Re: About PostgreSQL certification

On Jan 23, 2007, at 5:04 PM, Mark Kirkwood wrote:

> Theo Schlossnagle wrote:
>> On Jan 23, 2007, at 4:33 PM, David Fetter wrote:
>>> On Tue, Jan 23, 2007 at 11:52:08AM -0200, Iannsp wrote:
>>>> Hello,
>>>> I did like to know what you think about the postgresql
>>>> certifications provided for
>>>>
>>>> PostgreSQL CE http://www.sraoss.co.jp/postgresql-ce/news_en.html
>>>>
>>>> CertFirst http://www.certfirst.com/postgreSql.htm
>>>>
>>>> My question is about the validate of this certification for the
>>>> clients. Make difference to be certified?
>>>
>>> Clueful clients will look unfavorably on any "PostgreSQL
>>> certification" you have. They will instead insist on experience and
>>> references, as clueful clients do. :)
>> I don't believe that's true. Oracle certification means quite a
>> bit. Cisco certification is excellent. Sun certification is
>> decent. If the PostgreSQL certifications don't mean much it is a
>> problem with the particular vendor of the certificate and you (as
>> a PostgreSQL entity) should contest their right to use PostgreSQL
>> name in their advertising or marketing. Certification programs
>> can and should mean something.
>
> Certification is ok - but is only of actual value when combined
> with real experience. The reason I say this is that certification
> programs in general can be beaten by various techniques (e.g.
> friends, online research, guessing etc). Also over time they are
> rendered (almost) useless by the (lucrative) side businesses that
> come into being (e.g. 'boot camps', mock exams etc).

Get a CCIE and tell me that again :-) When you are handed a
complicated network of routers and switches running all sorts of
version of IOS and CatOS and you go to lunch, they break it and you
have a certain time allotment to fix it all.

Most certifications are not simple multiple choice quizes. Just the
ones you hear about -- the ones that suck.

> I think seeing relevant training courses + experience on a CV
> trumps certification anytime - unfortunately a lot of folks out
> there are mesmerized by shiny certificates....

Sure. But experience is very hard to get. And since people with
PostgreSQL experience are limited, companies adopting it need a good
second option -- certified people.

// Theo Schlossnagle
// CTO -- http://www.omniti.com/~jesus/
// OmniTI Computer Consulting, Inc. -- http://www.omniti.com/