I took today as a reflection day. This time marks an important moment in my professional development area. It is a time that gathers three consecutive successes and therefore, a time where I may allow myself a little relax and enjoyment time.
I successfully passed three certification exams in a quite short amount of time. Three different exams, all in technical, IT-related domains, with considerable preparation requirements. Two in the data area, and one in the cloud. I have to say that the data ones were more encouraged by the company I collaborate with at the moment, while the cloud certification was more of a personal ambition. And mind you one point of extra difficulty – I have not heard before about the 2 data technologies I was about to get certified into. First exam was on the 30th of November 2024, then one followed soon after Christmas on 26th of December, and lastly, the one on the 28th of January 2025, and the last one, for the near future. It was an intense time. Looking at dates you can say that roughly, in a 3 months period, I passed one certification each month. A strong study winter.
And the “winners” are, in this order:
- Snowflake SnowPro Core Certification (COF-C02)
- AWS Certified Developer Associate (DVA-C02)
- Databricks Data Analyst Associate
Glad to be having this rich trio added to my profile. I learned that the AWS one also acts as a renewal for a past certification I had earned from AWS, the AWS Practitioner (CLF-C02).
Feelings at this point of achievements?
Definitely tired. There is a fatigue I need to counter with a more relaxed, wind-down period. Luckily, I see and feel that this is truly possible in the present and near future. I feel like it is a general tendency, the IT work has not been steady in the last 3-4 years, always going up and down like on a sinus curve. There are busy times, and there are more quiet times. At least from my subjective point of view. And I think I just passed successfully through a busy time, and it’s a good moment to take a little break, until it’s time to come back full-energy.
Learning is energy consuming, just like production work. It takes intellectual effort more than anything, but also…doesn’t IT generally require this anyway? 😊 I see that as time goes by, your student abilities could erode and it can become more difficult to follow a learning process. I noticed a growing need to customize the material format and the learning style to my own preferences. I had to add bells and whistles to help me make better associations and memory links, I seem to enjoy systems with built-in gamifications, if the topic I’m learning has any platform that offers such a thing. Also, I discovered it is a great help if a community is gathered around the topic. It’s very comforting and practically useful to see people with similar interests helping each other.
There was a specific type of pressure on the data topics – especially because I had no prior knowledge about them, what they are and what they do. The idea of getting certified into something you just heard of was baffling to me. But I learned to get over this bias and focus on the work and its potential to the future. And with good organization and planning, I think I had the secret to success. This round of certifications is clearly a boost in the professional confidence.
A good general grasp of IT concepts was a helpful contribution. Even if I did not hear about Snowflake or Databricks before the certification challenge, I think a good part of my success was also the prior knowledge and experience I had with SQL and cloud services. So even though I spent an intense amount of time in studying, the prior long-term IT experience was also a good factor into this success, because it helped me make easier connections and see common patterns with existing knowledge. And it’s quite pleasant to see how newer concepts lay very well on foundational concepts learned before, leaving you feel like building a strong pyramid.
One last thought. Even though it was a pretty intense and consuming process, with today’s perspective, I would recommend you to do the same. Get certifications if you can, in the areas that are of interest to you. I believe it is a good time to learn and prepare for future projects, it is a great moment to scope out what technologies are in demand, how trends change, and what are the skills that would increase your chances for newer, more engaging projects in the future. The internet is abundant with materials ready for you to explore. And a good portion of resources are actually free or with low prices, so it’s just about time and priorities. Good luck.