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Wrenches, Recently I wrote to NABCEP with two requests, for changes on the website's public information: 1. In addition to a state-by-state list of certificants, have also a single overall alphabetized list that is not delimited by state, to allow a quick check if an installer who claims certification actually is so. 2. I would like to see the year of initial certification available as part of the published info on NABCEP's certificant listings. I would like to think that this is also a good indicator of an installer's experience as the field (of certificants) continues to get larger. I got thoughtful responses from Ezra and Bob-O. The essence of the back-and-forth discussion follows my signature line. But straight and to the point: Among those of you who are NABCEP Certified PV Installers, what are your opinions about these two ideas? Any responses and discussion will make its way back to NABCEP - I'll see to that. Thanks, Allan --
Allan Sindelar
As always it's great to "talk" with you. I
want to correct a common misunderstanding about the qualifications to
sit for the NABCEP Installer Exam. Nothing has changed with respect to
experience. The person applying still needs to have been the person
responsible for two PV systems sometime over the past two years. You
are correct that some time ago we changed the wording to "some time
within the past two years" this was to indicate that difference between
two complete years of experience and two systems in the past two years
(our actual requirement).
I can assure you
that the likes of Bob-O keep us all very honest when it comes to
watering down the qualifications to sit for the exam. The entire exam
committee keeps their eye on not "dumbing down" the exam. They want the
new achievers to work as hard as you and the other early adopters did.
I
am not really in favour of the downloadable list because of the spam
concerns but I'll happily accede to what the "Certs" want. I'd suggest
an informal poll - RE Wrenches perhaps - trying to get some additional
buy-in from Certificants. Again that's your call.
As
to the date first Certified I don't think that should be too difficult
but I hate to make promises before I speak the the folks who would
actually do the work and find out from them how difficult or time
consuming the task would be. I'm going to be in our office later this
week and I'll keep you posted.
Best regards,
Ezra
Ezra
Auerbach
Executive Director [email protected] North American Board of Certified Energy Practitioners (NABCEP) 634 Plank Road Clifton Park, N.Y. 12065 1 800 654 0021 1 518 670 4553 Direct www.nabcep.org On 2010-03-01, at 9:01 PM, Allan Sindelar wrote:
Ezra, Bob-O, Tim, Rex,Wow! I appreciate the dialogue that my suggestions engendered, and the fast response. Re the first issue, the national list: like Bob-O, I did not see spam potential as an issue, and I'm not knowledgeable enough about spam control to advise. I have observed that I get far fewer spam messages in my inbox than I did a few years ago - perhaps one or two a day, versus 15-20 maybe 4 years ago, and I haven't changed either email addresses or public visibility. I would consider a national list to be a convenience more than a necessity. You are all aware that I am quite protective of proper use of the logo and any claims of certification - I have shared some of my efforts with you. But I have seldom been hindered by having to check state lists, so it's not a big deal for my needs - more a suggestion. Perhaps there are others for whom this would make a bigger difference. On the other issue, I'll offer two perspectives, closely related. As NABCEP certification becomes widespread and necessary for so many installations, you are most likely experiencing ongoing pressure to certify more installers. I have already seen the qualification standards become diminished - where an applicant once needed to lead at least two installations to qualify, now he or she need only show "experience installing PV systems occurring at some point in the two (2) years prior to submitting an application". And certification is certification, by which I mean that once certified, there are no additional "master" or "graybeard" additional levels available. So this becomes a very simple way to identify how many years an installer has been certified to have the highest qualification level our industry offers. That's the objective perspective. The other is personal: I want to be acknowledged as one of the original 44 (?) that passed the first exam. It's an achievement I don't mind being available to those who care. And it will matter more as the years go by. It's a very easy way to recognize the old timers. It's also the way to recognize the people who saw enough value in the fledgling NABCEP effort to take and pass the exam before it meant anything, and with no idea what it would someday count for. Bob-O, re "I think perhaps we should also consider adding the year that the Certification expires": to me that is a separate issue, and one of not much concern. It's one, two, or three years away - big deal. You're either valid or expired. But if you add expiration year, then also decide whether Certificants who are expired disappear from the list or have "expired" and the year next to their name, but remain on the list as once having been Certified. Unimportant to me, just bouncing around ideas here. One more thing - I hate SurveyMonkey. It requires choosing one of the offered answers, even if none of the choices fits. And you can't skip an unanswerable question. Ugh! Does this help? Allan Ezra Auerbach wrote: I'll wait to hear back from Allan before we make any changes - if in doubt kick the idea around with a few other installer Certs informally and we'll use their responses to gauge if we need a full survey. Work for you? Ezra On 2010-03-01, at 8:02 AM, Bob-O Schultze wrote:
The spam thing is something I hadn't considered.
Clearly a trade-off. Adding the year of initial certification would
take some work, but it's a one-time thing. IF we do that, I think
perhaps we should also consider adding the year that the Certification
expires. That would be an ongoing chore, but perhaps it could be
automated by linked spreadsheets or something.
Allan, it's your suggestion. In light of Ezra's thoughts, do
you still think alphabetizing the Certificant's names on the website
has more merit than the potential anti-spam effect? Personally, I'm not
sure the anti-spam thing is that relevant as anyone can copy and paste
the current list into another document very easily, although state by
state only.
Perhaps we should put this out to our Certs for a vote? Via a
survey monkey or ...?
Bob-O
On Mar 1, 2010, at 4:17 AM, Ezra Auerbach wrote:
Hi gents,
A couple of thoughts. I think we could add year of
certification with undue administrative burden-I will want to check
with Tim-it will fall to him to implement.
With respect to a list, we long ago decided against publishing
a complete listing to make it more difficult for spammers.
So, it's the Certificants call. Bob-O if you are totally good
with the potential of more list spamming it would be easy to post a
list.
Tawk?
EzraExecutive Director NABCEP
Both good ideas which I think we could -and should-
implement, especially the alphabetizing.
Ezra, I think a decision like this is way within your
purview. Let's talk about it.
Bob-O
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