Just tried that free online certification my coworker kept pushing, and it actually got me a $2.50 raise
Six months ago my coworker Dana kept bugging me about some free online project management cert from a community college in Ohio. I figured it was one of those things you put on a resume that nobody cares about, like listing Microsoft Word as a skill. But she showed me the actual class list and it was real stuff, budgets, timelines, how to run a meeting that doesn't drag on forever. I finished it in about 7 weeks, mostly on my lunch breaks, and honestly half of it was stuff I already did without knowing the fancy name for it. Last Tuesday I brought the certificate to my review and my boss goes "huh, this actually lines up with what we need on the Jefferson account." Got bumped from $19 to $21.50 an hour, which is not life changing money but it is $400 a month I did not have before. The part that bugs me is I sat on that link for almost 8 months because I assumed free meant worthless. Has anyone else done one of these free certs and had it actually count for something, or did I just get lucky with timing?