A Proud Sun Certified Enterprise Architect

Today I found out that I passed parts II and III of the Sun Certified Enterprise Architect (JEE 5.0 edition) exam ... meaning that I am now fully SCEA certified! I have been waiting almost two months for the last parts to be graded and results sent out. Going into it, I didn't think I had a chance ... but after a lot of studying and a ton of time spent trying to figure out if I did the project portion correct .. I am proud to say I passed.

Do I feel any different now that I am a SCEA? Nope.
Am I glad that I got the certification? Yes.
Will I put it on my resume? Yes
Do I think this certification proves that I can do X, Y, or Z? No, but its a good start.
Do I think recruiters/hiring managers should use them as a hiring requirement? No.

Coming out of college I didn't know much. Period. I knew there were lots of professional certifications out there and that "I should have some" because ...... other people do. Working as a consultant right out of school, I was pushed to get at least one basic certification in either the .NET or Java side of things. Obviously I chose Java. This was done, primarily, so that the consulting company could put it in my profile for perspective clients ... as a way of proving I had some level of experience.

I don't fully agree with this.

I have come to the conclusion that certifications don't mean anything out of context. It should be understood that they only "prove" that I could do well on a test, the day I took the test. They don't prove I know "the stuff", they don't mean I will be a good employee, and they don't mean I will do well when I try and write software for you. They don't even get you the ladies (or at least the ladies who go for a guy wearing a SCJP pin, aren't the ladies I would be after).

So what are certifications good for?

Well, if you talk to a guy and he can explain why he got a particular certification, what he found difficult and easy about it, how he thinks it could be improved, and how he has related the stuff he learned to his day to day work (citing specific examples) ... thats a great thing. If you can talk about your experience in the area and how studying all the crazy edge-cases and unused syntax has helped you on a project ... way to go.

If not, its just proves you tested well.

I am proud of my certifications. I am proud of the time I spent studying for them and proud of the instances where I knew something another developer didn't that I learned while studying. I am even more proud of the crazy problems I couldn't solve despite being certified in the technology ... but remembered how to tackle the problem because of it. I am most proud because I got them without anyone bugging me to .... many notable leaders in the field will say that the majority of programmers don't read blogs, write pet programs, or constantly think about problems. They don't get certifications to force themselves to learn something beyond what they know today, just for themselves. I am most proud of the fact that I am not like that.

At least most of the time.

What are your thoughts/experiences with professional certifications?