HSHimanshu Sharma
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How to add a course certificate to LinkedIn and your CV

Himanshu Sharma · · 6 min read

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You passed a course exam and now you hold a certificate. The next question is how to show it so that it helps. A certificate nobody sees does nothing; one that is badly presented can even look like padding. This guide shows how to add it to LinkedIn, how to list it on a CV, what to say about it and how to combine it with evidence that matters more. It assumes you earned a certificate from one of the courses on this site: HTML, CSS, jQuery, MySQL, PHP or WordPress when available.

What you are holding

A certificate from this site is a verifiable record of completion. It states that you finished every lesson of a named course and passed its final exam with a score. It has:

  • your name,
  • the course title and your score,
  • the issue date,
  • a certificate ID, such as MH-PHP- followed by eight characters,
  • a public page at /learn/certificate/?id=<ID> that anyone can open.

It is not an accredited degree or an industry exam. That is not a weakness to hide; it is simply what it is. Describe it accurately and it works in your favour.

Step 1: find your certificate link

  1. Sign in and open your dashboard.
  2. Open the certificate for the course. You will see the certificate page, with buttons: Print or save as PDF, Copy link and, for your own certificate, Add to LinkedIn.
  3. Copy the link or note the ID. You will need one of them.

Check that the name printed on it is the way you want it to appear publicly, because the page is visible to anyone with the link.

Step 2: add it to LinkedIn

The easiest way is the Add to LinkedIn button on the certificate page. It opens LinkedIn's "Add licence or certification" form with the fields already filled in:

Field Filled with
Name The course name followed by "course certificate", for example "PHP course certificate"
Issuing organisation The site's domain
Issue year and month From your certificate
Credential URL The public certificate link
Credential ID Your certificate ID

Check each field, then save. If you prefer to add it by hand:

  1. On your LinkedIn profile, choose Add profile section, then Recommended, then Add licences & certifications.
  2. Enter the name, the issuing organisation, the dates, the credential ID and the URL.
  3. Leave the expiry blank (the certificate has no expiry date printed on it).

LinkedIn may ask you to pick the issuing organisation from a list. If this site is not listed, type the name; it will still display, just without a logo.

Then do three more things that make the entry useful:

  • Mention it in your headline or About section in one plain sentence: "Completed the PHP course and exam at mrhimanshu.com; building a guestbook and a contact form."
  • Add the skills to your Skills section (PHP, MySQL, HTML), the ones you really practised.
  • Add a featured link to your best project, which matters more than the certificate itself.

Step 3: put it on your CV

On a CV, a certificate belongs in a short Certifications or Education and training section, below your experience and projects. Keep each line brief:

PHP course, mrhimanshu.com. Final exam passed, October 2026. Certificate ID MH-PHP-XXXXXXXX (verify at mrhimanshu.com/learn/certificate)

Guidelines:

  • Include the ID and the place to verify it. A verifiable claim is more trusted than an unverifiable one, and a recruiter can check it in seconds.
  • Use the real date. Do not round up.
  • Do not inflate it. Write "completed the course and passed the exam", not "certified PHP developer".
  • List the certificate once. Several certificates from the same site can share one line each, with the most relevant first.
  • Put the projects higher up. For a beginner without work experience, a Projects section with links usually comes before certificates.
  • Tailor it. For a web developer role, the HTML, CSS and PHP certificates are relevant. Leave out ones that do not relate to the job.

In a PDF CV, make the verification link clickable.

Step 4: pair it with proof

A certificate says you studied. A project shows what you can do. The strongest combination is both:

Certificate Project to show with it
HTML The profile page from the final lesson, published online
CSS The landing page, responsive on a phone
MySQL A database for something of your own, with five queries you can explain
PHP The guestbook, or a small form-based application
jQuery The to-do app from the project lesson

Host each project (even a free static host will do for HTML and CSS), put its code in a public repository, and link both from your CV and your LinkedIn Featured section. A recruiter who opens your portfolio and sees working pages learns more in a minute than from a page of certificates.

How to talk about it in an interview

Be ready to describe what you learned and what you built:

  • "I completed the PHP course and passed the exam. The part I found hardest was prepared statements, and I rebuilt the guestbook to practise them."
  • "I fixed a bug in my form handling by reading the error message and the line number."
  • "I chose to learn MySQL because most PHP sites use it."

Honest, specific answers show that the certificate stands for real work. Vague claims such as "I am an expert in PHP" after one course will be tested by a single question.

Common mistakes

  • Listing it as a degree or a "certification" from a recognised exam body. It is neither.
  • Adding certificates you did not earn, or with a changed score. The public page will show the truth.
  • Leaving the link out. A certificate without a way to check it looks weaker.
  • A cluttered section with ten certificates and no projects.
  • Forgetting your privacy: the page shows your name. If you do not want it public, do not share the link.
  • Posting the exam questions. The exam rewards honest work and the bank is shared by many learners.

If you did not pass yet

Revise and retry; you have three attempts every 24 hours. See How to prepare for an online programming exam for a method, or the certificate guides for HTML, CSS, MySQL and PHP.

Quick answers

Does LinkedIn verify the certificate? No. LinkedIn shows what you enter; the credential URL lets viewers verify it on this site.

Can I put it on my CV without LinkedIn? Yes. List it with the ID and the verification address.

Do certificates expire? None is printed on them, but technologies change, so keep your skills current.

Can an employer check it? Yes, by opening the link or entering the ID on the verification page.

Is it recognised like an official qualification? No. Treat it as a record of study and back it with projects.

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