Tools: Solved: Best Certifications To Work With Do, Vultr Or Linode?
Posted on Feb 25
• Originally published at wp.me
TL;DR: Many engineers mistakenly pursue cloud-specific certifications for IaaS providers like DigitalOcean, Vultr, or Linode, which are unnecessary as these platforms offer raw infrastructure. The effective solution is to master vendor-neutral foundational skills such as Linux, Kubernetes, and Terraform, complemented by practical, hands-on project experience.
Stop chasing cloud-specific certs for providers like DigitalOcean or Vultr. The real key to mastering these platforms lies in vendor-neutral, foundational skills like Linux, Kubernetes, and Terraform.
I had a junior engineer, sharp kid named Alex, come to my desk last year practically vibrating with excitement. “Darian,” he said, “I’m finally going to get my AWS Solutions Architect Associate cert! That’ll make me a pro at managing our new fleet on Linode, right?” I had to take a deep breath and gently crush his soul a little. I saw myself from ten years ago in him – convinced that the right piece of paper was the magic key. The truth is, he was trying to use a detailed map of Tokyo to navigate the streets of New York. The problem isn’t the map; it’s that he’s in the wrong city entirely.
This question pops up constantly, and I get it. We’re conditioned to think: New Tech Platform = New Certification. But that logic only applies to the hyperscalers—AWS, Azure, and GCP. Those platforms are sprawling, proprietary ecosystems with hundreds of unique, managed services. You need a certification just to learn their specific language and navigate their labyrinthine consoles.
DigitalOcean, Vultr, Linode, and the others? They’re different. They sell you the fundamental building blocks of the internet: virtual machines (droplets, instances, whatever they call them), block storage, basic networking, and maybe a managed database or Kubernetes service. They aren’t trying to lock you into their ecosystem. They’re selling you powerful, raw infrastructure. And to work with raw infrastructure, you don’t need a brand-specific certification; you need fundamental, transferable skills.
So let’s stop looking for the “Linode Certified Professional” certificate (it doesn’t exist) and talk about the skills and certs that will actually make you a master of these platforms.
If you want to be an effective engineer on these platforms, you need to be a strong systems administrator and architect first. This is about being a good engineer, not just a good
Source: Dev.to
