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| MqSeries.net Certified Solution Expert |
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| Should MQSeries.net start certification programs in various MQ family products? |
| Yes |
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61% |
[ 21 ] |
| No |
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29% |
[ 10 ] |
| Can't Say |
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8% |
[ 3 ] |
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| Total Votes : 34 |
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Message
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| mqonnet |
 Posted: Mon Jun 09, 2003 12:21 pm Post subject: |
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Grand Master
Joined: 18 Feb 2002
Posts: 1114
Location: Boston, Ma, Usa.
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I think that since Mqseries.net has been helping people around the world come to a common place to help each other, assist, share knowledge, it should stand out of the regulars. When i say that, i mean it should not AGAIN try and put up testing as that of IBM. It wont serve any purpose anyways.
As discussed a while ago, certification does not really guarantee that one is well versed with the subject and knows ins and outs of it. And hence, putting up another web site to provide tests that have multiple choice answers is not worth it. Because there are many ways of getting around it. Quickly doing a search on google, or searching the manuals for answers. That way the users would be more inclined to pass the test rather than learn something off it.
Hence given a choice i would go with your last option which is by far the best one. This web site helps so many professionals understand and clear many a doubts, that it should continue doing so. And the best way to do that is to take a practical approach. When you ask someone to write up a program to achieve a particular task there are many advantages to it than one.
1) Hands on experience.
2) Better understanding
3) Clear more doubts. I have seen this myself. Just understanding a concept helps. But when i try to implement it, i get more doubts and along the way i find that i have clarified many such doubts.
4) No scope at all for cheating. At most one could take a sample app from this repository and try to hack it. But still you would need to do much more than that to accomplish the project given to you. Of course, that would mean AMQSPUT/GET would not be one of the questions. :).
5) Increase in confidence. Because once you have done something all by yourself you feel more confident, rather than just doing a Q/A in the multiple choice tests.
6) ... i think i can go on... LOL.
I would highly recommend this approach than any. May be experienced and senior readers/observers of this forum could post some of their invaluable experiences in the form of small projects/modules as questions for others to gain from.
Coding is always better than Reading the manuals for a complete understanding of any subject or topic.
Cheers
Kumar |
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| bduncan |
| Posted: Mon Jun 09, 2003 5:08 pm Post subject: |
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Padawan
Joined: 11 Apr 2001
Posts: 1554
Location: Silicon Valley
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I agree. Of course it brings up a good question, if everyone here agrees that a project-type exam is far more comprehensive than a multiple choice test, why does IBM use this format for their own certifications? Look at Sun's Java certification for instance. There is a multiple choice part, but before you get to take that, you must complete a take home project. I'm sure you can find some unscrupulous people who passed the test and have posted their project code for all to see on the internet, but I'm also sure Sun is using some tool to compare all submitted projects with some central database.
_________________
Brandon Duncan
IBM Certified MQSeries Specialist
MQSeries.net forum moderator |
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| mqonnet |
| Posted: Mon Jun 09, 2003 6:31 pm Post subject: |
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Grand Master
Joined: 18 Feb 2002
Posts: 1114
Location: Boston, Ma, Usa.
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Well, there are quite a few reasons for going in for Multiple choice type certification.
1) A repository of questions could be built with ease.
2) Easy to conduct, assess and certify, and of course cost-effective.
3) Because everyone does this way. In fact when this thread started, everyone went that route only. Reason. Multiple choices is the only well known way to get certified in any area these days.
But there are drawbacks too associated with it.
1) One fine day i wake up. I dont have any prior knowledge of MQSeries. I decide today is my lucky day and i think if i answer "C" for all the multiple choice questions i would pass. And guess what i appear and pass. In fact, i did come accross such a case long back, not though with MQSeries.:). But it is no different.
2) Q/A such as multiple choices can never get out of a person his/her potential to assess, explore and implement a system/project.
Personally i dont think there is any value to the certifications other than increasing your pay or looking good on your resume. At times employers consider this as an added advantage to guage a person, since they would have never met this guy personally before. But again, the credibility of Certifications lies in how much exposure the candidate had over the years working on a specific technology.
Hence i always believe that practical approach is the best way to understand and assess anybody's knowledge. If multiple choices would have been as good, then there wouldnt have been any one conducting formal interviews. Instead prepare a multiple choice question paper when you go for an interview. But since employers know that they can get to know you only when the dig you deep into the subject, you have an interview.
Also i don't understand how can IBM test someone's knowledge on multiple platforms for a product. Each platform is so extensive that you ought to have platform-wide certification, rather than doing "jack of all platforms, master of none", type thing. I have taken these tests and i know that most of the questions are common accross all platforms. But still there are quite a few that are solely dedicated to that platform.
Consider a person who has been working on MQSeries alone for say 5 years on only one platform say NT. He/She might have implemented systems that might range from small to large scale. But he/she may not be competent to take the tests from IBM neither pass it. Very unfortunate that his/her knowledge is not considered as a candidate for certification.
Whereas a novice is given the 5 day extensive training(the whole purpose of which is not to train you on MQ but to train you for the exam, costs over 5 grand) by IBM and he clears the exam.
Employers are better of judging who is the guy who should be considered for a job. Hmmm.... Tough one...
I think i get carried away at times and this is one of them. Pardon me for being like this.
But i believe things should change to be more practical oriented and those that fit daily needs rather than being vague and imaginary.
LOL.
Cheers
Kumar |
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| bduncan |
| Posted: Tue Jun 10, 2003 8:39 am Post subject: |
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Padawan
Joined: 11 Apr 2001
Posts: 1554
Location: Silicon Valley
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I don't think you are getting carried away, and it's good to hear well thought out comments on this subject. Perhaps if there were some management types using this board (yeah right) they could provide an insight into the importance they put on certifications when they are hiring a candidate. As you mentioned, when we (engineering types) interview someone, we don't give them a multiple choice test, we ask them questions and make them draw diagrams and stuff on the board. That's the only way to really gauge their competancy. But in the end, it's the manager who decides whether to hire a person or not, and they usually aren't technical enough to do a deep-dive with a candidate, so I would guess they are more likely to look at what's on his resume. But if there are any managers out there, please correct me if I'm wrong. I'd definitely like some insight into this area.
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Brandon Duncan
IBM Certified MQSeries Specialist
MQSeries.net forum moderator |
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