From rory at employees.org Thu Sep 4 05:22:36 2003 From: rory at employees.org (Rory Macdonald) Date: Thu Aug 5 00:01:05 2004 Subject: [edinburgh-pm] Perl certification, quick poll Message-ID: <1062670955.3485.536.camel@localhost.localdomain> Hi, I'm currently chatting with Tim Maher (a Seattle perl monger) about the issue of Perl Certification. Tim is currently working on an article on this topic and I thought it would be interesting to see what the Edinburgh collective thought about it. At this time there isn't a serious or widely respected Perl Certification out there. I'd simply (at this stage) like to know whether you would like to see the creation of a serious[1] Perl Certification programme. I'll get the ball rolling by simply saying, as someone who is currently job hunting, I would love to be able to stamp my CV with a respected "Perl Certified" differentiator for all those HR/recruitment types out there to catch their toes on. Regards Rory [1] "Serious" in this context is touted (by Tim) as a certification procedure whose tests are; designed by subject matter experts compliant with established psychometric principles (validity, reliability, etc.) administered under tightly regulated conditions controlled by a respected organization endorsed by influential organizations equipped with feedback mechanisms, to facilitate identification and correction of errors -- Rory Macdonald From dave at zerofive.co.uk Thu Sep 4 06:38:58 2003 From: dave at zerofive.co.uk (David R. Baird) Date: Thu Aug 5 00:01:05 2004 Subject: [edinburgh-pm] Perl certification, quick poll In-Reply-To: <1062670955.3485.536.camel@localhost.localdomain> Message-ID: <3F573262.5246.A22A09@localhost> I wonder what exists for other languages? Job offerings I see generally specify either some variety of relevant experience/track record, and/or a CS degree. As a self-taught Perl hacker looking for work, and without a CS degree, Perl certification seems attractive, but I suspect it wouldn't add as much leverage to my CV as I might wish. Unless this kind of thing is pretty standard for jobs using other languages. I think a CV is supposed to list your skills, and supply supporting evidence that you really do possess these skills. A certification might be perceived as being there because you couldn't supply any other evidence, such as previous jobs, contributions to decent OSS projects, code samples/CPAN modules, or a CS degree. Of course, your question was specifically about using certification as a hook for HR types, rather than other programmers involved in a recruitment process. I'm always thinking about giving up the contracting tightrope and looking for some steady work, so any insights into what makes these people jump would be interesting. I suspect that as long as the buzzwords used in your CV match the buzzwords mentioned in the job spec, that would give them the initial hook they need. But that opinion may reflect my own situation more than the real job market, as I may be about to find out... d. On 4 Sep 2003 at 11:22, Rory Macdonald wrote: > Hi, > > I'm currently chatting with Tim Maher (a Seattle perl monger) about the > issue of Perl Certification. Tim is currently working on an article on > this topic and I thought it would be interesting to see what the > Edinburgh collective thought about it. > > At this time there isn't a serious or widely respected Perl > Certification out there. I'd simply (at this stage) like to know whether > you would like to see the creation of a serious[1] Perl Certification > programme. > > I'll get the ball rolling by simply saying, as someone who is currently > job hunting, I would love to be able to stamp my CV with a respected > "Perl Certified" differentiator for all those HR/recruitment types out > there to catch their toes on. > > Regards > > Rory > > > [1] "Serious" in this context is touted (by Tim) as a certification > procedure whose tests are; > > designed by subject matter experts > > compliant with established psychometric principles (validity, > reliability, etc.) > > administered under tightly regulated conditions > > controlled by a respected organization > > endorsed by influential organizations > > equipped with feedback mechanisms, to facilitate identification > and correction of errors > > > -- > Rory Macdonald -- Dr. David R. Baird ZeroFive Web Design dave@zerofive.co.uk http://www.zerofive.co.uk From dave at zerofive.co.uk Fri Sep 5 09:43:41 2003 From: dave at zerofive.co.uk (David R. Baird) Date: Thu Aug 5 00:01:05 2004 Subject: [edinburgh-pm] Perl certification, quick poll In-Reply-To: <3F573262.5246.A22A09@localhost> References: <1062670955.3485.536.camel@localhost.localdomain> Message-ID: <3F58AF2D.16570.1134F20@localhost> (replying to myself) On 4 Sep 2003 at 12:38, David R. Baird wrote: > I wonder what exists for other languages? I saw an advert today for a C/C++ job, specified Brainbench 3+, and I know there's a brainbench certification for Perl. Maybe that'd be worth looking at - quite pricey though, I think. d. -- Dr. David R. Baird ZeroFive Web Design dave@zerofive.co.uk http://www.zerofive.co.uk From keith at sadhill.freeserve.co.uk Fri Sep 26 08:18:30 2003 From: keith at sadhill.freeserve.co.uk (Keith Hennessey Brown) Date: Thu Aug 5 00:01:05 2004 Subject: [edinburgh-pm] Possibly amusing In-Reply-To: <1062670955.3485.536.camel@localhost.localdomain> Message-ID: Saw this referred to on comp.lang.perl.misc and found it amusing: http://www.ginini.com/perlsaq.html Keith -- www.kinocite.co.uk - film and DVD reviews www.giallo-pages.com - dedicated to giallo films