Any other meaningless clamoring we should stop wasting our precious bandwidth discussing? And I don't know which marketplace you've been talking to, but the ones I talk to think there needs to be a better way to show (outside of simply pointing to d.o. or listing your contributions to the community, like so: <a href="http://www.zivtech.com/community/contributions">http://www.zivtech.com/community/contributions</a>) that a firm/individual is a Professional Drupal Developer/Development Shop. (Have your marketplace call my marketplace and we'll see if we can come to an agreement)<br>
<br>Seriously- if you think it's meaningless don't respond, but why attempt to stifle what many (<b>obviously</b>) see as a worthwhile topic?<br><br clear="all">--<br>Alex Urevick-Ackelsberg<br>ZivTech, LLC<br><a href="http://zivtech.com">http://zivtech.com</a><br>
<a href="mailto:alex@zivtech.com">alex@zivtech.com</a><br>office: (267) 940-7737<br>cell: (215) 866-8956<br>skype: zivtech<br>aim: zivtech<br>
<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Mon, Aug 10, 2009 at 10:09 AM, Nancy Wichmann <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:nan_wich@bellsouth.net">nan_wich@bellsouth.net</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
<div>
<div><font color="#0000ff" face="Arial" size="2">
<div class="gmail_quote">Dries Buytaert wrote:<br></div><div class="im">
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
<div>While I'm skeptic about certification programs myself, I also see value
in them. In a way, a masters degree from MIT or a PhD from Stanford is
also a certification. Granted, there are many examples of bad
certification programs, but there are also examples of valuable certification
programs; e.g. the CISCO certification program is very thorough, hands-on and
valued by the market.<span><font color="#0000ff" face="Arial" size="2"> </font></span></div>
<div><span></span> </div></blockquote></div></font></div>
<div class="gmail_quote"><span><font size="3">"Valued by
the market" is a very subjective term. True, there may be some companies that
feel it shows something, but there are almost certainly many other companies
that feel that they don't want to pay for a "certified xxxx." For example, I am
a certified project manager (PMP) and many job ads say "PMP preferred." However,
I have never seen a company that absolutely insists on it, even though it
demonstrates a certain level of education, training, and experience. And I have
never seen an instance of it generating a higher pay rate (although IBM has
certain rules that partially apply).</font></span></div>
<div class="gmail_quote"><span><font size="3"></font></span> </div>
<div class="gmail_quote"><span><font size="3">As far as a
"commercial entity at the heart," of course that's going to happen, whether it
be the DA or a spin-off. The administrators of any certification are going to
find it to be a full-time job and are going to need a salary. That means there
will be membership and testing fees at the very least. No one will do this out
of their love for the community. Look at the Project Management Institute
(<a href="http://pmi.org" target="_blank">pmi.org</a>) as an example.</font></span></div>
<div class="gmail_quote"><span><font size="3"></font></span> </div>
<div class="gmail_quote"><span><font size="3">In short,
certification will always mean more to the person who is certified than it will
to the person hiring him/her. It is not a panacea guaranteeing a good
Drupalista. I know project managers who are certified and yet horrible at it;
likewise I know PMs who are not certified and excellent at
it.</font></span></div>
<div class="gmail_quote"><span><font size="3"></font></span> </div>
<div class="gmail_quote"><span><font size="3">When I see
teh marketplace clammoring for a certification, I might support it. But until
that happens, stop wasting the bandwidth discussing it. It is simply
meaningless.</font></span></div>
<div><font color="#0000ff" face="Arial" size="2"></font> </div>
<div><font color="#ff00ff" face="Comic Sans MS" size="4">Nancy E. Wichmann,
PMP</font></div>
<div><font face="Arial" size="2"></font> </div>
<div align="left"><font face="Arial" size="2"><font face="Courier New">Injustice
anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. -- Dr. Martin L. King,
Jr</font>.</font></div>
<blockquote>
<div dir="ltr" align="left"><span></span> </div></blockquote></div>
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