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Comment by joelgrus | Hacker News Reader

Honestly, if someone's resume tells me they took (say) the Coursera Natural Language Processing course, never in a million years would it occur to me to ask to see the certificate, any more than I'd ask to see their transcript to verify that they took specific classes in college.

And vice versa, I have lots of Coursera courses on my resume, no one has ever asked to see my certificates either.

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Nobody asked to see my git account or any coursera/edx credentials either when I was hired. I did a week long interview that started with a phone call to briefly test my knowledge followed by the typical whiteboard interview, followed by work tests. However I don't live in some of these countries like India or Philippines where verifiable credentials seem to be imperative to even getting the phone call.

Putting Coursera on a resume had never occurred to me.

Do you use it to bolster other experience and education? Or would you be comfortable applying for a position where your only relevant experience was from Coursera?

I have no non-Coursera CS training, so I use it as the "CS training" part of my resume. (I also have relevant work experience and a math degree.)

I would be comfortable hiring someone entry-level most of whose relevant experience was from Coursera, assuming they convinced me they would be a good hire.

If you are a quick learner, IMO you should feel comfortable applying for any job you think you can get hired for, even if it's a stretch based on your experience.

Same. Even if they did, just take a screenshot of the "Course Records" screen that proves you took the class and the grade. Besides, you can still download the Statement of Accomplishment.

In a sense, I agree: if the course is relevant to the work, the normal interview process will naturally identify people who don't know the relevant material.

But then, what about when you have far more applicants than time to interview them, and the question of course/degree completion really matters? Do you bring in everyone claiming to have a Stanford degree?

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