For example, I’m certified as a pharmacy technician (CPhT) but Pennsylvania doesn’t require pharmacy techs to be certified.

38 comments

  4. I have engineering licenses, which I don’t technically need since the bosses stamp all the drawings that need stamps at my company.

  5. I had a Microbiology certification but its one of several used nationally and pharmaceutical companies just kind of pick one, and I’m not even positive they’re required in the industry.

  7. I’m forklift certified, but I think you need that everywhere to drive one and it’s all issued at the company level. My certification won’t transfer to any other company.

  8. I had to pass a class called Inspection Methods in order to be a Consumer Safety Inspector with FSIS. It was a month long class when I took it. I was sent to Dallas and the government paid for it all. The test is open book and people still fail. Since Covid happened they made it 2.5 weeks online lecture followed by in plant training. People are failing the tests a lot more I’m told. The in person class also taught the computer program that we use.

    If you need a job and you have experience with meat go to usajobs.gov and search for FSIS. There are many openings. Whatever you pick you’ll have to start as a GS 5. You move up quickly though.

  10. Yes. I am a six sigma green belt, no job I had ever required this but I love process improvement and wanted to be good at it. I briefly had a job in industrial manufacturing so it came in handy then. Most people I work with now are kind of surprised by it when I bring it up but the philosophies are very practical at my level so I’m glad to have that background.

    I work in the music biz now.

  11. I have a law degree and an active bar membership. My current job does not require that I be an active attorney.

    I also used to have Wilderness First Responder certification that had nothing to do with my job.

  12. I went through an ISO9000 certification 20+ years ago during a college summer internship. I’ve never needed it or seen it referenced at any point in any post-college job I’ve had, but I probably took a few things from it.

  13. Yes, nurses (like me) can pursue further board certification, beyond their RN license, in a specialty. My certification in my old job earned me a nice hourly raise. At my current job, it makes no difference, so I’m letting it lapse.

  14. I’m in a similar situation as you. I have my CPhT, and Indiana doesn’t require it. However, my hospital system does require it. I make more money than my non certified teammates, but everyone working here is required to have it or obtain it within 1 year of employment. Otherwise you get fired.

  15. I have a CDL from a “Management trainee,” job I had when I got my degree in SCM. I’ve never used it and only moved a truck around the yard from time to time while briefly working as a warehouse manager before moving into an office job, and I haven’t used it since, heck it’s probably expired.

  16. An ABET-accredited engineering degree isn’t a license *per se*, nor is it required for certain industries.

    But, certain things very much do require it. For example any engineering work tied to federal and most (if not all) state and local tax dollars requires it.

  17. For a part time job I was working as a pool attendant they said on the description that I needed to be cpr certified so I went ahead and had to pay 90 bucks for a Red Cross cpr course, I went into the interview and they didn’t even ask if I was certified or not. During my time entire time there they never asked any of my fellow pool attendants were weren’t cpr certified to get certified. Although they also said on the listing that I needed to have 6 months of work experience but I didn’t didn’t and it was my first paid job and yet they still hired me. TLDR I payed 90 bucks to get CPR certified and it didn’t actually matter at all.

  18. I’ve been ServSafe certified for like 10 years now and I’ve never once been asked about it when looking for a new serving job. I don’t know if it’s mandated or not.

  19. I got my federal ATV Operator’s cert when I was fighting wildfires.

    That was 11 years ago. Still have the cert, don’t need it at all to build rock concerts.

  22. I have an EI (or EIT) certification, which is the first step towards a PE license (Professional Engineer). Not required but will help me make more money later in my career where I work.

  23. I don’t have them anymore. But for a good decade after I stopped working on cars, I had all of my ASEs.

  24. Anyone who has been in the military has a litany of worthless certificates they were forced to do

  25. I was in college radio. When I started, the FCC required DJs to have a license since they were operating a transmitter while they were on the air. Wasn’t long after that that they ended the requirement.

    In TV (and also radio), some of us have various certifications from the Society Of Broadcast Engineers, which at one time may have netted us a little extra per hour because it proves we know our way around a signal and/or the IT/IP part of broadcasting. Nowadays, I doubt most stations care.

  26. I have A+, Network+, and Security+ certs, but I don’t work, have never worked, will never work in IT. I got them because the city was offering courses and I wanted to learn something new

  27. I’m a licensed civil engineer in California, but I haven’t worked in engineering since 1995.

  29. I’m a geologist, but I got a beaver trapping license once because we had a beaver flooding one of our gravel pits and management wanted me to be the one to deal with it for some reason. I was game to try, but they ended up deciding to get a professional to do it instead at the last minute.

    Edit: I also have an AIARE level 2 avalanche hazard management certification that I got as part of my skiing hobby.

  30. I was servesafe certified in college for my job in the campus coffee shops. I believe we needed at least one person working to be certified at all times, so it was necessary to be a supervisor.

  31. It’s not exactly irrelevant, but I have a Texas Property & Casualty and Workers Comp adjusters license and I technically don’t need to have it for my job responsibility

  32. I’ve signed a logbook with my ground instructor certificate number rather than my flight instructor certificate number precisely twice since 2010. The main reason I got that certificate was my FoI test result was going to expire.

    Funny story about that, actually. Typically, you think of a flight instructor taking three tests: the Fundamentals of Instruction knowledge test, the CFI knowledge test, and the CFI practical test. The FoI knowledge test requirement is waived if you’re a college professor, a public school teacher certified for grade 7 and above, or hold any other FAA instructor certificate. Well, it was taking longer to complete my flight hours than I thought it was going to, so my FoI knowledge test results were going to expire (they’re good for 24 calendar months). A Basic Ground Instructor certificate is perpetual. Either way I was going to have to take a $150 knowledge test, so I took the BGI test, passed, went to the FSDO, filled out a form and boom, I’m an instructor. Never have to take the FoI test again as long as I live and my resume got one bullet point longer.

    Fast forward to the week before my checkride, the DPE is working with me to file the paperwork through IACRA, and lo and behold there’s no option to submit a BGI certificate in place of a FoI test score. Apparently the web developer didn’t read 61 subpart k particularly thoroughly. I had to fill out a paper 8710 and snail mail it, and the DPE submitted some feedback to the FAA about the incident. So I think I got my very own revision to the IACRA system.

  35. I have a paralegal certificate but you don’t really need one to be a paralegal or legal assistant (though it’s a lot harder to become one without it).

  37. Commercial Pilot Certificate, I work as a Surveyor.

    Certified to operate numerous pieces of airport equipment including deicers, air starters, and fueling trucks. Again, Surveyor.

    Held health certificates in New York and Colorado. I live in Texas. I just think that is just so random that I added it.

    Certified as a Ground Security Coordinator for American Airlines, not sure if the NDA I signed for that is still active but I act as such just in case.

    Going for more certificates as I get older too.

  38. I’m working on my Certified Public Accounting license at the moment but it’s not needed to work as an accountant or auditor per se. Actually, I recall that non CPAs can do everything a CPA can do except sign an audit report. Really, this exam is more of a prestige title rather than a barrier from preventing you to work. The requirements across the states vary slightly but it’s generally the same in Jersey where you have to have a certain period of work experience and pass all four parts of the exam.

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