[consulting] Certifications and Drupal was Re: Contracted Help (As Needed Basis)

[Greg Knaddison]

On Fri, May 28, 2010 at 1:55 PM, Christian Pearce <pearcec at xforty.com> wrote:
> Don't say certification program.  :)  Sorry that has been talked to death.

Since you did...

In the past on this list there have been tons of discussions of
certifications. I've added my two cents on the topic over time and we
finally put some resources into building a better system: Certified To
Rock http://certifiedtorock.com

Part of the "about this site" information we posted prior to launch
was a rehash of some of the old Consulting mailing list
http://certifiedtorock.com/criticisms-of-certification-programs where
I take some of the better criticisms and point out how CertifiedToRock
does **as well as traditional certification programs or better** at
each of them.

In short:
1. It's (somewhat) automated and dynamic, it doesn't need to be
rewritten with each version of core
2. It's a low barrier to entry: no preparation classes nor exam fees to pay
3. It promotes useful contribution to the community above enriching a
certification body

The site is very much in it's first launch and we are gathering
feedback about how to make it better. Obviously chx with a 5 (and a
few others) deserve higher scores. A mix of tweaking the weights and
adding more metrics will help us with that.

But, if you have thoughts on how we can make it better please do let
us know here via e-mail, tweeting @certifiedtorock, or to me (or my
coworker Ben Jeavons - ben@ ) privately via e-mail.

For the future, we hope that this will be a valuable part of a Drupal
programmer's resume. We hope it will make it easier for HR, Pointy
Haired Bosses, and clients to find "good" people to work on their
project. And we hope it will result in a virtuous cycle where people
who contribute more get more and better jobs.

Thanks,
Greg

-- 
Greg Knaddison | 303-800-5623 | http://growingventuresolutions.com
Mastering Drupal | http://www.masteringdrupal.com