There's a further point. Certification is generally to prove that you know a language or a framework. Some of the frameworks and programming concepts in the Java world, for example, can carry quite a bit of complexity with them. It's redundant in the Ruby and the Rails world, as the Ruby language is exceptionally simple to achieve things with (part of its elegance) and the Rails framework is very straightforward on how to go about solving a problem. This notion of simplicity generally extends to other libraries, Sinatra, etc..
The key point is identifying how to learn these things when you're starting out, and then show a potential employer that you are ready to be productive and profitable for their organization with the tools they platform gives you. Showing them a working piece of open source code, any sort of program which solves a problem, is a much better start than a piece of paper from a strange academy. The open source argument has been explained well above already. I'd recommend buying one or two good books, working through them, then writing some programs and chatting about them with other Ruby coders. On a side note, I certified in the Java programming language ages ago, and while it was useful to have the depth of knowledge in the language, it was hardly needed on a daily basis and it did not represent the sort of programming problems I generally have to solve in commercial work. I don't think they are that useful, really. Cheers, Nicholas On Feb 22, 3:16 pm, Ben Hoskings <[email protected]> wrote: > On Sun, Feb 21, 2010 at 11:53 PM, Julio Cesar Ody <[email protected]>wrote: > > > Food for thought: none of the icons of our community had to go through > > any sort of certification to get to where they are now. All they had > > to do was to share their work and knowledge, and the recognition they > > got came from that. > > Amen. The ruby community is a meritocracy. GitHub profile, employment > history, and reputation are certification. But then, > > On Mon, Feb 22, 2010 at 8:50 AM, Lachie <[email protected]> wrote: > > Stepping back from the issue another pace, its clear that no pat, > > neatly boxed answer ("certification!" or "github!") is a reliable > > indicator of employability. > > I think that's definitely true, but GitHub profile alone is a pretty good > indicator of a combination of skill and experience, which is one major part > of employability. That leaves some big questions unanswered, about things > like work ethic, pride in one's craft, the ability to integrate with > existing teams, etc. > > I'd argue that certification isn't a good indicator of any of that either. > > On Mon, Feb 22, 2010 at 8:50 AM, Lachie <[email protected]> wrote: > > For example, if you hire someone based on their passion for open > > source, are you hiring the evident coding chops or the coding chops > > *and* the enthusiasm for consistent, fine work? And can they apply > > that same enthusiasm to the end of a long, unglamorous-but-paid > > project? > > I think that's where the community really comes into its own. As Linus said, > "If you have ever done any security work, and it did not involve the concept > of network of trust, it wasn't security work, it was masturbation." [1] > > We have a truly awesome community, which is built on mutual professional > respect, friendship, and a network of trust. I think the community's network > of trust is the best indicator of those things, and I think certification > tries to simulate it by trying to standardise and enumerate the things on > which the network of trust is is built. It misses the point completely > though, because the network of trust only works when it's a network. > > I'm going to be less polite than others: I think certification is completely > useless. > > —ben_h > > [1]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4XpnKHJAok8#t=1645 -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Ruby or Rails Oceania" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rails-oceania?hl=en.
