What certifications does one need

On collecting certificates: Re: Perl Passion website

You can have a certificate as professional research diver, lack any experience in developing software except for knowing how to switch on a PC, and still get hired to develop medical software: See "you are too academic" in "Your code sucks".

You can list decades of experience in developing hard- and software and still suck at reading and understanding requirements: See "impedance mismatch" in "Your code sucks".

A two decades old piece of paper hanging in a dark corner at my home office wall qualifies me as Diplom-Informatiker (so I'm a graduate computer scientist). Theoretically, I studied computer networking, but practically it was all about software. I got that piece of paper for developing a project management software, and I've been working for that two decades as a professional software developer. BUT: I also do system and network administration, not because I was formally qualified, but because it can be fun and in a team of software developers, I'm often the one knowing most about networks. See Re^3: Working Solo and in a Team.

Are these certifications the same around the world?

No, but more and more countries more or less copy good and a lot of bad ideas from the US. The European Union has its own sets of standards and certifications, mostly for products, but also for people's qualification. We are still trying to get things more unified, but getting nearly 30 countries to agree on standards is a slow and tedious process.

Alexander