oDesk Tips to Start a Freelancing Career

oDesk is a site that allows employers to post jobs and freelancers to bid and work on them. These oDesk tips will help you get started towards a successful freelancing career using oDesk.

There are plenty of advantages of being a freelancer. You can scale up and down how much you want to work and when you want to work. You can choose to take a break whenever you want. You can choose to work only on assignments that you like. Such freedom is unheard of in traditional jobs, which explains why more and more people are taking the freelancing route. In addition to all these benefits, freelancing is a great way to make money online as a part time job. Freelancing is also a great entry into a niche you don't have a degree or qualifications in.

oDesk is one of the largest sites that lets employers and freelancers get together under one roof. The employers post their projects and the freelancers bid on them. Every freelancer will have a profile page where he can include the bio, work portfolio and experience. Freelancers also have a feedback score, the higher the better.

Whether you are new to freelancing or know the tricks of the trade, the following oDesk tips will help you get started.

oDesk Tip-1: Make a Complete Profile, with your Photo
oDesk has a place for every freelancer to display his or her skills. You should use this space wisely and answer all the questions asked. This shows that you are serious and you come across as professional to the potential employers. Also, it is highly advisable to include a photograph as well, because employers have a higher sense of trust in profiles with a photo. It is easy to fake profiles online and a photo shows that you are serious. Also, it is important to have work samples and portfolio ready because many employers at oDesk demand it.

oDesk Tip-2: Take the Skills Tests
This is especially applicable to those who are new to oDesk. People who are new don't have a lot of previous experience on their profile and their feedback is nil. Potential employers do not know whether they will be up to the mark. For this, oDesk provides a variety of skills tests to the workers. This helps employers know how good the people are. In the absence of a proven feedback at oDesk, the skills tests are the best way for you to stand out and attract the attention of the employer.

oDesk Tip-3: Customize your Cover Letter
This is a common newbie mistake - to have a generic cover letter for all jobs and use everywhere. Employers who post jobs have seen hundreds or thousands of cover letters during their stay at oDesk and they will very easily weed out the ones with generic cover letters. Here is a tip I use - never copy-paste anything, not even your introduction. Just write the cover letter from scratch, spinning your introduction and skills around the job requirement. This way you will really sound genuine and the employer will know that you have taken the time out to research the job posting.

If you follow the right approach, it is not hard to start freelancing with oDesk for a steady online income.

The Most Important IT Certifications

There are dozens, if not hundreds, of IT certifications available to the IT professional. Like all certifications, some matter a bit more than others and some are little more than a few letters tacked onto the end of your name.

If you are considering going into the wonderful world of IT, it would behoove you to know which certifications are the ones that are in the most demand or the most respected so you get better bang for your buck.

Microsoft Certifications

There are few businesses that don't have to deal with Microsoft products at all, making the various Microsoft certifications some of the most important to have. Microsoft offers a veritable alphabet soup of certifications, each with their own uses. Throughout the years, many of these certification exams have been retired, but some companies with older systems still seek out those with the more obsolete certifications.

Apple Certifications

Not every company uses solely Microsoft products; some companies don't use them at all or use mixed operating systems. To these companies, being certified by Apple can be an important distinction and they will be seeking IT professionals with ACSP and/or ACTC certifications at least, and some companies may seek out those with the more advanced ACSA certifications.

Cisco Certifications

Cisco certifications are among the most popular certifications and come in three flavors, from most basic to most advanced; CCNP, CCNA and CCiE. As you go from most basic to most advanced, the passing requirements and exam costs get higher and higher, but these are excellent certifications to have.

CompTIA Certifications

The vendor-neutral Computing Technology Industry Association offers certifications that give a mix of experience which can be exactly what a company is looking for in an IT professional. At one time, the CompTIA certifications lasted for a lifetime, but recently that policy has been changed and they must be renewed every three years.

Project Management Professional

IT project managers can make good money, and the Project Management Professional certification is very well respected and valued. The certification requires some college education and experience as a project manager before you can take the test, however.

International Information Systems Security Certification Consortium

It's a mouthful to say, but companies that have to deal with security find this certification invaluable. In order to take the exam, it does require several years' experience in security architecture and design. Also, it's much easier to use the acronym, CISSP, than to say its name each time.

Information Systems Audit and Control Association

ISACA certification is another security systems certification, and another certification that requires several years experience in the IT security field before it can be taken. All of the requirements for this test are offset by the benefits of having this certification, however.

Although certifications are important, they are not the only thing a potential employer is going to look at, and often real-world experience and a solid work history can help make up for a lack of certain certifications.

As the workplace becomes less focused on a particular single vendor, multiple certifications or knowledge of a variety of systems is becoming more valuable in today's workplace. Of course, it never hurts to have multiple certifications to boost your value.

Knowledge Center Inc is a leading provider of information technology training courses. Computer training programs offered include CompTIA, Cisco, ITIL, CISSP, ISO20000 & Microsoft certification courses. Computer certification classes are held at KCI computer training center located at Ashburn, VA.