain
  • Visa and immigration requirements (proving specialisation)

But they're a starting point, not an endpoint. The engineers who get the best roles have certs AND projects AND opinions formed from real experience.

What's your take — are certifications overrated or essential? Let's debate on LinkedIn.