I found it quite interesting reading Martin Fowler’s recent post about the correlation between certification and competence, especially so recently after writing about the changes to some of Oracle’s certifications!
I have to say that I completely agree with his opinion – and I know it’s shared by most (if not all) of my friends. Having earned a number of certifications over the course of my career, I have seen first-hand just how useless so many of them are. I must emphasise that this is not necessarily true of all certifications. However, from my experience, none have proven enough to establish the holder of the certification to be an expert on the subject – and this is really where they fail.
I don’t like certifications that are comprised of nothing by MCQ’s – not enough can be tested in a few multiple choice questions to be able to certify someone as mediocre, let alone an expert! Unless the candidate has had to form an opinion and defend it, you haven’t really tested their ability to apply their knowledge and reasoning. You’ve just asked them to regurgitate simple facts. At best, you’ve tested their ability to recognise a solution to a particular problem – but you haven’t established whether, given a blank sheet of paper, they are able to come to the solution themselves.
I’m hoping that the Java Enterprise Architect certification is able to distinguish the competent from the incompetent, but at this stage I’m not sure. I do know one thing though… adding a course attendance requirement does not strengthen the certification. Unfortunately, I feel this is where the “good money-making opportunity” that Fowler mentions comes into play.
I’ve recently completed the first exam towards the Oracle Certified Master, Java EE 5 Enterprise Architect and had aimed to complete the assignment later this year. However, I just happened to go to the Oracle Certification website where I saw that the rules are changing for a few of their certifications.
I can’t say I’m impressed with how quietly they announced this! I haven’t seen anything on the OTN Java site about it, nor have I seen any attempt to make developers aware of this through other channels. I also have not received any emails from them about the changes to a certification track that I am currently working on. Unless I’ve managed to miss the announcement somewhere, I can only guess that they’re trying to sneak this in quietly to get more money out of us. Perhaps I’m being a bit cynical, but I don’t think it’s too far from the truth, given Oracle’s recent track record with the Java community.
So if you’re busy working towards any of these certifications, I suggest you pick up the pace and get it done by the end of July! And here I thought things were starting to settle down.
Fortunately the certification assignment has a very similar focus to my next assignment at Oxford. If all goes well, I might just manage to get it done in time.