Slashdot Mirror
Ask Slashdot: How To Prove IT Knowledge Without Expensive Certificates?
An anonymous reader writes "I'm starting my Ph.D in psychology this year and plan to finance this period with IT freelance work, mostly building websites with Drupal and setting up Linux networks, servers, etc.. Now I have a little problem: Since I never studied ICT nor followed a course that resulted in a certificate, I can only prove my knowledge by actually doing stuff or showing what I've done so far. Unfortunately that isn't always sufficient to convince potential customers. So I was wondering what other slashdotters do. Are there any free or cheap alternatives to get certificates or other more convincing ways to prove your IT knowledge?"
Without expensive phd?
The answer is in your post: "showing what I've done so far". If you don't have enough work to show them, then maybe you don't have the experience they are looking for.
When hiring contractors (or employees), I prefer experience over certificates and generally only glance at certs.
This post makes no sense. Is there even such a thing a Drupal cert? If there is, hardly anybody asks for it.
Seems to me like the poster thinks he/she can make big money in IT freelancing without verifiable training, or experience. I find that attitude typical of people who don't know anything about real world IT, but think it must be easy.
Take a look at sites like rentacoder, elance, and odesk. Yeah, easy to make big money in IT.
Pretty much.
If you are building websites, you should be keeping a portfolio of that anyway, your portfolio is your best and cheapest form of advertisement/job opportunity.
Have a few of your past happy clients write you a reference and offer to have them call your prospective clients. You can also add some testimonials to your website. If you're good people will also refer you to their associates. Build a reputation.
References. Former customers. Previous work. How you answer questions in the interview. Certificates only count for employers to whom the certificate is absolutely critical. In some cases it really is all that matters. In others, experience and ability count.
GrpA
Enjoy science fiction? "Turing Evolved" - AI, Mecha, Androids and rail-gun battles. What more could you want?
I'm sorry if I come across as rude but this is the kind of nonsense that I only see in the software development industry. You're offering your services as an expert tradesman. If your professional or commercial circumstances require that you get a certificate or a degree just so people can cut to the chase and know that you are more reliable than the thousands of other pretenders, just go get the certificate, even if it means nothing more to you than toilet paper.
Do you hear a doctor strutting about in pride about how she or he did not need to get a medical degree and can still heal patients?
The worst part about this is that most certificates cost a few thousand dollars at best. It is a pittance compared to what a degree from a university costs. It is even way less than what anyone in just about any industry (other than the software industry) is gladly willing to spend if it means they get a competitive advantage in their career. Are you seriously telling me that you are that unwilling to invest in a profession or trade that you intend to pursue for the rest of your life??
Come on, man!
For the record, this is nothing against you or OP. I'm not judging you or anything. Just a general rant.
I've been an Independent Contractor in IT specializing in architectural and product consultation for early phase startups and internal product start-ups and prototyping for established enterprises. And in over 10 years and never have any shortage of work.
Yet I never went to college, am self taught and have never once bothered with shelling out cash for any bullshit certificate nor do I maintain any sort of web presence or "portfolio"
I merely have a resume on Craigslist, which most comment on being rather impressive and features some pretty big names and interesting projects.
In all the years I have been doing this, even when I was first starting out -- I obtained my work by being able to describe highly advanced yet exceedingly efficient solutions to my client's seemingly complex problems.
Of course, sometimes, descriptions aren't enough -- on occasion you will need to provide a proof of concept, the time for which you should be compensated for -- if successful in proving your point that is. For instance, to win a contract with a client to build a new social music service, I spent a week creating a prototype site out of my proposed frameworks and specifications featuring streaming on-demand music to an spider-friendly HTML5 AJAX UI with no plugins aside for degradation for archaic browsers with demonstrated mobile browser compatibility as a technical proof. That went over very well and I'm presently building the real deal.
Of course, offering proofs of concept might not work if you're looking for a rank and file job -- but, in any technical interview, the white board is your friend. You should always make a point to get up and draw out what you're talking about. You'd be surprised how effective a back of the napkin diagram can be in making your case. And it allows you to make a presentation and thus, take charge of the interview room.
But in the end, it all hinges on you being able to identify the problem and compose a compelling if not novel solution on the fly. I've found that there's not a great many that can do that, especially while under pressure in an interview room.
That's the thing, he isn't really committed. He's not an IT professional, and has no stated intention of becoming one. He just wants to look professional and be treated like a professional without having to go to the bother of actually being a professional. He's a part-timer working on the side while doing something utterly unrelated - and presumably intending to bail, or at least cut way back when is gainfully employed in the actual field he's seeking a PhD in.
Or to put it coldly, he's exactly the kind of guy the certification process is supposed to weed out.
Wrong question. What you really meant to ask:
The one time there is actually insightful comment on Slashdot, it's modded interesting.
"Are you seriously telling me that you are that unwilling to invest in a profession or trade that you intend to pursue for the rest of your life??"
I invest in my career daily, 15 years and counting now, I don't see certifications as any kind of meaningful investment. I've held top positions at small start ups on up to fortune 50 tech companies. I'm going to hire my engineers based on demonstrated real world experience. I agree with l0ungeb0y; get up there and show me something on a whiteboard or log into a vm and build something. If you have no experience put a cert on a resume, but they are no more than resume filler IMO. Certs are not even on the same playing field as real experience. Any monkey, with enough practice, can fill out the right bubbles on a sheet. Aside from entry level gigs, it takes real experience to ace a tech interview however.
My advice; Get a Linkedin account and setup a small website. Do a few gigs and get some positive reviews on your profile page. Go to your local chamber of commerce mixers and start networking. Do well and start building a reputation. Know what you can do, but more importantly know what you can't. You might need to start with small and cheap gigs to build a trust relationship before you'll start getting bigger ones. References and recommendations are golden.
Just be a bit careful that you aren't showing anything that a previous customer might consider confidential.
Nothing can freak out a customer like a demonstration that you will reveal their confidential information at the drop of a hat.
(Saw this happen when a company competing for a contract blithely showed pre-publication work they were doing for a direct competitor. When called on it, they said that of course, the work for *us* would be held in complete confidentiality...)