The Rise and Fall of Microsoft Certificates

Microsoft have made certificates in a variety of sizes over the years. They started out bland, got really good, but have been declining in the last fifteen years. 

 My oldest printed certificate. Plain, but (I guess) servicable.

In the early 2000s we got these professional-looking certificates. They had different colour borders for different types of certification. The background was nicely patterened.

I was happy to have all of these framed on my wall.

Then the Age of Pastel happened. 

I think the person who knew how to make certificates left Microsoft and so they just used a Microsoft Publisher wizard.

Some of them had a shiny gold foil star, which is better. Not great, just… better.

Still not going on my wall.

The mid-2010s saw something simpler. Some of these had subtle patterns in the black area at the top however most did not.

Not as nice as the early-2000s ones but at least I'd put them on a wall.

The Microsoft Certified Trainer certificates have always been a bit different. The quality on these has been hit and miss over the years but generally I've been happy to put them on a wall.

Today my boss noticed that some of my certs on the wall have expired and told me to download new ones. I eventually found the page where you can print the new certs, and printed these.

Really, Microsoft?

You couildn't even be bothered using a Publisher template?

These certainly aren't going on a wall. The old certs can stay there with the old dates on them.