Re: What happened to Test 972: IBM Certified Specialist - ILE RPG Programmer?

Not to go too off topic, but I wonder if there is a declining interest in certifications in general, primarily because of what Jon noted about the proliferation of stolen tests. I think employers are looking more to practical experience than a certification and that is because of the proliferation of "paper ..." (you can add your certification here: MCSE, CCNP, CISSP, etc). The certifications I have gained I did because of the hands on training I got while earning the cert, not for the paper that went with it. I think that certifications in general are on the wane. They really don't certify you for anything but the paper they are written on.

Pete

On 5/27/2010 12:00 PM, Jerry Adams wrote:

It seems, from what Jon said, that there is insufficient interest in the certification test. Now, is that due to (a) lack of interest in certification by RPG programmers, (b) lack of interest in RPG, (c) lack of interest in the System i (i.e., decline in the number of systems), or (d) something else altogether?

Sometimes people read too much between the lines.

Jerry C. Adams
IBM System i Programmer/Analyst
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-----Original Message-----
From: rpg400-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:rpg400-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Charles Wilt
Sent: Thursday, May 27, 2010 12:36 PM
To: RPG programming on the IBM i / System i
Subject: Re: What happened to Test 972: IBM Certified Specialist - ILE RPG Programmer?

Jon,

I understand what you're saying, but the withdrawing of this test
troubles me even so; as an indication of where the platform is headed.

Charles

On Thu, May 27, 2010 at 12:07 PM, Jon Paris<jon.paris@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

The RPG cert test has been withdrawn because there was insufficient
demand for it. It was too in-depth and required too much practical
experience to be used by the colleges that teach RPG. All the time
that the test remained reasonably up-to-date and had not been
compromised, by the b*stards who steal tests and sell it as
"education", it could continue. When last year it became obvious that
it needed refreshing IBM had to look at the costs and determine
whether to update it - which is an expensive process even though the
RPGers who participate are not paid. They determined that the costs
were not justified and so rather than offering an out-of-date test
they withdrew it. Simple economics. No evil plots - the only evil
comes from the hijackers who force tests to be rewritten more often
than they should need to be.