[thelist] Web Developer Certification

[Morgan Kelsey]

> > >Web Dev is a far to rapid-changing and creative field to have
> > >Certifications mean *anything*.
> >
> > At the moment, yes, since following the standards while keeping an eye
on
> > what actually works in common browsers is a bit of a black art.
> > I'd say it would be possible to create a commonly-accepted certification
> > standard only after the technical expectations of browsers and standards
> > compliance become more predictable.
>
> Let's say certified developers were required to be experts in the already
> existing W3C specs, plus whatever else they want to say they are certified
> for (say Perl, PHP, ASP, SQL, etc.). If there was a reputation of value in
> that certification, wouldn't there logically follow a wider usage of those
> specs, and in turn a higher need for standards  compliance?
>

IMHO, certifications mean little more than "possibly proficient". I don't
sit behind a desk and hire people all day, but if I did I would pay little
attention to a candidate's test-taking abilities, as those types of tests
never address real-world issues.

For instance, I have a client with a fairly robust ecommerce site and sales
system. They can assign free shipping to any product or category, assign a
flat price or percentage discount to any product or category, and assign
"get a free this with a that" relationships.

Last week, the client decided that they wanted to have a "spend $100, get a
free hat with your *next* purchase" special.

A problem like that, can't be encapsulated in a certification exam, or
solved in 2 minutes or less.


nagrom