Switched careers to engineering with Verified Certificates

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After almost 20 years of doing scientific programming, Peter Barker wanted to switch careers into software engineering. Unfortunately, after being on a single track for so long, some of the new technologies were foreign to him and he’d also become rusty in concepts that were taught to him decades ago. Potential employers all closed their doors and refused to take a chance on a new candidate “learning on the job.”

Looking for a method to build a relevant and attractive skillset for employers, Peter found Coursera and enrolled in Software Architecture for the Internet of Things. After listing his Verified Certificate on his LinkedIn profile after the course, we was immediately called for an initial phone screening for Digital Signals Corporation. During the call, the questions were so close to the course content, that Peter actually had his course projects up on the screen to help direct his answers. He was asked to come in and was offered the position. But the role wasn’t the right fit and he respectfully declined.

Wanting to build more skills and enhance his profile even further, Peter enrolled in Programming Mobile Applications for Android Handheld Systems. Again, after he finished the course and displayed his Verified Certificate on his LinkedIn profile, he was immediately called for an interview by a recruiter for Scitor Corporation. Each of the technical interview questions from restful architecture, spring frameworks or authentication chains were topics covered in the course which Peter aced. They made him an offer the next day.

Peter will now be starting his new job as a Software Engineer on Dec 15th thanks to the skills built on Coursera.