[thelist] Web Developer Certification

[Bev Corwin]

On this subject of certification - I have a question for the list:

In your experiences, or observations, have you ever encountered any other
professions that "grandfather" into certifications those individuals who had
been involved in the profession prior to the establishment of the
certification process?

I was in a board meeting the other day where we were discussing these
similar issues of certification in another professional group, not
particularly related to IT.  One of the meeting participants, an older
gentleman, was explaining to us that in his case, as a technical engineer of
some sort, he was "grandfathered" into certification when that process
started in his profession because he had been working already for a good
number of years in that industry.  He had some rather interesting opinions
on emerging industries, etc.  In fact, I believe he was one of the people
who helped developed parts the certification process and testing for his
profession.  He commented extensively on how badly other industries manage
the "change" from not having certification to establishing certification.
It was his opinion that in industries that are controlled more by
corporations,  usually there are not any "grandfathering" in of the
preceding generation of professional experts, and it is often a tactic of
planned obselescence.  However, he felt that in industries that were more
controlled by the professionals themselves, that you found the "elders" and
"predesessors" being more respected and better treated in adopting and
implementing these certification processes.  He said that the technology
industry was the best example of the worst case.  I'm curious if anybody out
there have any similar observations?  I'm also curious how this would apply
across disciplines and across borders in other countries.  Any comments?

Bev