BSD Certification Group press release

[Astrodog]

On Wed, 16 Mar 2005 19:02:06 +0100, Anthony Atkielski
<atkielski.anthony at wanadoo.fr> wrote:
> Chris writes:
> 
> > I'm not entirely sure what this is 'sposed to mean. If it means what I
> > think it does, I'll translate.
> 
> It means that the real purpose of certification--no matter what type of
> certification it might be--is to allow some people to make more money
> unfairly to the detriment of others.
> 
> It pains me to see something like FreeBSD going down this path.
> Clearly, someone wants to make money off certifications, directly or
> indirectly, and no scruples prevent them from attacking the open-source
> domain to that end.
> 
> Isn't it bad enough that this type of racket exists for proprietary
> software?
> 
> Certification is a matter of some people calling themselves experts,
> devising tests to which only they are guaranteed to know all the
> answers, then charging other people to take the tests in an attempt to
> prove that they know exactly the same answers that the self-appointed
> experts know.  Unfortunately, this says nothing about anyone's objective
> competence in the nominal domain of the test.  It does make a lot of
> money for the people who devise and administer the tests, and it also
> restricts employment and artificially raises salaries for the few who
> are willing to go through the hazing ritual of certification.
> 
> > Never mind the BSD certs, concentrate on MS certs - after all, that's
> > where the money is at.
> 
> All certifications are designed to make money, nothing more and nothing
> less.
> 
> > Well for me, I will do the BSD certs only for personal satisfaction.
> 
> And who writes the exams, and what makes you believe that they are the
> ideal arbiters of competence?
> 
> > Considering the types of user we BSD'ers seem to be (from my
> > experiences) sure, we care about money, but I'm willing to bet that
> > those of us that choose to do some sort of BSD certs, will be doing so
> > for our own personal satisfaction.
> 
> I don't need a certification for my own personal satisfaction.  I look
> to actual hands-on experience for that.  Why trust a stranger to
> "certify" me, which I can find out firsthand in an indisputable way
> whether I'm competent or not?
> 
> > That says much about the type of folks most of us are. At least
> > in my mind.
> 
> It shows that even users of BSDs can be manipulated and hoodwinked.
> They may complain about the practices of a Microsoft or a Novell, but
> change the name and they fall immediately under the spell.
> 
> --
> Anthony
> 
> 

Have you considered, that a certification program done in an open
manner could be incredibly helpful for FreeBSD? You're making some
rather large assumptions, the primary one being that the creation and
design of the certification tests will be closed and no one except the
arbiters will be involved.

The reason certifications are required in some cases is that lets face
it, you COULD be full of shit and know nothing about whatever product
it is. Not only does this hurt whoever hires you, but it hurts whoever
provides the product you're lying about. People unreasonably believe
that whatever it is has limitations that it doesn't really have,
simply because you weren't knowledgable about the product.

As far as the last comment.... People complain about certifications?

--- Harrison Grundy