In article <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>,
[EMAIL PROTECTED] (Selena Sol) wrote:
> > I feel that if people work toward a certification, they often end up
> > having a very limited skill set in the given technology.
>
> But it could be a very good place to "start" depending on your
> socio-economic position or the infrastructure of the country (outside of the
> US) in which you live.
I can't see how. There are plenty of good books and tutorials; I don't
see how working toward some certification offers any additional utility.
> > Certification has no inherent value, as we all agree. Some employers
> > may like to have it, but these are the same employers who want to
> > standardize the entire office on Microsoft products.
>
> Hmmm, there is an inherent value if some companies like it
No, there isn't. It is not inherent at all. It has no actual meaning,
and its value is entirely aribtrary, and therefore not inherent.
> regardless of
> whether the majority of the 'current' perl community respects those
> companies or not. There can also be value in standardizing on Microsoft.
> For example, in my opinion, an SME with a staff of 8 (none of them techies)
> SHOULD use Windows.
I think no one should use Windows, as long as there is Mac OS. But
that's not really the point.
> Mostly, I am concerned that we as advocates are actually turning away
> perfectly good converts just because we consider them losers?
That's just the point: no one is being turned away. Just because we
won't offer an incentive of entirely arbitrary value (IEAV), that is
"turning people away?" Come now.
> Try to remember that there is more in heaven and earth that are dreamt of in
> your philosophy, Chris.
I am omniscient, haven't you heard? (Of course, I know you haven't, as
I am omniscient.)
> But certification 'can' offer businesses one way to filter 1000 resumes that
> come in after a job placement ad assuming that they can have a sense for the
> validity of the certification agency (just like digital certificates).
You miss the point: no certification is in any way valid, by definition.
Any business depending on it will be wasting its time. Any
certification will always 1. exclude people who know the technology
well, and 2. include people who don't. Therefore, it has no utility to
a business. It has a perceived utility, but that perception is flawed.
Here's the bottom line: you can reasonably disagree with the business
utility of certification. I can't agree that it is useful, because in
every case I have seen, it is inherently flawed, and my brain tells me
that it is therefore unuseful. You can also reasonably disagree that it
offers a useful incentive to people want to learn perl; again, I cannot
agree that it is useful, because I can't see an IEAV as being useful.
However, please don't gripe and moan to me about how I am turning people
away or being elitist or any such nonsense. For years I have spent,
unpaid, countless hours helping people learn perl, on mailing lists,
BBSes, newsgroups, IRC, and in person. Stick to the issue, please.
--
Chris Nandor [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://pudge.net/
Open Source Development Network [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://osdn.com/
