Re: AS/400 RPG Certification Test

RE:     Re: AS/400 RPG Certification Test

<SNIP>
>Don wrote:
>SNIP>
>>Point to ponder:  When was the last time you went on a interview and were

>I agree with Charlie that the current certificate tests have value, however
>the current tests have been written (on purpose IMHO) to be tricky.  The
>problem is that we need skills.  I would rather have more people able to
>pass a reasonable test, than have IBM identify for me the people with
>exceptional skills who are good test takers.
>Al


AL, Charlie, and all

I haven't responded to this thread for a while on purpose.    But...
If you really think about what a certification test should tell you about 
the individual you will start to see the difficulty in creating one.
Surveys were done to determine what area's should be tested on in an 
RPG Cert test.   The survey said that for a person to have the title
of an "RPG developer in an AS/400 shop", that person would have to know 
more than "which opcodes did what" so to speak.   Meaning that the 
"RPG developer in an AS/400 shop" should have a "Working knowledge of";

Data base design,
Development Tools,
AS/400 operating system environment,
Some structured design knowledge,
Error handling/trapping and control, 
and yada, yada, yada.


With that in mind, An attempt to create a "well rounded" test, 
and believe me this next one is the hardest,  A valid test from 
a testing science point of view(like no questions saying "which of the
following isn't correct" and on and on, wow!) was under taken.  

Something that was not wanted from any quarter is typified by this story;

http://www.zdnet.com/pcweek/opinion/0817/17wide.html

Other test design parameters had to be determined.   Is the test forward
looking or retrospective ?   Should it lean towards RPGIV or RPGII.
Notice virtually no questions on Procedures, Pointers, Import, Export. 
So it wasn't THAT Forward looking. 

I know that the test was not (Al) designed to be tricky.  But hopefully
a high school kid with no working knowledge wouldn't get an "A"
(I guess that is good enough for NT though huh?  see above web site.)
However, this endeavor is perilous no matter which tact that could have 
been taken.

I'll end by having you consider this.

An old man and his grandson were going to take a trip to a distant village,
with their donkey.  The donkey was too small to carry both. 
They started out with both walking leading the donkey.  They came to a town
and as they walked thru the town people said "Hey you mean old man, why do
you make the boy walk, let him ride.  So they did.  They came to an other 
town and people said,  "Hey you ungrateful kid,  why don't you let your 
grandfather ride instead".  So they did.   The next town people said 
"Why don't you both ride, stupid".  So they did.  The next town people said
 " why are you making that poor animal carry both of you"  
So both ended up walking leading the donkey for the rest of the trip.

Moral;   No matter what you do,  you can't please every body.

Could the test have been better?  probably.   Could the test have been 
worse?  probably.   Could it ever please everyone?  Probably not.

John Carr CDP  (CDP, What does that mean?  Like a RPG Certification, 
                It means what ever the interviewer in front of you 
                wants it to mean.)  (To me it was a 5 part grueling test)
EdgeTech
And yes,  IBM Certified RPG Programer.  

All opinions are my own and do not represent any group or organization.

BTW,   Al, and Charlie.  Haven't seen you posting to too many forums on 
the virtues of the AS/400 compared to Linux, or NT,  or Unix, or or?
What gives?

Give me a minute while I put on my asbestos suit please <RDLMAO>
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