I did a tech interview recently for a new hire. I was looking for resourcefulness and asked the candidate to list what they valued as sources when they had a technical issue to resolve. They said, "the company's technical library would be the first place they would look. I encouraged them to expand by offering that they could go anywhere, or to just list what they do now. No internet sources were mentioned. Very surprising! Knowing where to look and learning from what's published is more important to me than a certification or test. In fact that candidate had taken a test before I spoke with them and did great.
I keep a tool kit library with notes and source for things I try, new ideas and templates and would probably fail a certification test!
-----Original Message-----
From: rpg400-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:rpg400-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx]On Behalf Of Simon Coulter
Sent: Thursday, May 27, 2010 8:00 PM
To: RPG programming on the IBM i / System i
Subject: Re: What happened to Test 972: IBM Certified Specialist - ILE
RPGProgrammer?
On 28/05/2010, at 4:00 AM, 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.
I think it has more to do with the general lack of interest on the
part of the average RPG programmer. The very fact that you are reading
this marks you out as above average because you've bothered to join a
list of like-minded peers.
The average ones just don't care--programming is only a job. If
management don't require certification then RPG programmers aren't
going to bother with it--especially if they have to fund it themselves.
Look at how long it took for interest in RPG IV and ILE to catch on.
OK, some of that was driven by management saying "not using that here"
but that's no excuse for a technically minded and interested
individual not to learn about it. If they were interested you'd see
signs of activity on various lists. Case in point being this one: how
many AS/400,iSeries System i, IBM i sites do you think might be in
Australia and New Zealand? How many Antipodean list members are there?
There may be a few lurkers and a few who only troll the archives but
if you guessed at the install base from the list activity you'd think
there were maybe 5 sites total down here. I know I've pointed out
these lists in every RPG course I teach but how many people sign-up?
How many US sites are there with no representatives on this list? A
glance through the MC Press fora, the System iNEWS fora,
comp.ibm.misc.as400, and a few others sees the same people appending
all the time. The vast bulk don't give a flying f**k about
certification, new techniques, or anything except get the job done
with as little effort as possible. Jaundiced view? Perhaps but prove
me wrong.
Regards,
Simon Coulter.
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