I am an "industry advisor" for my son's School District (in the United States), which is engaged in a multi-year program to broaden the range and quality of technical education available to students for Grades 8-12. I have been asked to comment on industry certifications for Python, JavaScript and Java programming. Specifically: • Are these certifications needed or helpful to the employment process for entry-level jobs? • Of the three certifications mentioned above, which certification(s) should we focus on? Are there others? • Would industry recognize certifications from a provider like CodeHS (https://codehs.com/info/certifications) or is it more valuable to earn them from Microsoft, etc.?

I have views, but would welcome comments and thoughts from the HN community, particularly anybody engaged in recruiting or working with entry level programming positions.

Please remember that the focus is high school students, and not all students are targeting college. Also, this is a good faith effort by the District to assist students develop real skill sets - snark about certificates is not particularly constructive.