I've seen many companies using certification services such as Brainbench when evaluating candidates. Most times they use it as a secondary screen prior to interview or as a validation to choose between candidates.What is your experience with Brainbench scores? Did you try the tests yourself, and if so do you feel the score is meaningful enough to be used as part of a hiring process?Difficult choice.Consensus seems to be that BB cert are not very good as a certification.  The biggest argument was around the fact that some of the questions are too precise to form a good evaluation.  This view can probably be tempered somewhat but still, to hold someone's future solely on the results of this evaluation would be irresponsible.That said, I still think it is possible to use them properly to gain additional objective knowledge on a candidate's level of expertise provided the test is done in a controlled environment ensuring that all taking it stand on equal footing.Thus I went with the answer that best reflected this view keeping in mind that it is still just an hour long 50ish multiple choice question to evaluate skills and knowledge that take years to acquire.  To be taken with a grain of salt !In short, the tests have value but whether or not they are worth the money is another debate.Thanks all for your time.
How relevant are Brainbench scores when evaluating candidates?
skills;hiring
I think BB certs make good sense as part of a hiring process - provided you can guarantee that the guy passing these is indeed the one you're interviewing (at BB it is easy to screw up identity and make someone pass the test for you).My first encounter with BB was at interview when they gave me OO concepts test. Since it was at their office, and since the BB session was established at their account, this procedure left no chance to trick exam results. Based on my further experience with BB I believe this is the only reliable way to certify a candidate. I did not receive my results back then because these were delivered to guys who interviewed me, but anyway exam questions and overall BB approach got me curious enough to give it more try...I tried all the free exams that made me interested, 5 or 6 or maybe 7 (it was few years ago, I don't remember how many) - Java SE and EE, RDBMS, business writing, typing.Scores I received felt quite relevant: I got Master's in areas where I felt my knowledge was solid, average scores where I was not so good, and could not certify at exam for typing which has proven that I am not a professional. Also, Java SE score at BB felt pretty consistent with one I've got at SCJP - which in turn felt pretty accurately reflecting my strengths and weaknesses.My overall impression of BB is that as interviewer I would feel comfortable using these certifications as part of candidate screening - provided that these were taken in a way that guarantees that candidate identity was not screwed.