[consulting] Drupal Developer Certification

[Audrius Naslenas]

Hello everyone,
 
Certification is more or less the way of "standard thinking on standard
systems" - that means the tests are taken from FINITE amount of
technological data taken from relatively closed system. That means any php
web developer can get couple books about Drupal, spend some weeks
book-worming all the possible variations and pass exam with ease. He will
save tons of money for staff agencies, will have strict procedures and
location on bigger companies, but... he will be no more than walking
drupalopedia without real "I know how to convert your biz idea into website
on Drupal!"
 
I see Drupal as platform to build a FINITE product, which is like clay for
smart and creative people to build small (and big) web miracles. The way
open source communities work is more or less natural flow. Certification
makes centralization and this doesn't make positive effect to open source
communities. Drupal is contributed by so many different people with
different demands, that certification will not show real skills. Ok, maybe
then must be 20+ "Certified Drupal Professional" branches such as "Pro Zen
Themer", "Pro Taxonomy Specialist" ect... Money for examining ceters??? ->
extra expenses for Drupal developer -> extra expense for customer -> maybe
customer will look into for affordable system... -> what to do if I am
Drupal genius in Namibia, building great sites, but do not have
opportunities to pass exam??? -> so, I am worse than the same person in
Congo with certificate? -> I am screwed?
 
>From the personal experience: I am working in different IT areas for ~10
years, from vbscript (before .NET) programmer to system administrator and
never ever have taken seriously an idea to pass any certification. For me -
it is just decoration for resumes. It is too sad to see when someone really
genial is correcting mistakes left by certified guy with 2+ university
degrees.
 
My proposal: showcase, shaowcase, SHOWCASE!  Show to non-IT world what you
have done and sell yourself not by certificate quantity, but by what you
have done, what you are doing, and what are you really going to (and able
to!) do. If you cannot get real money for what you are offering - no resume
decoration will help you. If you cannot make your work - learn. Cannot make
it right - do it wrong for now, pro skills will come!
 
Go into web street and make name for yourself!
 
p.s. sorry for my grammar mistakes - was in a hurry. For me any of the
labeling of persons is nonsense.
p.p.s. IMHO ;)
 
 
Regards,
Audrius N.
  _____  

From: consulting-bounces at drupal.org [mailto:consulting-bounces at drupal.org]
On Behalf Of Khalid Baheyeldin
Sent: Tuesday, March 24, 2009 10:51 PM
To: A list for Drupal consultants and Drupal service/hosting providers
Subject: Re: [consulting] Drupal Developer Certification


Certification on certain company specific distributions is one way (Red Hat,
Acquia).

Generic certification by independent organizations and not specific to a
vendor is another, e.g. LPI in the Linux world.

http://www.lpi.org/
-- 
Khalid M. Baheyeldin
2bits.com, Inc.
http://2bits.com
Drupal optimization, development, customization and consulting.
Simplicity is prerequisite for reliability. --  Edsger W.Dijkstra
Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication. --   Leonardo da Vinci

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