> Given two resumes, one with a big bullet list of unverified skills, and one with a bullet list of some completed coursera courses, which would you choose?
I would accept neither as evidence of anything other than the skills a candidate advertises.
IOW, I trust "I know Scala" on a resume exactly as much as "I know Scala and completed a Coursera course on it".
Well if nothing else it gives a portable measure of ability.
Like instead of having to saying I'm an expert in Scala and the meaning of that being largely arbitrary; you've got a syllabus of stuff they claim to know (which you still need to verify it it matters).
