On Mon, 06 Aug 2012 09:27:25 +0100, Invisible wrote:

>>> Having skills is a vastly different thing than /proving/ you have
>>> skills. Therein lies the problem.
>>
>> Not for the right employer.
> 
> Yeah, well, there aren't too many of those around.

That's your experience, maybe.  Others have a different experience.
 
> You would /think/ that the abundant evidence that I'm an intelligent
> person with a large capacity to learn and the necessary drive to do so
> would be worth more than a thousand paper qualifications. You would
> think this would be the most valuable thing /ever/.

I've fought this one for a long time.  I refused to get certifications 
and relied instead on having proven experience.  That did disqualify me 
from some jobs (Iomega once upon a time) - but I used it as an employer 
litmus test; if they were more interested in the piece of paper than in 
my actual abilities, I wouldn't want to work for them anyways, because if 
there was ever a question about who was right on something, it'd be the 
one who earned the certification rather than the one who had the 
experience.

> And yet, the vast majority of companies will simply say "do you have 3
> years of commercial experience with product X?" If the answer is yes,
> then they will speak to you. If the answer is no, suddenly you stop
> existing. Don't give a damn about any other qualities you may have. If
> you don't already know X, you're no good to us.

If they're trying to fill a very specific need, then that becomes a 
rather important qualification.

> Because, let's face it, a guy with a weak knowledge of X is far more
> desirable than a day with the capacity to learn everything there is to
> know about X, Y, Z, Q, W, V and R and then some. Right?

In some cases, yes, actually.

>> What's been working for me is to do contract work with companies I'd
>> like to work with.  That lets them see you work and see what you can
>> do.  I've impressed every company I've worked with AFAIK, and three of
>> them have talked about wanting to hire me - but with the economy the
>> way it is, everyone is hesitant to hire over here.
> 
> I don't see how that makes it any easier to find companies, make them
> actually speak to you, and ultimately hire your services. 

I've got now almost a year of experience at doing this.  It helped that 
my CV ended up in the hands of someone with a client list already, and 
she's done the work of building the relationships with those companies.  
She knows I'm looking, and has put me with these clients of hers 
specifically so they can see what I'm capable of.

> It also
> appears to provide no financial security whatsoever. Instead of spending
> two years unemployed and then getting a job and being able to stop
> looking, you end up having to /permanently/ search for jobs...

That's why I have someone else to do that for me. :)

Jim

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