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Know a thing or two about technology? Our experts exchange answers for free membership, rewards and a public resume of their technology skills.
The Points System
The economy of Experts ExchangeQuestion Points
Users set point values based on question difficulty. If a solution is selected as the best answer, the expert earns points. Points are multiplied based on the question grade: one good answer can receive up to 2,000 points alone.
- A
- points x4
- Possible 2,000 points
- B
- points x3
- 1,500 points
- C
- points x2
- 1,000 points
Article Points
Technology articles earn 500 points when published and an additional 50 points for each helpful vote. Experts can earn 5,000 points if their article is selected as an Editor’s Choice.
- Editor's Choice
- Selected by Page Editors
- 500 +5,000 points
- EE Approved
- Selected by Page Editors
- 500 +4,000 points
- Community Feedback
- By Votes & by Views
- 500 +50 per helpful Vote* +10 per ten page Views*
Ranks and Certifications
Will you be the first Technocrat?
Answering questions on Experts Exchange earns more than free access.
Top technology experts worldwide compete to earn rankings and certifications, from Master (50,000 points) all the way to Legend (100,000,000 points).
Rewards
Earn Free Stuff!
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Free Membership
Earn 10,000 points for free membership and qualified expert status. Then collect just 3,000 points a month to maintain free access.
Register here! -
Free T-Shirts
Dress the part of a pro. With each expert certification you'll earn a new shield and a swanky t-shirt to show off your smarts.
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Certificates & Badges
Plaster your cubicle with printable certificates of achievement, or post a badge on your blog or website to display your accomplishments.
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Expert Awards
Earn recognition with our Annual Expert Awards, which, our past winners will attest to—are accompanied by mad props and truck-loads of schwag.
Hall of Fame
The EE Nation: Technology Experts Worldwide
Experts Exchange has been carefully building an active community of known experts across hundreds of technology fields since 1996. This isn’t a random forum—our experts and volunteers are online around the clock ensuring your technology problem is solved.
Top Countries
- United States of America
- 44,379 Experts
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- Top Topic Areas
- .NET Programming
- C+ Programming
- Visual Basic.NET
- .NET Programming
- C+ Programming
- Visual Basic.NET
- United Kingdom
- 8,112 Experts
-
- Top Topic Areas
- .NET Programming
- C+ Programming
- Visual Basic.NET
- .NET Programming
- C+ Programming
- Visual Basic.NET
- Canada
- 3,529 Experts
-
- Top Topic Areas
- .NET Programming
- C+ Programming
- Visual Basic.NET
- .NET Programming
- C+ Programming
- Visual Basic.NET
- Australia
- 3,252 Experts
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- India
- 2,968 Experts
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- Netherlands
- 1,022 Experts
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- Germany
- 812 Experts
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- South Africa
- 646 Experts
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- Ireland
- 595 Experts
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It takes a village.
Props to our Admins, Moderators, Topic Advisors, Page Editors, & Cleanup Volunteers!
Communities don’t spring up overnight (Google+ notwithstanding). Our online cooperative of technology experts is tended by an elite group of volunteers who go above and beyond to make Experts Exchange a relevant and reliable resource. We couldn’t do it without them.
If you enjoy helping others and would like to be part of our “Badger” family, click the volunteer tab above to learn more.
Administrators are selected by the Experts Exchange staff to assist, coordinate and supervise the Moderators, Topic Advisors, Page Editors and the Cleanup crew. They also work with Experts Exchange on special projects and assist the home office in collecting feedback from site members and experts. Administrators will provide help with the following:
- Supervising the Cleanup Process
- Site News
- New Features on the Site
- Resolving Issues with any Community Service Member:
- Moderators
- Zone Advisors
- Page Editors
- Clean Up Volunteers
The Moderators' primary function is to respond to and resolve questions in the Community Support topic area. Specifically, Moderators provide support through:
- Interpretation and enforcement of the Terms of Use
- Arbitrating requests for deletion and closure
- Assisting new users in getting their questions answered
- Announcements and instructions about new features and processes
All these services are free to all members of Experts Exchange; you may post zero point questions to Community Support.
Topic Advisors are proven experts in specific technologies who assist members in getting answers, provide guidance to new users, ensure the accuracy of answers and contribute to the newsletter. If you need assistance with a specific question on the site, the Topic Advisors are your first stop.
Similar to Topic Advisors, Page Editors are experts in a specific technology section. However, their responsibilities are related to the Articles system, where they work with authors to ensure technical accuracy, provide input and contribute content. Additionally, Page Editors determine which Articles are awarded EE-Approved and Editor's Choice status.
The Cleanup Crew is one of the primary reasons Experts Exchange stands apart from other technology help sites.
No question on Experts Exchange remains open forever; abandoned questions are examined carefully by a well-trained team of cleanup volunteers (a question is considered "abandoned" when at least 14 days have passed since the last comment). The Cleanup Crew reviews these abandoned questions to see whether or not they contain any useful solutions, then make recommendations for closing out the question.
Become a Community Volunteer
You’ve proven you can compete as an expert...are you ready for a new challenge here at Experts Exchange? As a community volunteer you’ll dive deep into the toughest technology problems and help users solve some of their most difficult questions. Plus you get to wear the badge…and who doesn’t like badges?
It’s good to share.
At Experts Exchange we’re committed to making communities better places both online and offline. Here are a few of the ways our team is giving back.
Open Source Contributions
FreeBSD is an open-source operating system utilized here at Experts Exchange. System Administrators Jason Helfman and Phil Phillips have made multiple contributions to the FreeBSD community over the past few years, and Jason was recently invited to be a ports committer for the FreeBSD project.
Read more about Experts Exchange’s contributions to the FreeBSD project on the EE Tech News blog, or check out Jason Helfman’s article on how to build your own FreeBSD update.
Water Run Project
More than 800 million people in the world do not have access to safe drinking water. About 42,000 deaths occurring every week, 90% of those being children under the age of 5.
Experts Exchange partners with Water Run, a non-profit that helps provide clean drinking water, sanitation and hygiene education to those in need around the world. Fundraising projects have included an Expert T-Shirt Challenge and employee BBQ. To date, the efforts of the Experts Exchange community have lead to the construction of a large well in Ethiopia that will serve multiple villages in the area.
Prado Day Center
On the third Thursday of each month a handful of Experts Exchange employees prepare and serve a hot breakfast at the local soup kitchen. The Prado Day Center in San Luis Obispo, CA is the only day center serving the homeless population in the region. Every day, 90 to 120 people seek refuge and assistance at the Center and over 30 percent of the Center's participants are now women and children.
EE Charity Challenge
Experts earn points for correct solutions. The more points they earn, the further they move up the ranks and with each new ranking, they earn a t-shirt. After an expert has redeemed his/her first rank t-shirt, he/she can donate each additional rank shirt to charity. Check out the Experts Exchange Company Blog for more details and instructions on how to donate.
Learn more about Experts Exchange charities plus see pictures and videos on our Facebook page and Community Outreach blog.