Self-taught, no degree, trying to figure out where to spend limited time and money. Half the internet swears an AWS cert opens doors when you can't point to a diploma; the other half says nobody reads them. If you got hired without a degree — did a cert actually move the needle, or was it the projects that did the talking?
They got my resume past the keyword filter when I had no degree and no experience — worth it just for that first door. After I had a job, nobody's mentioned them once. So: door-opener early, mostly irrelevant later, in my experience.
Got hired without a degree — for me it was ~60% projects, but the cert wasn't nothing. It got me past a couple of HR keyword filters and gave me structured things to talk about. Nobody quizzed me ON the cert, but it signaled 'this person can commit to and finish something technical.' I'd do one, then pour the rest of the time into a project that actually uses what it taught.
