Chris Browne wrote:
>
> -> We have probably all observed scenarios where certifications
> were essentially so much waste paper. The "Minesweeper Consultant
> And Solitaire Expert" and such.
>
> We don't want a PG certification program to amount to this.
In defense of the Lite certification I'd say that that's exactly
what most companys want.
When I try to hire someone with a certification as opposed to
a BS/MS/PhD; the task I have in mind is a straightforward
commodity task - not some kind of rocket science.
In the real business world there are zillions of mind-numbing
tasks like that: "make a database to hold this list of people, etc".
To accomplish this, I need any commodity database (Access,
Oracle, MySQL, and postgresql will all do fine), and someone
with the basic skills to run it. When I post a job posting,
this is what a certification means to me.
By having a large number of people with a "yes, I can do simple
commodity tasks in postgresql" certification, it makes
postgresql as likely to be used in those (surprisingly
large number of) simple tasks that currently MCSEs do.
It also says something good about postgresql -- that it's
easy enough that zillions of people can do it well enough
to be certified.
I think the benefits for the simple certification are very real.
I don't see the need for the high-end cert -- If I want
a DBA for my mission critical application I'll spend a lot
more time interviewing him; and expect him to have learned
his database skills on the way to getting a real college
degree or with substantial real-world work experience.