[consulting] Drupal Certification

[Evan Leibovitch]

George D. DeMet wrote:
> Evan is sharing his experience having worked with community-based
> certification programs with other open source projects.  He's taken a
> very strong position on the issue, but it's also one that's backed up
> with evidence, and I don't see it as fear-mongering at all.

Actually, I wasn't intending to take a stand, let alone a strong one.
I'm genuinely undecided on whether there is enough justification --
financial or otherwise -- for a Drupal certification of sufficient
quality. I was hoping to inject some data points that might help the
debate along, in the hope that logic and evidence -- rather than
rhetoric and wishful thinking -- would drive any decisions.

Of course, the irony is that there could be tomorrow an Acquia
certification, or a Lullabot one, or both, or more -- or one done by a
consortium of vendors -- and there's nothing that opponents could do to
stop it. We would still have Drupal certification(s) but "the community"
would have zero say in their academic, business or psychometric models.
Is that the result "the community" wants? Is that the result "the
community" deserves?

In any case, it's also clear that there is not one monolithic Drupal
community, which is why I've used the term above in quotes. There are
many diverse components to it, and not all have interests and needs that
are completely in sync. Please keep that in mind when making blanket
pronouncements on what is good -- or bad -- for "the community".

>   Personally, I've found his perspective among the most interesting
> ones in this entire thread.

Thanks!

- Evan