RE: Perl certifications (call for discussion)

In case you aren't aware of this, there is a mailing list just for this
topic recently created.  To sign up, go to:

http://netizen.com.au/mailman/listinfo/perlcert/
<http://netizen.com.au/mailman/listinfo/perlcert/> 

Not that I mind hearing the discussion, but I wanted to make sure you were
involved in the location where decisions were most likely to be made.

Regards,

Chris Prince-Colbath
Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. 
Open Systems Database Administration

	-----Original Message-----
	From:	Elaine -HFB- Ashton [SMTP:[email protected]]
	Sent:	Tuesday, March 14, 2000 10:47 AM
	To:	Randal L. Schwartz
	Cc:	Alan Young; [email protected]
	Subject:	Re: Perl certifications (call for discussion)

	Randal L. Schwartz [[email protected]] quoth:
	*>
	*>We give out nice certificates to our students.  If anyone needs
proof
	*>that they now know more, they can show that they've been in a
	*>Stonehenge class.  If that's not worth as much as a
"certification",
	*>then hit the boss with a clue by four repeatedly, and run to
another
	*>job.

	Certificates and certification are not the same thing. Do you test
your
	students for comprehension and understanding of the material? Can
they
	write their own basic scripts by the time they leave at the end of
the
	week? Does the certificate mean anything more than they have sat
through 5
	days of your teaching?

	If there is to be a certification standards board who grants such
things
	they have to evaluate and give their stamp of approval. The
certification
	is only as good as the granting organisation.

	Of course, this would something that the Perl Mongers could do and
do
	well.

	This was a hot topic last summer...someone just needs to start doing
it as
	I doubt that there will be any agreement of consensus to be had but
once
	it has begun proving itself it will be hard to dispute.

	e.