Kenneth,
I'm sorry that this topic and my
reply anger you so much. Since this is a consensus point, please indulge
me in trying to explain the issue as I see it:
If (hypothetically) I certified on
Linux and then never touched a system for, say, 60 years and on my deathbed (as
my last wish) wanted to mess with your production system, how much confidence
would you have in my certification? I hope very little since I am sure I
would forget many critical little details. So this contrived argument is
intended to show that it is improper for an organization such as LPI (which
depends on its reputation to "validate" its certifications) to make
open-ended certification decisions.
I think there is a critical
difference between organizations which offer training/education and which issue
a degree/certificate/whatever to mark that a pupil has completed the experience
and those organizations like LPI which offer a "stamp of approval"
that a person knows something. In the second case, the certifying body has
no control over the individual's training or efforts to continue training and
thus need to be cautious about making open-ended statements.
You're CPR example is apt. What
if human anatomy and physiology was changing at the pace that Linux does.
The zyphoid (sp?) process is moving around, the other bones are evolving into a
more flexible plug-in systems and the heart should never have been implemented
in "body cavity space" and is being migrated into "cranial
space" to protect it better. Don't you think you would want someone
doing CPR on you to be recertified periodically?
Of course, the flip-side is that
using CPR training is a low-base-rate event and knowledge not used for a couple
years probably fades. Whereas we expect the vast majority of Linux
ceritifiers to be using Linux actively on a daily basis. I think that's
why LPI refuses to require recertification. I imagine it working like
this: say a Linux professional certifies, they work with Linux for three
years and then look for a new job, the employer says "Oh, I see you
certified three years ago and you've been active in Linux since but LPI
recommends your recertification" and the candidate says, "Yeah, I
could recertify tomorrow if you want to pay for it but I don't feel like I need
that validation anymore" And the candidate gets hired (or the
employer takes him/her up on the offer). For candidates seeking employment
from the occasional organizations run by morons (who might ignore actual
experience in favor of a test), they could just take the test again. This
would certainly be no more a hardship than any other (Intel-centric) computing
professional faces.
-Alan
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- Re: Revised: A Proposed Concensus for Recertificatio... Alan & Susan Mead
- Re: Revised: A Proposed Concensus for Recertifi... Kenneth J. Lund
- Fw: Revised: A Proposed Concensus for Recertifi... Alan & Susan Mead
- Fw: Revised: A Proposed Concensus for Recertifi... Alan & Susan Mead