A rant about certification

[Rich R]

My client decided that all project personnel must be certified in MySQL. It
was a contractual agreement between my client and his client. So:

- I went to www.vue.com and signed up for the CORE test in MySQL
- I took 160 hours to study using the "MySQL Certification Study Guide"
- Many questions were not even covered in the study guide
- I still managed to pass (it said so when I pressed "end exam")
- The place where I took the exam, Branford Hall, could not print my
results. This is a techical school!
- I had to call VUE directly. The person that answered the phone (even
though I typed in "MySQL" had no idea what I was talking about. Told me she
would submit an incident report and I might get my results back in 72 hours
-So I can't go to work for 3 days? Very Expensive.
-Finally got a supervisor from VUE, and they e-mailed me my results.
- A one page email that says "Pass" but "Please note, this is a prelimary
report. Your exam will now be reviewed. If you have met the passing score,
you will will recieive your official certificate by mail" What the hell
does this mean?
-I have been certified my Microsoft in Windows NT, Visual Basic, and SQL
Server and never went through these hoops.
-Is MySQL certification really worth attaining?

Rich

--
The journey is the reward.

[Rich R]

< I took 160 hours to study using the "MySQL Certification Study Guide">

No. More like 60 hours. 5 hours a day for about 12 days.

[Paul Bramscher]

If it was me hiring I'd be happy with a 4 year degree in CSci and a
demonstrable project portfolio. IT certification is an industry plague.

When I work, I'm expected to research with whatever reference sources
are at my disposal (the more, the better) -- whereas cert. tests are
strictly memorization and generally geared toward specific versions, are
they not? Get a degree in CSci or build an impressive project
portfolio, and that'll stick with you forever -- and be a better judge
of real-world performance, I think.

Rich R wrote:

My client decided that all project personnel must be certified in MySQL. It
was a contractual agreement between my client and his client. So:

- I went to www.vue.com and signed up for the CORE test in MySQL
- I took 160 hours to study using the "MySQL Certification Study Guide"
- Many questions were not even covered in the study guide
- I still managed to pass (it said so when I pressed "end exam")
- The place where I took the exam, Branford Hall, could not print my
results. This is a techical school!
- I had to call VUE directly. The person that answered the phone (even
though I typed in "MySQL" had no idea what I was talking about. Told me she
would submit an incident report and I might get my results back in 72 hours
-So I can't go to work for 3 days? Very Expensive.
-Finally got a supervisor from VUE, and they e-mailed me my results.
- A one page email that says "Pass" but "Please note, this is a prelimary
report. Your exam will now be reviewed. If you have met the passing score,
you will will recieive your official certificate by mail" What the hell
does this mean?
-I have been certified my Microsoft in Windows NT, Visual Basic, and SQL
Server and never went through these hoops.
-Is MySQL certification really worth attaining?

Rich

--
The journey is the reward.