Re: [NOVICE] PostgreSQL Training - Mailing list pgsql-general

Quoting Chris Travers <chris@travelamericas.com>:

> On Thu, 2003-12-11 at 04:39, Keith C. Perry wrote:
>
> > I think what the real religious argument here is that many, many people
> feel
> > "skills assessment" should NOT be linked to a product.  It should in fact
> be
> > linked to the underlying material a product is designed to manipulate.
> >
> > If someone is more of an academic, I seriously doubt that they are going to
> seek
> > certification in a product.  9 out of 10 times, someone like that is going
> to be
> > able to pick up a product manual and be off and running.  However, if you
> are
> > new to the feild, 18-36 months at a tech school is going to be more
> appealing
> > than 48 to 60 months at a college.  Lets not forget that human being want
> what
> > they want when they want it.  Sooner for *most* people is better,
> especially
> > where money is involved,
>
> Agreed.  However-- there is a push in the IT world (much resisted here)
> to try to make sysadmin/DBA positions more of a technician-oriented
> rather than academic oriented.  The idea here is that it reduces IT
> costs (perhaps, though, at the expense of returns).

I think it just the opposite- or perhaps better said, its starting to chance.  I
think many companies have learned that a piece of paper is just that- especially
in the case of certs.  This is not to say that there are exceptions but lets
face it, it really comes down to what a person has actually done.  The change
I'm seeing is that the decision making folks are more often asking "what have
you done and how can we confirm" instead of "what are you certified/degreed in
and can we see the paper"

> >
> > The true motivation for certification is/was marketing.  Its just a
> different
> > piece of paper- some people go to traditional educational institutions and
> some
> > people chase certification for these newer tech schools.  Its all in the
> name of
> > being able to market oneself.
>
> Exactly, and this is a reason why we SHOULD look at moving in this
> direction.

The beauty of PostgreSQL, Linux, Apache et al, is that there is no singular
concept of "should".  Its a worldwide community and there are going to be many
paths to a successful marketing campaign.  As such the only "should" criteria to
me is that we SHOULD respect all methods equally.

> > In one case however, education is product neutral which means you have a
> strong
> > base knowledge ready to be applied.  So you build product knowledge from
> there.
> >  In the other case, you learn products and in doing that you tend towards
> having
> > a strong base knowledge.  Of course, products also come and go and change
> much
> > more frequently than the base knowlege.
> >
> I don't disagree.  But the advocacy issue is still there.
>
> I do not think that we can/should try to develop certifications at this
> time.  However, I think that it would be a good idea, provided there is
> sufficient interest, in pooling resources to develop a general
> well-rounded curriculum base from which other curriculums could be
> built.  Perhaps this will lead towards certification.  I think that we
> should work with the advocacy team, etc. and build on a base of
> product-neutral information.
>
> Best Wishes,
> Chris Travers

Now thats a very important point and something to consider- would certifcation
help advocate PG and thus lead to an increase in market share.  If you look at
the Red Hat example that Tom cited I think its unquestionably yes.  Though I
do not use personally use Red Hat, I do have to say even before they offered
certification they had at least achieved enough momentum to have people
consider Linux.  Their achievements along with some others have helped OSS
become more accepted.

That situtation is a little different though since Linux comes is various
distributions.  Eventually people with get that Linux = Red Hat is NOT true.
Heck, IBM is probably the best at promoting Linux these days in the mainstream.
 With PostgreSQL, we're just one "disto" so once the ball really gets rolling,
its going to pick up speed quickly.

--
Keith C. Perry, MS E.E.
Director of Networks & Applications
VCSN, Inc.
http://vcsn.com

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