Hi vu !
I have seen many people who have 8 to a dozen of certifications, some of which are related but a few is not. I wonder how they remain experts on their certifications knowing that certification does require memorization (I believe that most of certifications are not related to what people do at work). I think one way is to be active in certification and other forums, but it would be impossible to participate in all of them besides work, life...
Is it good to get many certifications? IMHO yes, as long as they remain coherent and that you really practice them a minimum at work.
In my case I have 4
Java certifications (so related and coherent), plus 2 Linux RedHat, plus CompTIA Network+ (general network knowledge). I use all of these skills either at work or at home often, so I keep up with the knowledge.
Of course certifications do require memorization, so some tricky parts are forgotten quickly after exam, but this is no real issue as for having studied them you can learn them back quickly if needed.
You are totally true for the certs you do not practice, they will turn into failure. Having once as an instructor being led to get Cisco CCNA & CCDA, I tried to keep up with them when I got back to Java development, but simply couldn't : they were expensive, too much specialised, I never practiced them again as a Java developer, and all the Java companies I worked for didn't care at all, so I had to drop Cisco certs.
Best regards.
Eric LEMAITRE
CNAM IT Engineer, MS/CS (RHCE, RHCX, SCJA, SCJP, SCJD, SCWCD, SCBCD, SCEA, Net+)
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