Re: cert discussion

[Ron Hall <thorn@cc.mcgill.ca>]

On Wed, 25 Feb 1998, William LeFebvre wrote:

> Rich Schultz wrote:
> > yet to see a written or oral exam that can measure these well.  On the
> > other hand, if you work with someone for a while, at least six months, you
> > can probably answer all these questions about her.  We already use this
> > form of certification and we call it "references".
> 
> Unfortunately, in our ever increasingly litigous society, a
> non-trivial number of former employers are now adopting policies with
> prevent any sort of meaningful references from being given.  I know of
> one former employer who, by organizational policy, was prohibited from
> saying anything beyond "yes he worked for me from this date to that
> date."

	Even in the vast hinterland of Canada, this policy is widely
	adopted. Our government has put fairly restrictive clauses
	in place as to want one can say about hiring, firing, retiring
	and "referencing" former employees.

	One is faily limited to "yes, they worked here from y to z" and
	"yes they did these tasks". You cannot even say if they did 
	things well or not well, as this may be precieved as discriminatory
	(!?!?!). 

	It truly is an odd world.
	As to whether certification solves this, I don't know, but
	if SAGE increases its presence in the educational field (via
	conferences and publications), then the industry has some
	benchmark as to what knowledge is necessary to be a SA.

	Getting universities to underwrite SA training is a difficult
	one in these days of fiscal responsibility. There has to be
	some precieved value to a University or College to provide
	such a program. Realistically one could not offer much more
	than 30-45 credits (of a typical 90 credit) degree-granting 
	institution to an SA minor. I've sat (for more years than I
	want to count) as an undergraduate representative on a 
	Curriculum Committee and that moved like molasses in February
	up the side of a building, so a whole new minor/degree option
	could take some time.

	Personally if I were hiring an SA, I would as if the person
	knew what SAGE was, what Usenix was and had they ever attended
	a SAGE or Usenix conference. Yes answers would tilt the scale
	somewhat.

	Just my 2 bits.


	Ron Hall
	McGill University Computing Centre