When I first discovered the PC (too many years ago , was about 14 years old so that would mean 1996) it was love at first sight. Lost many nights trying all sorts of crazy things, failing, trying again, and again and again until eventually I got to a point where Google / Yahoo / etc no longer had answers for me, at least not for the problems I was trying to fix at that time.
Year one in uni I got my first job (at an Internet cafe), a year later I was tech support for an ISP, another year later I was doing software development with a team of young enthusiasts, another year after that I was a sys admin for a company that would become one of the most popular hosting providers in the country. A few years after that I started my own business (started as self employed) collaborating with multiple companies (dong sys admin work as well as software development) for a few more years until I eventually founded a small LTD which after a few years became quite popular but unfortunately it had to come to an end for me in 2017 when me and my boss (wife) decided it was time for a change (was spending too much time working and NOT doing family stuff, balance was wrong) . That’s how I ended up in the UK working for yet another popular hosting provider but this time being able to balance work and family.
In all this time, my opinion has always been something like “those who can … do, those who can’t … teach” and have always considered experience to be worth 10 times more than any degree or certification.
What never crossed my mind was the fact that certifications and / or degrees speed things up in away. It will always be simpler and faster to simply say I’m certified in X or have a degree in Y than to get someone to test and confirm that I have the skills for X or Y which makes things easier when wanting to get a promotion or a better job or simply to get ppl impressed so for year 2020 I’ve set some personal goals in this direction … I’m going back to school 🙂
Why? Because I want to see where this takes me.
I’d love to share what I have in mind but don’t want to sound like I’m bragging so in stead I’m going to mention the certs / degrees here on my blog (as I earn them) and with each one I’m going to share the story and experience of going through the process and the why behind each one.
Wish me luck! 🙂