Coursera lists 150 US employers for the Google Advanced Data Analytics certificate alone, including Deloitte, Target, and Verizon, which is why that one has the most momentum. But momentum in a certificate does not create a job for a specific person. Our guide to the Google data analytics professional certificate covers the curriculum and the projects in detail.
Do employers respect them, and are Google career certificates worth it?
They respect them as a signal that you can do a specific task, and they know what is not. A Google certificate is not a degree, so it will not satisfy a posting that says bachelor's degree required, and no employer will treat it as one. What it does is clear the weaker part of a resume screen and give you something to say in an interview. That is the honest answer to are Google career certificates worth it for a career changer, and it is a smaller promise than the marketing pages make.
The strongest use is as a conversation piece. The certificates include portfolio projects, and a twenty minute walkthrough of a project you built is far more convincing than the badge. Bring the project, the data, and your decision about which chart you used and why. Our guide to learning Excel for free covers the tool that appears in almost every one of those project descriptions.
What does the certificate actually include? Seven courses, and what matters in them
The Google certificates share a structure. A set of short courses that teach the tools, then a capstone project where you build something for a fictional company and present it as a portfolio piece. The tools differ by certificate, and so does the project. The Data Analytics path teaches spreadsheets, SQL, data visualisation, and statistics, and the capstone is a full analysis with a written report and a dashboard.
The Advanced Data Analytics path adds R, machine learning foundations, and model evaluation, which is the one to choose if your goal is closer to data science than reporting. The UX Design path teaches research methods, wireframing, prototyping, and testing with real users, and its capstone is a documented case study. The IT Support path is built around a simulated service desk ticket queue, which is closer to the actual job than most people expect and a good thing to know before you start.
Two things separate people who finish from people who skip the projects. First, the peer review sections require you to give and receive feedback on real projects, and that is where most of the value sits. Second, the projects are graded against a rubric, so the fastest way to a strong result is to build the project around one clear question rather than trying to show everything you know.
Who should skip these certificates?
Three groups. If you need a degree for a filter, a certificate will not replace it, so put the money into a degree or an employer that does not filter. If you already have a degree and three years of experience in the field, the certificate adds nothing a project could not. And if you want a data science or machine learning role, a Google certificate is the wrong level, because those interviews ask about statistics and modelling depth that the certificate does not teach.
There is also a timing trap. Taking a certificate because it looks good on a resume, without a target job in mind, is how people end up with three certificates and no interview. Our guide to the best cloud certifications for career growth applies the same rule to a different field, where the same mismatch happens all the time.
How do you get the most out of one?
Finish the projects properly, even though they are graded. Rebuild one project with your own data and your own question, because that is the version you can talk about. Then put it on your resume with a one line description of the decision you made, not just the certificate name. Finally, share the credential to your professional network, since employers check it against Google's record. That check is the reason are Google career certificates worth it has a limited answer for employers who already know the program.
Fazlur Rahman
