Hi Evan, just to clarify that email was from Paola who's email was bouncing. I forwarded it to the list as requested.<br><br>Kieran<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Dec 24, 2007 9:16 AM, Evan Leibovitch <<a href="mailto:evan@telly.org">
evan@telly.org</a>> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">Hello Kieran,<br><div class="Ih2E3d">> But my problem is that there are loadsa good who have some level of
<br>> Drupal knowledge and claim to have years of Drupal experience but too<br>> many that do no deliver, and in fact, that mess things up at my<br>> expense.<br></div>I agree that this is an issue. I also agree that delivery of code to the
<br>Drupal codebase, while one very useful measure, is only a partial answer<br>to the challenge of matching competent workers with those who would<br>employ them.<br><div class="Ih2E3d"><br>> Admittedly, I am taking a bet each time I hire someone,
<br></div>Arguably there is no substitute for a good interview. Looking for<br>certifications (or other keywords in resumes) is often a necessary first<br>step when supply of people exceeds demand. But in the interview you are
<br>able to:<br><br>-- verify the skills claimed in the resume (and by the certifications)<br>-- determine if the person's personality if a good fit for your organization<br>-- ensure that your expectations of the role match the candidate's
<br>expectations<br><br>Getting a book on conducting a personnel interview could be a very<br>worthwhile effort. Alternately, there is a good reason why "headhunters"<br>exist -- good ones possess talent for choosing good workers, that
<br>employers themselves may not have.<br><div class="Ih2E3d"><br>> I think a basic drupal certification can be' version independent' as<br>> the basic principles are not likely to change with each version, and
<br>> can be set up (I am an IT trainer) - One could also have a 'modular'<br>> certification, to show that one has familiarity and understanding of<br></div>> some modules, not necessarilty with everything
<br><br>IMO it would be very difficult to do a Drupal certification that is<br>_not_ modular :-)<br><div class="Ih2E3d"><br>> That does not mean that someone who does not take the certification is<br>> no good, maybe rther the contrary, and hopefully can demostrate so
<br></div>A certification of reasonable quality is a useful tool in the hiring<br>process; however, it is only one tool and it is no substitute for<br>interviews, references and even (as appropriate) code samples. It is<br>
important to understand certification use and limitations -- anyone who<br>hires someone _only_ based on being certified (as used to happen in the<br>Novell and Microsoft worlds) deserves what they get.<br><br>My earlier warning regarded the cost of doing a high quality cert. In
<br>IT, vendors create certifications in order to sell training services<br>targeted at those certifications. Reputation, and exam quality is even<br>more important if the certifying or is a nonprofit and/or there is no<br>
revenue from "official" training or courseware.<br><br>It certainly can be done if the will (and many, many volunteer hours)<br>exist. I would caution, that the skills necessary to make quality tests<br>-- the psychometric component of the certification -- are vastly
<br>different than those of "subject matter experts" (to use certification<br>lingo). And finding volunteer psychometric help is not an easy task.<br><br>(Why psychometrics? The goal of an exam -- and its grading -- is to
<br>create a measurment that "passes" those who "know the material"<br>(whatever that means) and fails those who do not. This means that<br>questions on the exam must be crafted specifically to perform this
<br>discrimination, and doing _that_ requires more than Drupal skills.)<br><br>For more info, Google "psychometrics" or "job task analysis" for an idea<br>of the complexity of doing a high quality exam (or even defining what
<br>"knowing the material" means).<br><br>Cheers,<br><div><div></div><div class="Wj3C7c"><br>- Evan<br><br>_______________________________________________<br>consulting mailing list<br><a href="mailto:consulting@drupal.org">
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