We sat down with Timothy Ogunwemimo, a Cloud and DevOps Expert focused on large-scale infrastructure modernisation, cloud adoption and enterprise cloud transformation. He is experienced in multi-cloud frameworks and has some certifications under his belt, including vast real-world experiences. He has worked with tech companies across continents, currently as a Senior DevOps Engineer at Giacom, and previously worked as a Cloud Administrator at Igloo Software and also across major banks in Nigeria like Stanbic IBTC, Access Bank PLC, United Bank for Africa and Ecobank. , When it comes to career success, what matters more, a paper credential or real-world experience?

The Great Debate: Certs vs. Experience

This is a perennial debate in almost every professional field. How do you summarise the core conflict between those who prioritise certifications and those who prioritise experience?

The conflict stems from an oversimplification. One camp insists that certifications are everything which is a quantifiable, objective proof of knowledge. The other swears that real-world experience is all that matters, because it proves application, not just memorisation. The truth is, both perspectives are valid, but they apply to different stages of a person’s career. They aren’t enemies; they’re teammates.

For the Entry-Level Professional

If you are just starting out, what you call the ‘Entry-Level Hero’, which path should you focus on, and why?

For those just getting into a field, especially one like cloud computing, devops or cybersecurity, certifications can be your golden ticket. When you don’t have years of work history, that official badge from Azure, AWS, Google, Oracle or CompTIA provides essential credibility. It tells a hiring manager, “I don’t have experience yet, but I have invested the time and effort to learn the foundational concepts.”

What specific advantages do certifications offer a beginner trying to land their first job?

I would say certifications offer four key advantages for beginners, because it worked for me and has worked for a lot of experienced professionals I know:

They Show Initiative: They prove you are investing in your own growth and structure your learning journey.

They Provide Credibility: They give you something tangible to discuss in an interview to prove studied potential.

They Act as Keywords: They help your resume get past automated screening systems used by recruiters.

They Open Doors: They help you get that first interview, which is often the hardest step.

For the Seasoned Professional

What about the person who has been in the industry for years? Does experience completely outweigh credentials at that point?

For the seasoned professional, experience usually speaks louder than any piece of paper. After years in the game, you’ve encountered and survived real-world production issues, developed crucial intuition, and proven your ability to apply knowledge under pressure. No exam can truly teach that.

Are certifications ever relevant for a veteran in the field?

Absolutely. Certifications aren’t a replacement for experience here, but they serve two crucial functions:

Staying Current: In fast-moving areas like data science or cloud engineering, getting a new certification is like a “gym membership for your brain”, it forces you to stay current with the latest technology and standards.

Pivoting: If you want to switch specialties, say, from traditional network engineering to DevOps, a certification can provide the foundational knowledge needed to make that transition without starting your career completely over.

The Ultimate Hiring Reality

You suggest that most hiring managers agree on a deeper truth. What is that essential, unspoken reality?

The reality is that both matters, but their function is different. I summarise it this way:

Certifications open doors. Experience keeps you inside.

A certification might land you the interview, but your ability to walk the interviewer through how you solved an actual complex problem is what will secure the job offer. Conversely, years of experience without any continued learning can quickly make a professional outdated.

Beyond just getting the job, how does a professional combine certifications and experience to maximise their career growth and salary potential?

This is where strategy comes in. Certifications often grant access to high-demand skills (like specific cloud platforms or specific devops tool) that companies are willing to pay a premium for. However, your salary leverage comes when you can pair that premium certification with proven, quantifiable experience.

For example, simply having an Azure Solutions Expert certificate is good; having that certification and being able to clearly explain how you saved your previous company thousands of dollars annually by optimising their cloud spending (a skill learned through experience) is much better. Certifications provide the technical knowledge, but experience provides the return on investment story that gets you the raise.

What is the biggest mistake professionals make when pursuing certifications?

The biggest mistake is becoming a “Certificate Collector” someone who accumulates badges without an intentional application goal. They focus purely on the volume of acronyms after their name. If you cannot look at a certification and immediately connect it to a project, a job requirement, or a new skill you genuinely plan to use, it’s likely a waste of time and money. Certifications should be stepping stones toward a tangible goal, not trophies for your digital shelf.

In an interview setting, how should a candidate discuss their certifications versus their experience?

The key is to demonstrate the bridge between the two.

For Certifications: Don’t just list the name. Explain why you pursued it. For instance: “I obtained the Azure Developer Associate because I needed to master how to use the right offering on Azure to meet a new product or service requirement. I had my Azure DevOps expert when I needed to gain clarity on how to use the Azure DevOps tool to automate a complete CI/CD tool for different projects with different stacks and codebases.”

For Experience: Structure your answers using a model like STAR (Situation, Task, Action, Result). When you discuss a project, reference the foundational knowledge you gained from a certification (if applicable) but dedicate the majority of your answer to the real-world Action you took and the Result you achieved. That shows true competence.

Another factor you can include is how the experience you have has shaped adaptability or personality and when you had to collaborate either on a project during the certification journey or at work which is also how you can use both tools to your advantage in an interview.

You mentioned adaptability and personality matter too. How do soft skills fit into this technical debate?

They are the ultimate tiebreaker. A certification proves you know the theory; experience proves you can execute. But adaptability, personality, and communication skills prove you can integrate into a team and handle curveballs.

No certification covers dealing with a difficult client, explaining a complex technical problem to a non-technical executive, or mentoring a junior team member. These soft skills are built exclusively through experience and are the traits that often determine who gets promoted from a technical role into a leadership position. You need the technical knowledge, but the human element decides if you succeed.

What is the final takeaway for professionals at any level trying to navigate this choice?

The best career is built with curiosity, not just credentials.

Entry-Level: Focus on getting certified to prove your potential and get your foot in the door.

Experienced: Leverage your historical achievements and continue to learn, using certifications only when they align with a need to pivot or stay current.

Ultimately, certifications and experience are just tools. The most successful professionals, what we call the Realists, know which tool to use and when to use it to achieve their current career goal.