RE: Perl Certification Drive
I think the money aspect is very important. This isn't YAS, it's supposed to be a professional qualification for professional programmers. 300 sounds like a good number for me. "If it only costs a fiver then what good can it be" will be the PHB's attitude, I've seen this often. Yes, you are right. However, given the, ah, aversity of many perl programs to getting certified, I'd like to remove barriers to entry. If we can get the 'professional' stamp by sticking names like O'Reilly (Or Microsoft - why not?) on the certificates, and then charge less, I think that would be better. But if not, then I agree a charge (mayb more 50 than 300?!) can have a similar effect.
RE: Perl Certification Drive
At 11:56 29/03/2001 +0100, Jonathan Peterson wrote: I think the money aspect is very important. This isn't YAS, it's supposed to be a professional qualification for professional programmers. 300 sounds like a good number for me. "If it only costs a fiver then what good can it be" will be the PHB's attitude, I've seen this often. Yes, you are right. However, given the, ah, aversity of many perl programs to getting certified, I'd like to remove barriers to entry. If we can get the 'professional' stamp by sticking names like O'Reilly (Or Microsoft - why not?) on the certificates, and then charge less, I think that would be better. But if not, then I agree a charge (mayb more 50 than 300?!) can have a similar effect. Maybe two levels ? 1. Tests as part of a course package are cheap. You already have the infrastructure set up and authorised trainers can administer the test. 2. Standalone test are more expensive. You have to have dedicated hardware and testing environments. What about getting those guys that do the Novell Microsoft exams [pause for web search] Prometric to do it. They already have all the infrastructure. Simon.
Re: Perl Certification Drive
you hit the nail on the head. I think the money aspect is very important. This isn't YAS, it's supposed to be a professional qualification for professional programmers. £300 sounds like a good number for me. "If it only costs a fiver then what good can it be" will be the PHB's attitude, I've seen this often. -- alex nunes | t 020 7603 5723 | f 020 7603 2504 director | read the NEW story @ http://codix.net/ codix.net | 107 shepherd's bush road, london w6 7lp
Re: Perl Certification Drive
"Jonathan Peterson" [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: I think the money aspect is very important. This isn't YAS, it's supposed to be a professional qualification for professional programmers. 300 sounds like a good number for me. "If it only costs a fiver then what good can it be" will be the PHB's attitude, I've seen this often. Yes, you are right. However, given the, ah, aversity of many perl programs to getting certified, I'd like to remove barriers to entry. If we can get the 'professional' stamp by sticking names like O'Reilly (Or Microsoft - why not?) on the certificates, and then charge less, I think that would be better. But if not, then I agree a charge (mayb more 50 than 300?!) can have a similar effect. If we can get the standard for competency accepted as a National Standard (will take a while), then any training that's based on those standard will attract government funding for the trainees. Which would be nice. -- Piers
RE: Perl Certification Drive
At 12:20 PM 29.3.2001 +0100, Simon Wilcox wrote: If we can get the 'professional' stamp by sticking names like O'Reilly (Or Microsoft - why not?) on the certificates, and then charge less, I think that would be better. But if not, then I agree a charge (maybe more 50 than 300?!) can have a similar effect. Maybe two levels ? 1. Tests as part of a course package are cheap. You already have the infrastructure set up and authorised trainers can administer the test. 2. Standalone test are more expensive. You have to have dedicated hardware and testing environments. What about getting those guys that do the Novell Microsoft exams [pause for web search] Prometric to do it. They already have all the infrastructure. Well, we aren't exactly as well known as Microsoft or O'Reilly, but my company makes test software and could probably be talked into signing on with this. Greg was saying he's interested in the UK ( Europe) at this point; we do a little bit of business there but are mainly a US (Boston) company now -- I don't know if that is an obstacle to you or not. The main drawback, if in fact you feel it is a drawback, is that at this point we mainly do Windows tests on Windows computers, and most of them are Office related. But we do have a Perl test that I helped write (and while it isn't great by any means, I hope it's better than the one being used before I helped revise it). We don't really get involved in the certification game, but rather provide software that allows companies doing such certifications to assess candidates. (Likewise, we provide software to temp agencies for similar but non-cert-related reasons.) While I'm not really the decision maker here, I would like to push the company in this kind of direction. If there is any interest, I can talk to my bosses and see if they would want to pursue something with you. -- Chris Devers [EMAIL PROTECTED] webmaster work: 781.270.5372 Skillcheck aol-im: chdevers
RE: Perl Certification Drive
At 10:16 AM 29.3.2001 -0500, I wrote: We don't really get involved in the certification game, but rather provide software that allows companies doing such certifications to assess candidates. (Likewise, we provide software to temp agencies for similar but non-cert-related reasons.) Oops, forgot to paste a couple URLs: http://www.skillcheck.com/products/it/ (crappy page -- no content) http://www.skillcheck.com/products/general/featben.html http://www.skillcheck.com/products/general/testmaking.html Sorry if this is inappropriate. -- Chris Devers [EMAIL PROTECTED] webmaster work: 781.270.5372 Skillcheck aol-im: chdevers
Re: Perl Certification Drive
I think the money aspect is very important. This isn't YAS, it's supposed to be a professional qualification for professional programmers. 300 sounds like a good number for me. "If it only costs a fiver then what good can it be" will be the PHB's attitude, I've seen this often. The important difference here is that you have the cost of the course and the cost of the exam as separate items. Let NetThink charge 2000 for a weeks course that corporate interests can see but remember to have a separate 45-60 for each exam. That way you don't need corporate sponsorship just to get one of these. I don't know if it fits in with the other idea's but one of the things I'd like is the ability to just walk into a training centre, book an appointment and then do the exam the next day, no trying to get a week off work, no major fees just the exam. If you force people to do an expensive training course you lose alot of appeal. Dean --
Re: Perl Certification Drive
* Dean Wilson ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) wrote: I think the money aspect is very important. This isn't YAS, it's supposed to be a professional qualification for professional programmers. 300 sounds like a good number for me. "If it only costs a fiver then what good can it be" will be the PHB's attitude, I've seen this often. The important difference here is that you have the cost of the course and the cost of the exam as separate items. Let NetThink charge 2000 for a weeks course that corporate interests can see but remember to have a separate 45-60 for each exam. That way you don't need corporate sponsorship i was thinking of an even lower price, that companies like NetThink could just swallow up (they could put it down to marketting costs or materials or some shit) just to get one of these. I don't know if it fits in with the other idea's but one of the things I'd like is the ability to just walk into a training well that was why i was going to suggest on the UKROI perl certification mailing list that we try and have it ready for the summer and do free certification exams at YAPC::Europe as a public launch naturally this is subject to the perl-cert committee and YAPC::Europe committee and making it from my hotel to the conference without stopping off for a quick cup of coffee ;-) -- Greg McCarroll http://www.mccarroll.uklinux.net
