Re: SAGE, certification, and you

[Michael Rogero Brown <brownmic@plhp002.comm.mot.com>]

> > 
> > We kept coming back to the mission statement phrase "advancement of systems
> > administration as a profession" and what that implies.  After a rather
> > vociferous debate we agreed (some more cheerfully than others) that a
> > "profession" entails certification - careers without such things are
> > generally referred to as "trades" (think of the difference between 
> > MDs and morticians, for example).
> 
> I've never hired anyone because they had a certificate in anything.
> Education and experience is why you hire someone.  Sometimes the
> education comes first, sometimes it is part of the experience,
> usually it is ongoing.
>

You might, but I've heard of people being turned down as Netware admins
only because they didn't have that CNE certification, despite years of
experience elsewhere as NetWare admins.

This is the 'dark side' of certification, that someone who is qualified being
turned down because of a lack of certification.  This is why some are opposed
to certification.  Especially when it takes big bucks to pass the classes or
tests needed to get that certification.



 
> I don't believe SAGE members, or the SA profession, would be best
> served by SAGE/USENIX spending their resources generating, and
> administering?, certifications, merit badges, or any other 
> SAGE-unique way of naming education and experience.  Rather, I think
> the limited resources should be focused on high-leverage areas,
> where we're not providing infrastructure, just building on it.
> To me, that means we work with existing educational organizations
> to get "sysadmin" courses, majors, AA programs, even certificates!,
> etc. in place.  We don't reinvent the infrastructure and we don't 
> rename what we want: system administrators with education, 
> experience, or both.
> 
> In any case, I'd argue that you can't certify or merit anyone who
> doesn't qualify because they don't have the knowledge.  -- Let's
> put the cart back behind the horse and figure out some ways to
> educate.  If we accomplish that, we could *always* revisit
> "certification".
> 
> 	Tina
> 


--
Michael Rogero Brown                  |  Disclaimer: I speak only for myself.  
Unix/NT Systems Support               |   Any opinions expressed are my own
Motorola, LMPS                        |   and do not reflect the opinions of
email: emb021@email.mot.com           |   Motorola.