<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Sat, Aug 8, 2009 at 2:51 AM, Dries Buytaert <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:dries.buytaert@gmail.com">dries.buytaert@gmail.com</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;">
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.<br>
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All things considered, I think there is value in having Drupal certification programs, especially if Drupal continues to grow. Similarly, I think there is value in higher education.<br>
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My personal view is that the Drupal Association is _not_ the best body to create "the" Drupal certification program. It's my belief that we are best served with allowing many organizations to create their own Drupal certification programs, and have the market/buyer set their value -- similar to how universities built reputation. (In such a world, it is very important that the certification programs are labeled properly; i.e. "ACME Drupal certification" and not just "Drupal certification", where ACME is the name of the company or organization.)<br>
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Competition around Drupal certification programs would be great, because it would likely help improve the quality of the different Drupal certification programs.</blockquote><div><br> I think competition among drupal certifications will loose the value of the certification. A certification ensures that there is a central authority which will control the quality of the certification holders. For every certification we have one body which controls the quality of the various certificates. IMHO the most successful certificates in open source world are Mysql and Redhat certificates and both are controlled by one respective companies. <br>
DA could become one such body that will overlook the certification content and execution while ACME organization be responsible for creating the framework of certification and executing it. This way we can have multiple organizations holding the certification exams at the same time overall quality is ensured.<br>
<br>regards<br>Vivek<br></div><br></div>-- <br>The hidden harmony is better than the obvious!!<br>