Richard talks with Matthew Wills about certifications, their value and what might whimsically be called the developer experience index. Comments and thoughts on this are very much sought after and should be left either here or preferrably at Richard's blog at http://richard-banks.org
Interesting thoughts but I think the problem is ability is not an exact measurable quality, I am sure a few people would rate one person a 5 and the elites of the .NET world would say they are a 1, so thats why people rely on exams but exams dont test the cognitive process of development only the syntax and the former makes the bigger bugger ups so hence why certifications fail.
Sites like oDesk already attempt to do some testing to prove skills such as HTML, programming and English skills etc but its true value is the ratings of how well they delivered but in the end most rating systems can be fudged so become fairly worthless.
In the past employees did have ratings it was called references but they have gone because people didnt like being sued for giving an opinion so nowadays its impossible to get a precise and honest record of experience.
The simple supply and demand and lack of licensing will allow for poorly skilled people to always find a place to work. The nature of people jumping from short term contract to contract allows for poor performers to hide in amongst top performers.
As a former employer it kills you when you hire badly and as a small business it can wipe the years profit out. The best solution is to remove employee protection of unfair dismissal (please dont take that as a political statement) and allow for people to be removed as required and allow for honest references to be published to bring back an honest industry.
Interesting thoughts but I think the problem is ability is not an exact measurable quality, I am sure a few people would rate one person a 5 and the elites of the .NET world would say they are a 1, so thats why people rely on exams but exams dont test the cognitive process of development only the syntax and the former makes the bigger bugger ups so hence why certifications fail.
ReplyDeleteSites like oDesk already attempt to do some testing to prove skills such as HTML, programming and English skills etc but its true value is the ratings of how well they delivered but in the end most rating systems can be fudged so become fairly worthless.
In the past employees did have ratings it was called references but they have gone because people didnt like being sued for giving an opinion so nowadays its impossible to get a precise and honest record of experience.
The simple supply and demand and lack of licensing will allow for poorly skilled people to always find a place to work. The nature of people jumping from short term contract to contract allows for poor performers to hide in amongst top performers.
As a former employer it kills you when you hire badly and as a small business it can wipe the years profit out. The best solution is to remove employee protection of unfair dismissal (please dont take that as a political statement) and allow for people to be removed as required and allow for honest references to be published to bring back an honest industry.