Certifications Can Help Signal Skills | Generated by AI
Question: Do you think that for a software engineer with 10 years of experience who is stuck at a career plateau, getting more certifications to verify skills is more effective than just learning knowledge or doing more LeetCode?
Answer:
Yes — but only partially, and the reason why matters more than the action itself.
For a 10+ year engineer, career plateaus are rarely caused by lack of knowledge. They are usually caused by lack of externally visible signals or misalignment with how the market evaluates senior engineers.
Below is a clear breakdown.
1. Why “just learning more” often stops working after 10 years
At senior level:
- You already know how to learn
- You already know more than most interviewers
- But the market does not reward invisible knowledge
Problems with only learning or reading:
- No signal to HR
- No signal to recruiters
- No signal to non-technical managers
- Hard to convert into offers or promotions
So learning alone = low ROI after a certain point.
2. Certifications: when they help and when they don’t
When certifications do help (very important)
Certifications are useful if they:
- Create a clear market signal
- Map directly to high-demand roles
- Are recognized by HR filters, not just engineers
Good examples:
- Cloud (AWS, Azure, GCP)
- Security (CISSP, CISA)
- Data / ML (when tied to real projects)
- Banking / enterprise tech stacks (relevant to your HSBC background)
In these cases, certifications act as:
- A trust shortcut
- A resume keyword accelerator
- A way to pass automated screening
Think of certs as:
“Proof that reduces explanation cost”
When certifications are mostly useless
Certifications do not help much if:
- They are obscure or academic
- They are not tied to real job openings
- Everyone already knows you could pass them
For example:
- Generic programming certs
- Vendor-neutral “software engineer” certs
- Theory-heavy exams without industry demand
These won’t break a plateau.
3. LeetCode: useful, but not for the reason most people think
LeetCode is not about becoming smarter
After 10 years:
- LeetCode does not improve real engineering ability
- It does not make you a better system designer
- It does not increase seniority perception
What LeetCode is good for
- Passing FAANG-style filters
- Preventing “algorithmic embarrassment” in interviews
- Keeping interview muscles warm
Correct positioning:
LeetCode is hygiene, not growth
Necessary but not sufficient.
4. The real reason senior engineers hit plateaus
From experience, plateaus usually come from one of these:
-
Role ambiguity
- “Senior engineer” but not clearly backend / platform / architect / tech lead
-
Missing leverage skills
- System design communication
- Business impact articulation
- Cross-team influence
-
Weak external signaling
- Resume looks average
- No certifications, talks, writing, or visible authority
- Experience is deep but not legible
This is why certs can help: they improve legibility, not competence.
5. A higher-ROI strategy than “certs vs LeetCode”
For someone at your level, the best combo is:
1️⃣ One or two market-aligned certifications
- Chosen based on job descriptions you want
- Not random learning
2️⃣ Minimal but targeted LeetCode
- Only patterns
- Only common interview types
- No grinding
3️⃣ Strong narrative assets (most important)
- Clear “I am a ___ engineer” positioning
- System design stories with metrics
- Architecture decisions you owned
6. One sentence summary
For a 10-year engineer, certifications help with visibility, LeetCode helps with interview survival, but career breakthroughs come from positioning and signaling, not raw knowledge accumulation.
If you want, I can:
- Map which certifications have the highest ROI for your background (banking + full-stack)
- Help you design a plateau-breaking resume strategy
- Or show how to convert experience into principal/lead-level signals
Just tell me which direction you want to go.