[thelist] PHP official certification

David Siedband technique at oceanicsky.com
Mon Aug 16 14:39:06 CDT 2004


I don't put much weight on most certifications.  I wouldn't legitimize 
them by participating in them.

They are appropriate in certain situations, like administrating a 
mainframe (z/OS or OS/400 for example) where you need to know someone s 
qualified before you entrust them with a potentially multimillion 
dollar system.  But for things like PHP, javascript, web dev, I think 
they're not really necessary.

What I see as the problem is that HR people are hiring for positions 
whose skills they don't understand.  This is an industry springing up 
to attempt to remedy that.  Just as a project manager needs to know a 
certain amount about the skills of the people working in their team, HR 
people need to know enough to ask the right questions to determine if a 
person is qualified for a given job.

One problem with certs is these weekend/weeklong training camps where 
you cram for 10 hours a day and take the exams repeatedly until you 
pass.  Anyone with a few hundred bucks and nothing better to do with a 
weekend can get a cert, so they don't mean too much.

I would much rather take the time to talk to a candidate about their 
past projects and specific problems they solved to get an idea of their 
aptitudes.

--
David





On Aug 16, 2004, at 11:15 AM, Rob Smith wrote:

> Greeeaaattt.. Another "certification". That's what makes me so mad 
> about
> development is that people have commercialized just about everything 
> these
> days.
>
> How much weight does it have? I'm guessing not much.



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