Hi. I’m based in Sydney, Australia.

Am I actually going to learn anything?

Yes. Courses and certifications are often a waste of time.

Yes. A lot of the stuff you learn on these courses is out of date and redundant.

Yes. What I learn on the job is far more important, and more interesting too.

The budget.

But. When your business has a ‘training budget’, and you want to get exposed to some new ideas, and get some bling on your CV, then what certificate do you commit too? Something that connects knowledge with experience and credibility I guess.

I’d really like to do the “Scrum Master Certification”. I’m 33. I’m getting old. I’m being given the chance to take up a scrum team so that seems relevant.

What would you go for?

Keywords in the office.

Scrum. Visual Studio 2013. WebApi2. MVC. Javascript. WCF Services. OAuth. Thinktecture. Business Rules Engine. Entity Framework. SQL. Database.

Oh. And by the way. The Micosoft certifications are kind of lame. Do you think they are out of date? For some reason i’m trying to avoid an MCPD, MCTS, MCSD, …

Hmmm. Maybe what I actually want to ask you is this.

What courses have you done that have been worth the time, effort and money?