I would agree with the knowledge of said functions, if you were to really
call yourself a proffesional then you would no the commands anyway. If I was
to look up for functions everytime I programmed then I would not be very
productive, think of a Computer Games programmer (of which I was) the game
would take 10 times longer to develop because the programmer would have to
look up how to calculate velocitys and matrices etc., the list is endless
and CF should be no different.
The ability to recognise a function and its purpose is what makes a good
programmer and from an employment point of view I would hire someone with
this certificate over someone who doesn't:-)
-----Original Message-----
From: Sean Renet [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
Sent: Saturday, 8 July 2000 11:47 AM
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Re: Allaire Certification Program
I took the beta, and its a weird test. It's an hour and a half test that is
all multiple choice. Allaire tells me its a test in progress. My issue
with the test is that it does not explore your ability to code or cluster,
but rather your ability to memorize coldfusion function and tag attributes.
The ironic thing is that allaire builds an incredible crutch called cf
studio, so that memorization of cf tag attributes isn't necessary. I am not
sure you can qualify someone as a good programmer in an hour an a half of
multiple choice.
So if this is used as a yardstick for employment, lets say you have two
candidates:
1) incredible programmer that hasn't memorized the cf tag attributes and
relies on studio to tell them what they are, so they are not allaire
certified.
2) an average programmer that is allaire certified.
Who do you choose? How do you know which is the better programmer?
The danger of this test is that corporations would blindly use this as a
criteria for hiring purposes. Corporations in all their wisdom would
suppose that if allaire created the language, then thier test should be the
last word in a programmer's ability. The fact is, that this test does not
tell you anything about the applicants actual ability but rather thier
retention skills.
With this sort of wisdom in mind, I suggest anyone looking for employment
memorize the cf functions and tags and then run out and get certified.
I am pretty pro allaire, however I am amazed they rushed this test out
without considering what employers need in a test. That being, a test of
application not retention.
This test affects our entire community. Lets say a lot of average to below
average skilled programmers are certified for thier retention ability and
not their application skill; which incidently is currently the case. These
folks are hired by corporations building IT departments that have chosen
coldfusion as thier solution. When these folks fail to logically scope and
ship a product that meets the requests of the corporation, the corporation
is going to think they have chosen the wrong solution not the wrong
programmers. After all, thier team is allaire certified. So they think to
themselves, "If these are the best cf programmers (ie., they are certified)
and they cannot accomplish this task, we must need a new solution. What was
that Broadvision thing you mentioned?"
I hire a lot of freelance developers, and for me personally this test tells
me that someone has really good retention ability. That is a plus.
However, I would only use it as partial criteria and base my hiring
practices more on interview, example code, and reference.
Hal Helms wrote an interesting article about this in CFDJ last month or so
regarding such. I think employers should read this article and develop
internal yardsticks for thier needs.
Hopefully, as this test develops it will be weighed more on coding problems,
cluster scenerios and ect.
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