New Upwork Skill Certifications

[lenaellis]

We have launched a new initiative to help freelancers showcase their expertise by earning an Upwork Skill Certification. These skill certifications highlight talent that has demonstrated competency in their field by passing a rigorous skill assessment or sample work review, evaluated by domain experts in their field.

Currently, Upwork Skill Certifications are available for certain skills in the Web & Mobile Software Development (WMSD) and Design & Creative fields. For WMSD, certification is a two-step process that takes 2 to 3 hours. Participants must achieve a passing score on two timed and proctored coding tests. Design & Creative talent must achieve a passing score on their Upwork portfolio, which is evaluated by a panel of third-party domain experts. You can learn more about Upwork Skill Certifications here. Given the intricacy of having skills assessed, these certifications are exclusively invite-only at this time.  

Upwork Skill Certifications will display on your Upwork profile in the certifications area.

Here is an example of a Microsoft certification on a profile. Upwork Skills Certifications will appear in a similar format but with an Upwork badge for the specialized certification. 

Sample existing certification

Sample Upwork Skills Certification Badge

Upwork Skill Certifications are currently available in 10 software development languages and 16 design and creative skills. 

Upwork Skill Certifications in Web & Mobile Software Development test for individual proficiency in a particular language or technology. Assessment methodology varies by skill, using a combination of timed, proctored tests and in some cases, technical interviews. 

• Android, Java
• Android, Kotlin
• iOS, Objective-C
• iOS, Swift
• C#, Desktop Software Development
• C++, Desktop Software Development
• Java Back-end Development
• JavaScript Back-end Development
• JavaScript Front-end Development
• PHP Back-end Development
• Python Back-end Development
• Ruby on Rails Back-end Development

Upwork Skill Certifications in Design & Creative test for an individual’s or agency’s demonstrated competency in current design best practices. A panel of 2 or more domain experts evaluates a freelancer or agency Upwork portfolio based upon several dimensions depending upon the skill. 

• 2D Animation
• 3D Animation
• 3D Modeling *NEW*
• Art Direction
• Brand Identity
• Cartooning
• Creative Direction
• Editorial Design
• Graphic Design
• Illustration
• Image Editing
• Motion Graphics
• Presentation Design
• User Experience Design
• User Interface Design
• Video Editing
• Videography

We plan to grow the program and offer the skill assessments to more talent and in additional skill areas. You do not need to have earned a talent tier such as Top Rated or Expert-Vetted to receive an invitation. These are signals of having expertise in your field and do increase your chances of being invited, though. For the best chance of being invited, achieve and maintain a solid reputation, complete identity verification, maintain a complete and up-to-date profile that is not set to private, and have an active Upwork account in good standing. 

[AndreaG]

Hi Rafsun,

These are suggestions that may help you increase your chances of getting invited to the program in the future. At the moment, the program doesn't accept new requests and we don't have a timeframe for opening up the program to new requests. We'll follow up in the Community with an update as we continue to assess and expand the program. If you are invited to future assessments you will be notified via email.

Thanks!

[denis4life]

Hi, everyone!

First time posting here.

I'll be short!

Upwork has been excellent to me so far!

But I was wondering why I have received no email from Upwork concerning the newly implemented Skill Certification.

Not to brag, but I'm a Top Rated Plus freelancer in Design and Creative and have seen profiles with way less activity that already have the certification.

Thanks.

[AndreaG]

Hi Denis,

Thanks for your question. At this time you cannot request to be invited. For the best chance of being invited in the future,  we suggest freelancers achieve a solid reputation, keep a complete and up-to-date profile that is not set to private, and maintain an active Upwork account in good standing.  

Thanks!

[mike_nerevarin]

Hello!

I just took a General Coding Assessment and I believe there's an issue in one of the tasks. All of the public tests went fine, however, every hidden test failed due to "time limit exceeded", which, I believe, is wrong. In the manual test, I even re-created huge input data and successfully finished the test in time. I saw a guy on another website was talking about the exact problem with the exact task (in Google cache) a couple of days ago. So, I'd like to have a manual review and someone showed me on which data my code failed. Whom can I reach about this issue?

[BojanS]

Hi Artem,

We'll have one of our agents reach out to you via a support ticket to assist you with this concern. 

Thank you for reaching out to us. 

[jayantika_ms]

Hey i got an email regarding Upwork skill certification and I accepted it and then I got the email to take the test within 14 days. Due to some personal reason, I can't take the test within 14 days.
Will it affect my profile if I don't give the test within 14 days?

Thanks

[BojanS]

Hi Jayantika,

We'll have one of our agents reach out to you via a support ticket to address your question and advise you accordingly. 

Thank you for reaching out to us. 

[zakamik]

Hello,

I have recieved an invitation for skills certification. Apart from other issues I have encountered (submitted a ticked for that), I have studied proctoring guidelines and found that I have to share my microphone, screen and camera during assessment. The problem is that I am now using computer that doesn't have video camera, only microphone. I have 2 weeks to complete the test but I am not sure if I can get camera within this time frame. Is it possible to not use the camera during test or postpone the deadline until I would be able to get one?

[LuiggiR]

Hi Mikhail,

Thanks for reaching out. I've shared your concern with the team and one of our agents will be reaching out to you via a support ticket to assist you further.

Thank you.

[mohammad_mosheur]

Hi, I have submitted my portfolio for the Upwork skill test. Can you please tell me,

how long it will take to review