I was reminded of this when visiting over the weekend, as I saw a posting from Oracle learning staff Harold Green entilted “Oracle Certification and the Hands-On Course Requirement…” In addition to explaining how and why Oracle adopted the position that some classroom training had to be mandatory for their database administrator and developer related certifications, Green also raises some interesting points about the values and virtues of requiring some training along the way to a professional certification of some kind. Here’s a direct quote “In an era where complaints that ‘paper certifications’ were devaluing some certification programs’ offerings, Oracle made the tough decision in 2002 that mandatory training would be required for most tracks. All new entrants after November 2002 would be required to attend an Oracle course, interact with an Oracle trainer, and participate in the in-class labs.” They’ve stuck firmly to this position ever since.

I can see some pros and cons for this approach. Certainly, the pros for the certifying body are many: some assurance of attendance in commercial training, a chance to expose candidates to qualified instructors and to observe their skills and abilities first hand, increased assurance that candidates get exposed to important tools, techniques, and skills development, and more. But on the students’ side, those pros are offset by the often high cost of training involved, though most people who attend such training do report that it has at least some value, and many rank it as a positive learning experience.

My take on the Oracle program, and many others like it, would be that the value could be greatly enhanced if they would reserve a number of free seats in each class and offer competitive scholarships to those who can demonstrate a real need for financial support. My biggest issue with the mandatory training approach is not that it requires attendees to pay for training, but rather, that it blocks those who would like to attend but who can’t afford to cover the costs involved.

What do you think of this situation? Post a comment here to share your opinions and outlook on this sometimes thorny subject.

Thanks,

–Ed–

Just recently, Anne started to blog at GoCertify, and approached me to do an occasional guest slot for her. Never one to skip a quid pro quo, I replied to her “I’ll blog for you, if you’ll blog for me!” Thus, if all goes as planned, you’ll get a chance to hear her opinions and information right here in this blog from time to time, as well as to see me expostulate and pontificate on her blog as well. Check out my recent comment there to a recruiter looking for an infosec analyst in the Nashville, TN area, for example.

Check out the new Certiblog

But if you have certification questions, comments, or issues, I hope you’ll also share them here with me as well. I’m always answering queries on the IT Knowledge Exchange “Ask the Expert” message boards, and I get plenty of fodder for this blog from those interactions as well as from your comments here. Please keep ‘em coming!

Best,

–Ed–

I’ve used this tool myself many times over the years to slice and dice certification offerings available to the market in all kinds of ways. Ms. Martinez keeps this database reasonably current, making it an unusually good place from which to start looking for information about certifications by topic, expertise level, type (vendor-neutral vs. vendor-specfiic) and a whole lot more.

As an added bonus, check out this interesting story entitled “Five Certification Mistakes You Don’t Have to Make.” You’ll find some interesting thoughts and observations here, good enough for me to repeat the primary points by way of illustration (the ideas are hers, but the pithy paraphrases are mine):

• Don’t choose a certification just because it’s hot or in high demand.
• Don’t choose a certification because it’s easy to earn.
• Don’t assume your employer won’t help with cert costs.
• Shop around for the best certification deals
• Be sure to set–and stick to–your own certification deadlines

This is definitely one of those cases where I’m happy to let a fellow expert speak for herself, because there’s a lot of material in here I couldn’t have said better myself. Check it out!

–Ed–