Tim Maher writes "Along with a tenacious cold in a hot land, I picked up Kwiki Fever at YAPC last month. So I'm thinking, why make TPC attendees wait until Thursday afternoon or Thursday evening to start frothing at the mouth about every JAPHs favorite controversy, and why deprive non-attendees of the experience altogether, when we can start arguing about Perl Certification right now at the Perl Certification Kwiki site?"
No, don't bother. It was rhetorical. Dismissive, even.
Re:I think the first question is ...
yumpy on 2003-07-11T05:52:45
Why have Perl Certification?General Purpose
- Provide optional credentials that certify a level of proficiency
- ideally, ultimately, several hierarchical levels, including:
- Basic, OO, CGI, DBI, Networking, etc.
Who Benefits?
- Hiring managers who want help in screening applicants
- JAPHs without college degrees or strong reputations (like someone who learns Perl from the local *.pm and Camel), who need help in verifying their knowledge
- The Whole Perl Community
- gives us a more professional appearance, by making it clear that we are now willing to play by the same (HR screening) rules as our colleagues (those pathetic souls using drastically inferior languages)
Re:I think the first question is ...
hossman on 2003-07-11T07:29:24
Why have Perl Certification?I interpreted the question as "Why setup a whole Wiki for this one topic?"
At least, that's the question i would have asked
... it seems like this could easily be covered by a single "node" on ny of a number of alrger discussion sites -- but hey, who am i to suggest that someone who has an interested in something shouldn't set up a site dedicated to that topic. Re:I think the first question is ...
yumpy on 2003-07-11T16:33:47
The topic is B big enough to populate a Wiki of its own, and equally certain to be too discursive and ungainly to be easily followed in a threaded medium (as has been previously demonstrated). And it's a whole lot easier to explore discussions preserved in the Wiki format, IMHO.
I haven't caught the wiki fever yet, but I do love slash. Let's discuss it here, where we can see what ideas pass the test of community examination by what gets modded up.
After reading Ask the Headhunter I question the value of any particular certification for my own career. I'm all for training, but I'm hooked on the idea of applying for a job by showing what I can do, not by listing bullet points on a resume. I'd rather go in there and show them how I can make their lives easier with Perl. That works in any shop, whereas certification is only going to be interesting to a place that already uses Perl.
However, my "no," vote is simply a, "No, I'm personally not interested," vote. Maybe everybody else thinks it would be valuable for them, in which case I say, "More power to you."
Re:I vote no
yumpy on 2003-07-11T20:11:45
Certainly, people with evidence of prior achievements that show what they can do with Perl won't feel much need to obtain certification to help establish their knowledge. But those at earlier stages of their careers, or with former employers unwilling to give them references or let them take away code samples, may well feel the need for objective evidence of their knowledge.
I vote for helping them obtain that evidence, in a manner approved by an independent group with credibility in the Perl community.
