W3Schools Certificate

[vitinho444]

Hello guys, i was browsing w3schools website to learn something new. I think i will check AJAX since it's very used and for what i know now is that it's very similar(the goal) with jquery.

Well while browsing the tutorials i discovered that W3Schools gives you a certificate upon making an exam on different languages, such as HTML, PHP, CSS etc. Each one costs 95$ but i think they can be worth a lot when looking for a job.

Have you guys ever requested one? I would like to know more or less how's the exam and stuff. I took all the quizzes i always get 85% or 17 out of 20, due to somethings i dont know since i never used them.

Should i get one?

[Jackolantern]

They are worthless. This is one of the biggest bones the tech community has with W3Schools. They offer shallow, oftentimes worthless, and occasionally dangerous coverage of tech topics. Then they want to sell you a certificate basically proving you just read 10 pages worth of info. Keep in mind a certificate is only worth something if there is a governing authority to prove it has value behind it. For example, the Microsoft, Oracle and Cisco certifications can be worth thousands of dollars to a developer. But they are the authority on their own technologies and can offer them. The general consensus is that no employers value W3Schools certificates.

Really, the only reason W3Schools sticks around is because they exploited Google's search algorithms about 8 years ago when that was do-able. Now they are the top search result, and likely always will be since top search result is self-perpetuating. They also very confusingly try to conjure up the image of the W3C (World Wide Web Consortium) in their name. They know they are doing it, and the real W3C has sent them several requests to change their name, and all of them have been ignored. They have no connection at all to the W3C, which is one of the standards bodies for the WWW.

If you want to see more of the case again W3Schools, check out the website dedicated to the topic, W3Fools.com.

Save your money and don't get the certificate. It could actually hurt you to show it to a dev-savvy employer.

[vitinho444]

Wow yeah, i can see it now, in their quizzes they ask you for shitty questions like what PHP stands for.. of course i failed that one, who cares? I know HTML meaning but i think the important is how to code and do things with it and not the meaning.. Hey what's the meaning of C++ -.-

Thanks for the tip, i will have a look at those w3 fools

[Jackolantern]

Exactly. The questions they ask are things like "What does PHP stand for?", "What symbol do you need to end every PHP statement with?" and other things like that. Why do they ask such ridiculously easy questions? Because they want everyone to pass and buy a certificate! Real certifications, such as Java's certifications, have questions more like these, although even these are a bit more simple compared to what actually appears on the exams. These certifications are actually trying to prove that the examinee can program!

[vitinho444]

Well, i don't know if you know or someone, but where can i have a microsoft certificate or something?

I have read the w3fools and i dont know how i missed all that bullshit.. it all makes so much sense now

Thank you for saving me

[Jackolantern]

Haha no problem

Here is a page with info about Microsoft certification. They have a bunch of different areas to get certified in, and I think they have different levels for each area. As far as finding where to get certified at, I am sure the info is in there somewhere. You should also get an MCSD study guide book to give you an idea of what will be on the exam, since you have to pay for them and you would want to pass on the first attempt. Just search "MCSD" on Amazon for a list of all kinds of different study guides (just be sure to get something current, as they have out of date books going back into the late 90's).

[hallsofvallhalla]

Agree with Jack on this one and had he not beat me to it my comments on W3Schools would have been far worse

[Jackolantern]

Agree with Jack on this one and had he not beat me to it my comments on W3Schools would have been far worse

Haha, yep! Many web developers absolutely loath W3Schools. Me included lol.

[vitinho444]

I need to say that it helped me sometimes.. but now that im in the "outside" i can see it's flaws.. and they are so many