>> How many of you have CF certifications, or have thought about getting one?
I have two of them, one for CF4.5/5 and another for CFMX. I do not believe there are very many in the metro area with certification. A quick search on the MM site shows less than 10 CFMX certifications in all of Kansas and Missouri. Take out Wichita & St. Louis and you are probably looking at 5-6 CFMX in the KC Metro area (I recognized a few names as people on this list). >> What do you think would be the benefit (or not) of having one? I can only think of 1 reason why it may be a problem: you have your hopes set on a project manager type job and having the certification pigeon holes you into doing the coding. The upside (see below) may include the ability to negotiate a better pay package (with the test costing only $150, it shouldn't be hard to make a 'profit' on your next job change), gain additional respect from your boss/coworkers, personal pride, easier time finding a new job/contract, and even if you fail the first attempt, you will get a better idea of what you need to work on to become proficient. >> If you're an employer, would you give more credence to a certified CF developer? Obviously I am biased, but yes, I would give a bit more credence to a certified developer. Through a combination of circumstance and employers my higher end websites are hidden behind firewalls/proprietary, are long since out of use (employer closed), or are too technical in nature for the average layman to appreciate the complexity unless they received a long winded explanation and demonstration. The certification test isn't perfect, and many will claim you could pass by reading the book and memorizing. However, there are questions that you probably won't be able to answer unless you have hands on experience (and hence, the test can help to differentiate between book smarts and 'street' smarts). Having certification gives me a simple 'public' way of showing at least basic competency, something that non-techie recruiters, HR managers, and cursory resume readers something they can understand and remember me by. Anyone can 'learn' any language, but to be able to put it to use is another story. The certification test isn't perfect, and many will claim you could pass by reading the book and memorizing. However, there are questions that you probably won't be able to answer unless you have hands on experience (and hence, the test can help to differentiate between book smarts and 'street' smarts). If you agree with me that CF certification is a great idea and will help you get a better job, then I encourage you to NOT take it....I don't need the competition for the killer job! :-) Ryan ========================================================= Kansas City ColdFusion User Group's website & listserv is hosted through the generous support of Clickdoug.com To send email to the list, email [EMAIL PROTECTED] To subscribe or unsubscribe, send an email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with your request. For hosting solutions http://www.clickdoug.com Featuring Win2003 Enterprise, RedHat Linux, CFMX 6.1. ======================================================
