Thread: Training and certification
I realise that these have been discuuseed before, but a couple of things have happened that caused me to bring this up again, and to raise some questions. A couple of nights ago, a seminar was presented in Perth, Western Australia, by an institution offering IT masters degrees. One of the masters degrees, was a Master of Systems Development (MSD). Their masters degrees incorporated industry certification. The MSD incorporated the Microsoft MCAD and MCSD, and related to .NET systems development. The institution is also investigating possibly offering a similar masters degree, relating specifically to, or emphasising, databases. After the presentation, I asked the presenter about the possibility of incorporating open source, rather than proprietary system development, with open source industry certification. Unfortunately, the only open source industry certification that was relevant, that I could cite, was the MySQL certification set, along with LPI and RHCE certification, with no apparent industry certification for PostgreSQL. The presenter said that the institution was considering Oracle as a possibility in the future, Oracle having industry certification. Thus, recognised, international, industry certification of open source application systems development, either involving PostgreSQL as a database backend by itself, or, involving PostgreSQL as a factor (eg, open source database applications development involving either PostgreSQL or MySQL as separate options, or, competency with both), could be useful, apart from having the internationally recognised industry certification in its own right, encouraging acceptance of open source software development in such qualifications as these masters degrees with their incorporated recognised international industry certification. In trying to find the organisation that I had understood to be the main one for providing PostgreSQL certification (I had understood that it was PostgreSQL.com, or something like that, or, possibly pgsql.com), and, being unable to find any details of any competency-based certification at these sites, I did a bit of searching, and I found a postgresql.org web page at http://www.postgresql.org/survey.php?View=1&SurveyID=22 , which gave the results of a survey, with the question "Should we create a standard worldwide PostgreSQL training course?", with 79.691% of the votes, being votes for the yes side - and of that percentage, 50.386 "strongly yes". The survey is not dated, so I do not know how long ago it was held. However, it appears to have indicated support for "a standard worldwide PostgreSQL training course". On the web page, whils other survey questions are listed, no further reference is made to the result of the survey, for example, "The PostgreSQL guru's are <investigating the possibility of> developing a standard worldwide PostgreSQL traing course, in response to the survey results". So, I ask, given the result of the poll, however old it is, is any action being taken, to develop "a standard worldwide PostgreSQL training course", or set of such courses (eg, core, DBA, developer, PHP|Perl/PostgreSQL web developer, etc)? I also found a web page at http://advocacy.postgresql.org/advantages/?lang=en , in which the text was included; "our training programs are generally regarded as being more cost-effective, manageable, and practical in the real world than that of the leading proprietary database vendors.". To what training programs, does this refer? Are they standardised, or, does this refer to separate, independent, autonomous, individual training programs that are not standardised? Also, in my searching, I did manage to find a certification at http://www.postgresql.at/certification.html , which also has a link to training provided by that company. From the web site, it appears that the training/certtification provided by that company, is of ten days duration, assumedly of 8 hours per day, thence 80 hours, the equivalent of about 6 hours per week over a 13 week period, plus two hours, thence, the equivalent of a single semester, university unit. That appeared to be the only detailed training/certification course that I could find in PostgreSQL. From the web page at http://techdocs.postgresql.org/companies.php , that company appears to be a small company in Austria, and the company and certification appear to be recognised by PostgreSQL.org . Is that the only PostgreSQL certification that is recognised? Is it recognised internationally? Thank you in anticipation, for answers to all of these questions. -- 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 ....................................................
I recall an extended discussion of certifications and training some time back. You may recall it, too. The outcome (if it may be so called) was the view that, given the nature of the PostgreSQL project, there exists no entity that can bless a certification and thereby make it "official", any more than there can be (for example) an "official" linux certification. Any certifications would have to be offered by those with an interest in doing so (Red Hat is an often cited example). Another outcome I recall was that one or more people (apparently) stated their intention to develop training materials that could be available for use by people wishing to learn about PostgreSQL. But I haven't heard another thing about that. AFAICS nothing has changed. I am a little frustrated by that, because a generally-acknowledged PostgreSQL curriculum, with training materials available, would be a very good thing. But I can't talk too loudly, because I don't have time to contribute to that. --- Bret Busby <bret@busby.net> wrote: > > I realise that these have been discuuseed before, > but a couple of things > have happened that caused me to bring this up again, > and to raise some > questions. > > A couple of nights ago, a seminar was presented in > Perth, Western > Australia, by an institution offering IT masters > degrees. One of the > masters degrees, was a Master of Systems Development > (MSD). Their > masters degrees incorporated industry certification. > The MSD > incorporated the Microsoft MCAD and MCSD, and > related to .NET systems > development. The institution is also investigating > possibly offering a > similar masters degree, relating specifically to, or > emphasising, > databases. After the presentation, I asked the > presenter about the > possibility of incorporating open source, rather > than proprietary system > development, with open source industry > certification. Unfortunately, the > only open source industry certification that was > relevant, that I could > cite, was the MySQL certification set, along with > LPI and RHCE > certification, with no apparent industry > certification for PostgreSQL. > The presenter said that the institution was > considering Oracle as a > possibility in the future, Oracle having industry > certification. > > Thus, recognised, international, industry > certification of > open source application systems development, either > involving PostgreSQL > as a database backend by itself, or, involving > PostgreSQL as a factor > (eg, open source database applications development > involving either > PostgreSQL or MySQL as separate options, or, > competency with both), > could be useful, apart from having the > internationally recognised > industry certification in its own right, encouraging > acceptance of open > source software development in such qualifications > as these masters > degrees with their incorporated recognised > international industry > certification. > > In trying to find the organisation that I had > understood to be the main > one for providing PostgreSQL certification (I had > understood that it was > PostgreSQL.com, or something like that, or, possibly > pgsql.com), and, > being unable to find any details of any > competency-based certification > at these sites, I did a bit of searching, and I > found a postgresql.org > web page at > http://www.postgresql.org/survey.php?View=1&SurveyID=22 > , > which gave the results of a survey, with the > question "Should we create > a standard worldwide PostgreSQL training course?", > with 79.691% of the > votes, being votes for the yes side - and of that > percentage, 50.386 > "strongly yes". The survey is not dated, so I do not > know how long ago > it was held. However, it appears to have indicated > support for "a > standard worldwide PostgreSQL training course". > > On the web page, whils other survey questions are > listed, no further > reference is made to the result of the survey, for > example, "The > PostgreSQL guru's are <investigating the possibility > of> developing a > standard worldwide PostgreSQL traing course, in > response to the survey > results". > > So, I ask, given the result of the poll, however old > it is, is any > action being taken, to develop "a standard worldwide > PostgreSQL training > course", or set of such courses (eg, core, DBA, > developer, > PHP|Perl/PostgreSQL web developer, etc)? > > I also found a web page at > http://advocacy.postgresql.org/advantages/?lang=en , > in which the text > was included; > "our training programs are generally regarded as > being more > cost-effective, manageable, and practical in the > real world than that > of the leading proprietary database vendors.". > > To what training programs, does this refer? Are they > standardised, or, > does this refer to separate, independent, > autonomous, individual > training programs that are not standardised? > > Also, in my searching, I did manage to find a > certification at > http://www.postgresql.at/certification.html , which > also has a link to > training provided by that company. From the web > site, it appears that > the training/certtification provided by that > company, is of ten days > duration, assumedly of 8 hours per day, thence 80 > hours, the equivalent > of about 6 hours per week over a 13 week period, > plus two hours, thence, > the equivalent of a single semester, university > unit. > > That appeared to be the only detailed > training/certification course that > I could find in PostgreSQL. > > From the web page at > http://techdocs.postgresql.org/companies.php , that > company appears to be a small company in Austria, > and the company and > certification appear to be recognised by > PostgreSQL.org . > > Is that the only PostgreSQL certification that is > recognised? Is it > recognised internationally? > > Thank you in anticipation, for answers to all of > these questions. > > -- > 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 > .................................................... > > > ---------------------------(end of > broadcast)--------------------------- > TIP 5: Have you checked our extensive FAQ? > > > http://www.postgresql.org/docs/faqs/FAQ.html > __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? New and Improved Yahoo! Mail - Send 10MB messages! http://promotions.yahoo.com/new_mail
Am Freitag, 9. Juli 2004 08:30 schrieb Bret Busby: > Thus, recognised, international, industry certification of > open source application systems development, either involving PostgreSQL > as a database backend by itself, or, involving PostgreSQL as a factor > could be useful, apart from having the internationally recognised I don't even think the often-raised question about who would be entitled to authorize such a certification program is the hard part. Because, just as PostgreSQL itself, such a program could come to be recognized more or less by itself if a lot of people use it. The hard part are the economics of the whole thing. There is no one who has the capacity to organize such a thing worldwide. And the whole thing doesn't pay off for the organizer unless you can scale hugely. If you can solve those questions, I'm all ears. I and the company I work for does PostgreSQL and other training, so I know what the economics look like. > From the web page at http://techdocs.postgresql.org/companies.php , that > company appears to be a small company in Austria, and the company and > certification appear to be recognised by PostgreSQL.org . > > Is that the only PostgreSQL certification that is recognised? Is it > recognised internationally? It's the only certification that managed to get a link on www.postgresql.org. :-)
I think the first step is a book called "The Official PostgreSQL Certification Study Guide - Everything You Need to Knowto Pass the PostgreSQL Adminsitrator Certification Test (PG-081)" which would be based on the "Official PostgreSQL CertificationSyllabus." All the M$ certifications I have I got by buying a $70 book, reading it, then logging on to a testing center website, paying$115, and driving across town to take the test. I think this is a great model that does not require a big infrastructureof instructors and classrooms, just a book and a contract with Sylvan (or whoever) to administer tests. Once that is up and running with the book-learning crowd, training companies would get interested in becoming "Authorized"to provide "Official" training, for the classroom learning crowd. My opinion is, as usual, worth exactly what you paid for it.;^) Ian <<< Peter Eisentraut <peter_e@gmx.net> 7/ 9 9:50a >>> Am Freitag, 9. Juli 2004 08:30 schrieb Bret Busby: > Thus, recognised, international, industry certification of > open source application systems development, either involving PostgreSQL > as a database backend by itself, or, involving PostgreSQL as a factor > could be useful, apart from having the internationally recognised I don't even think the often-raised question about who would be entitled to authorize such a certification program is the hard part. Because, just as PostgreSQL itself, such a program could come to be recognized more or less by itself if a lot of people use it. The hard part are the economics of the whole thing. There is no one who has the capacity to organize such a thing worldwide. And the whole thing doesn't pay off for the organizer unless you can scale hugely. If you can solve those questions, I'm all ears. I and the company I work for does PostgreSQL and other training, so I know what the economics look like. > From the web page at http://techdocs.postgresql.org/companies.php , that > company appears to be a small company in Austria, and the company and > certification appear to be recognised by PostgreSQL.org . > > Is that the only PostgreSQL certification that is recognised? Is it > recognised internationally? It's the only certification that managed to get a link on www.postgresql.org. :-) ---------------------------(end of broadcast)--------------------------- TIP 9: the planner will ignore your desire to choose an index scan if your joining column's datatypes do not match
On Fri, 9 Jul 2004, Ian Harding wrote: > > I think the first step is a book called "The Official PostgreSQL Certification Study Guide - Everything You Need to Knowto Pass the PostgreSQL Adminsitrator Certification Test (PG-081)" which would be based on the "Official PostgreSQL CertificationSyllabus." > > The problem with that, is that your suggestion refers only to PostgreSQL Database Administration, and not to PostgreSQL database development, which is why I referred previously to a set of certifications; eg, Core, DBA, Database Development, and, Web-based Database Development. Streams could then be Core -> DBA, for DBA's, and, Core -> Database Development for Database Developers, then possibly -> Web-based Database Development (eg <Perl|PHP>/PostgreSQL), for Web Application Developers. -- 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 ....................................................