FYI, for those interested in certification... Perlcast 13[1] (from back in June) makes mention of a new vendor offering a Perl certification test (60 questions, 2 hours), which links to high-levelcert.com. Apparently they didn't last long, as the site appears to be dead at the moment (what's worse is that it shows an error page with Microsoft logos on it :-).
Perlcast's Perl News Summary for 2005-08-28[2] references Chris Nandor's "use Perl" posting[3] announcing that Brainbench is soliciting feedback on their Perl 5.8 Exam Beta[4] (40 questions, 2 hours). I haven't tried Brainbench's 5.8 beta test, but did take their non-beta Perl test this weekend (Brainbench normally charges $50 for their non-beta tests, but is providing them for free until the 15th of this month), and in my opinion they could use more feedback to improve the test. More on that in another message. One of the commenters on the "use Perl" posting was Tim Maher, the author of the Perl Journal article "Is it Time for Perl Certification?"[5], which raises a familiar criticism of Perl certification: that there shouldn't be just one test, but several; each focused on the different roles of Perl users. He, along with Seattle.pm, has a hand in creating the Perl Certification Wiki[6]. The Wiki seems cover all of the arguments, both pro and con, that appeared on this list a few months back. It even include a page where you can register your "vote"[7] in favor or against, and state your reasons. So if you're passionately against a certification for Perl, it'll probably be more productive to express yourself there than on this list. And conversely if you're in favor, the Wiki also suggests what you can do to get involved. Another poster mentioned Tom Christiansen's Seven Stages of a Perl Programmer[8] as a better way to measure potential employees. -Tom 1. http://perlcast.com/2005/06/12/perlcast-13/ 2. http://perlcast.com/2005/08/28/perl-news-2005-08-28/ 3. http://use.perl.org/article.pl?sid=05/08/24/2219245 4. http://brainbench.com/xml/bb/common/testcenter/taketest.xml?testId=2365 5. http://teachmeperl.com/publications/perlcert_article.html 6. http://perlcert.perlocity.org/ 7. http://perlcert.perlocity.org/index.cgi?VotingBooth 8. http://jwenet.net/notebook/2005/1075.html -- Tom Metro Venture Logic, Newton, MA, USA "Enterprise solutions through open source." Professional Profile: http://tmetro.venturelogic.com/ _______________________________________________ Boston-pm mailing list [email protected] http://mail.pm.org/mailman/listinfo/boston-pm
