Re: Certification Available +Pronounce

On Thu, Aug 25, 2005 at 09:45:31AM -0700, Josh Berkus wrote:
> Robert,
>
> > If certifications are seen in a bad-light, I believe it's directly
> > because people sell-out their principles, or just plain set-out to make
> > cash.
>
> Well, actually: you're asking a group of users and proponents of an OSS RDBMS
> that has no certifications, and until a few years ago wasn't supported by any
> large companies and didn't have any compliance certificates or major
> reference implementations, what they think of certifications. What answer
> did you expect to get?
>
> Serious hackers never like certifications; they see them as something that
> their boss is liable to waste their time making them take. The people who
> like certifications will not generally be subscribed to this list.
>
> > This might be a mad-idea, but if you can build an open-source DBMS, why
> > can't you build a certification by the same process?: open-source
> > collaboration for its inception, elaboration, construction and deployment?
>
> Well, first off, how would you keep the questions secret from potential
> test-takers? Also, keep in mind that designing a good certification exam is
> a lot of work, like 1000 hours of work.
>
> I'm lazy ... I'd rather just let SRA do their thing. ;-)

Given open source, companies will do their thing. They should fly or
die on their own popularity and merits. Remember training
and certification are lucrative businesses. Never forget that.

My experience with mysql is that I installed a very old version and
removed it the second I realized there were no views. Then I perused
a book. Then I took the certification and passed. This was just
to make a point. As a rule, I do not take certification tests.

I would never take a PostgreSQL certification test. If people do
not trust my credentials and references, oh well. I will, however,
train people or write curriculum on the best uses and practices, et all.
This is a very good (don't forget lucrative) business that also
promotes PostgreSQL and fills in the gaps of misinformation.

I would even suggest that more training, only, would achieve most of
the goals people want for certification.

-- Elein
>
> --
> Josh Berkus
> Aglio Database Solutions
> San Francisco
>
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