Hey Chuck: I know where you are coming from! But to standardize something of an open source product and form an association around it as "certified Asterisk Implementers" -- might be a problem... for one primary reason and that is Asterisk is a Trade Mark. The folks who are doing something of this sort is Digium themselves and they have a certification program.
But as with any certification - it is possible to pass reading ENOUGH questions at the theoretical level. However if the certification is based on a real practical test/exam, then perhaps only TRUE experts will pass. Essentially a certification exam is to show your competence of knowledge on a product/topic. Having certification might not be a reflection of ones true hands on knowledge -- and regardless of any association formed or any governing body formed, there will always be people who claim to have certification or knowledge, spitting the buzz words and getting a prospect all hyped up, excited, and the prospect getting suckered into a contract/agreement to purchase a service/product. The saying goes, "Your network is as secure as the competence of your network guy". My original saying, "Technology is beautiful, as long as it works". Most of us folks here at TAUG are some of the early adopters of Asterisk and some of us have embraced and extended this as a service offering to our clients. However at the end of the day clients, at least most of my clients are really not concerned whether or not they are using asterisk, as long as their office phones and branch offices are able to interconnect. I think ultimately it is up to the decision makers, and in this case my clients -- who should have researched, shopped around and then made an informed decision before they signed a cheque. I shouldn't be complaining. I'm getting paid regardless :). Cheers! Reza.
