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

On 12 Dec 2003, Chris Travers wrote:

> Date: 12 Dec 2003 20:46:57 +0800
> From: Chris Travers <chris@travelamericas.com>
> To: Keith C. Perry <netadmin@vcsn.com>
> Cc: Bret Busby <bret@busby.net>, pgsql-novice@postgresql.org,
>      pgsql-general@postgresql.org
> Subject: Re: [GENERAL] [NOVICE] PostgreSQL Training
>
> On Fri, 2003-12-12 at 02:04, Keith C. Perry wrote:
>
> > >
> > > 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"
> >
>
> I still think that there is a movement in many businesses to see the
> role of DBA, sysadmin, etc. as that of a glorified technician rather
> than a really serious professional.  Certifications are a part of it,
> but it is a broader pattern.  This is especially true of the market of
> mid-size businesses.  The larger businesses tend to have the lower ranks
> manned by glorified techs, while the upper ranks are managed by the more
> academic types.
>

I assume from the content of the above paragraph, that certification is
regarded as applying to only administartors, be they DBA's or Systems or
Network Administrators.

However, certifications such as the MCAD and MCSD, exist, for
applications and solutions developers, and, there are offered by USA
universities, across the Internet, certificates in web programming; in
other words, also, applications developers.

The MySQL certifications, from what I understand, the four
certifications, two existing and two planned, to which I have
previously alluded, cover both administrators and developers.

To cover both areas, are important, and, no doubt, equally important, so
that developers, in addition to administrators, can obtain
certifications that relecvt and afford recongition of, their skills.

--
Bret Busby
Armadale
West Australia
..............

"So once you do know what the question actually is,
 you'll know what the answer means."
- Deep Thought,
  Chapter 28 of
  "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy:
  A Trilogy In Four Parts",
  written by Douglas Adams,
  published by Pan Books, 1992
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