Expertos de la comunidad

I agree that it is important to take these tests as they will showcase your ability and skills to a potential employer. But then, most freelancers are here to make some money. Some like me are unemployed and to spend more money to take exams even before we have earned anything can be difficult. Maybe one solution could be for Freelancer to allow us to take the exam first and then deduct from earnings later.

While it may seem such a nuisance, taking exams on freelancing forums such as freelancer.com is a good move. The benefits of taking and passing these exams are as follows:
o Exams enable you to determine how good you actually with respect to your chosen skill set. You may think your HTML skills are good but upon doing the tests, you fail. That should tell you that you are not as good as you think you are and you need to improve your skills. So the exams act as a wakeup call in this instance.
o When you do your exams, you will get a badge for each test that you pass. This badge gives you an extra layer of credibility. So, when a potential employer is looking through the bids, he or she will see your badge and know that you are really knowledgeable in your chosen field. You are more likely to beat other freelancers and get chosen as a result.
o There are certain employers who would not be willing to hire freelancers, if they haven't passed certain tests. Your academic qualifications would not matter in that instance. In that case, even if the project is very profitable, you would not even get a chance to bid or have your bid reviewed. So, passing the necessary exams may be the only way for you to qualify for the bidding process.

I think this idea is very good, but considering those of us that are self employed, or new freelancers, they should give us an opportunities to make money first and then deduct it after the examinations has bee taken or reduce the amount to $1.50 per certification

I think the exams on freelancer are a great way of knocking down false ideas we might have about what we know or we don´t know. Exams give you rewards!

When i take and exam, if i fail, i know right there, that i need to work and study that weak spot. If i pass, i will use it as another tool to show my clients i deserve to be selected. Ultimately, those exams are just perfect because they are apparently created based on freelancer´s perception of the work that will be required in that specific area. Obviously, in a world full of diversity, you may encounter exceptions, but in my experience, you should take exams on new areas you want to work with.

If you fail and want to educate and certificate yourself further, you can always go to edx.org and take courses, they have more than 800 free courses as i write this, and they are as good at education as freelancer is to finding and giving work (you can always include your diplomas on your profile later). I think this node of education and freelancing multiply our rewards exponentially. As you read , take note: you are finding this tip on freelancer. Rewards are always available if you pay attention and ask questions :)

Reading this I am glad that I am not the only one to fail the (in my case basic) photoshop exam after using the program daily for almost 20 years. After that experience, I am not prepared to pay for these tests anymore. Perhaps some more specialised tests or the ability to include LinkedIn and Lynda.com in your profile would be useful.

I agree that it is important to take these tests as they will showcase your ability and skills to a potential employer. But then, most freelancers are here to make some money. Some like me are unemployed and to spend more money to take exams even before we have earned anything can be difficult. Maybe one solution could be for Freelancer to allow us to take the exam first and then deduct from earnings later.
thanks

You will be at least 200% more likely to be awarded the project.

youll get shiny little badges to show how qualified you are in your ( supposedly ) field of expertise. Oh one more thing, it's HAAAAARD!, i use 3D & Photoshop everyday and i still failed XD

Exams on Freelancer.com provides an independent review on your ability. If I am looking for some work to be done via someone from Freelancer.com then I would definitely prefer someone who has the relevant knowledge and an acknowledgement of the same via Freelancer.com.

So in my mind, if you have a skill for which you find an exam on Freelancer.com you must give it and have it tagged for you. That will help you to gain the confidence of employer at the first glance.

Matama makes some great points, although the first bit regarding your own skills is incorrect.
Most freelancers do a test knowing roughly how well they will do, and if you do fail a test you are good at, there would be no chance you actually completed work in any of these fields (my own opinion, of course).

I think the biggest reason to do the tests found on the site are to help employers know exactly how much knowledge you have within a given topic (although these are never 100% accurate indications, especially related to recent advancements in a field), and can be used to help benchmark what a proposal is saying and what the chance of completion is by the proposal provider.