> OpenAI not actually having any homegrown certification program

A bit off topic but where are certifications (e.g. Cisco, Microsoft) useful? I am sure they are useful (both to candidates and companies) because people go to the effort to get these certs, and if they were useless everyone would have stopped long ago. I don't assume people do it for ego satisfaction.

But I've never worked anywhere where it has come up as an interview criterion (nobody has ever pointed it out when we are looking at a resume, for example). Is it a big business thing? Is it just an HR thing?

It is a consulting / business partner thing. Different levels in the business partner programs require minimum number of certified employees in your consulting firm. So if you work in that slice of the industry, certifications matter. Outside of that... not so much.

Mainly when applying for a corporate job where you have 0 referrals. It's a guidepost that you at least have some idea what you're doing and are worth interviewing when people can't find someone who knows you and your previous work.

I've only ever seen it as a people who don't have a job thing.

Years ago, companies could get discounts if they were a “certified gold partner” or whatever.

To be a partner, the company would need a certain number of certifications among their employees, so there was tangible value to companies who either used a ton of Microsoft licensing or Cisco/Dell hardware, or resold those to their own clients (better discount equating to higher margin).

In some cases, getting the higher level certifications like Cisco CCIE was a virtual guarantee of a good job.

I feel like this has become less of a thing in recent years, but I’m not involved in that space anymore.

Definitely still a thing with Azure and Atlassian

Could you elaborate or drop some links? Are people getting discounts on Azure cloud bills with certifications?