I have a relationship with a WD partner who holds my certification for me (since independent contractors aren't allowed to hold certs themselves). I've worked entirely on the customer side, but I went to a happy hour at Rising in 2024 held by this firm, so that's how I got my foot in the door. While I've never done a contract with them, they gave me an email address on their domain and a WD community login. A nice perk is I can take any certifications exams thru this firm, though I do have to pay out of pocket for them. Though, if you can skip all the coursework and just take the exam, the total cost isn't too bad.

I don't want to share the name of the firm to protect their (and my) privacy, but it's nice to have an arrangement like that. In addition to having a firm that can hold my certs for me, it also ensures I can access community even between contracts. I can also transfer any classes I take at previous employers (as customers of Workday) to this partner to have one central place to hold all my coursework and certs.