Re: Certification

["Jason R. Kretzer" <jason@OpinionOne.com>]

I  have to disagree with this mentality.  You make it sound like people 
without the time to learn on their own are not worth hiring.  I have a 
wife and a new child.  Personally, I have the "desire to learn" but not 
the "time" to learn.  I learn new technologies at work.  Since work is 
what the new skills are for, I see no problem in this.  The idea that 
"we only want people who will not only put in the 9 to 5 but will work 
for the company on their own time as well.", is not the right way to 
judge candidates.  I have a great desire for knowledge and extending my 
skills and I must take issue with anyone who says that I don't show 
initiative(or have good programming skills) because I won't use my 
family time for studying for a piece of paper that says I knew how to 
memorize a book for a day.  A good worker in any profession is one who 
shows integrity, honesty, a good work ethic, and is willing to forth 
their best while at work.

Sorry for the rant but I hate it when someone judges those without the 
time to do stuff on their own time as somehow being lazy(not showing 
initiative).

-Jason




Curt Smith wrote:

>
>> Think about the "desire to learn" part.  I would prefer to hire someone
>> who has a constant fire in their person to learn new technologies in
>> their spare time than someone that does just the 8-5 bit.
>
>
> Dead on.  Too bad, but gone are the days of being a C programmer day
> in and day out.  I judge the a candidate on the desire to learn
> on their own time and initiative with questions like;  what books
> have you read lately.  And by how _many_ certifications they have.
>
> Some folks might be surprised there's a few more java and OO oriented
> certs besides SCJP.  :)  Personally I need the carrot to get me through
> all the books and study, so collecting certs is one of my hobbies.  ;-(
> My credit card shows alot of good books have been bought, read and
> an immediate good use put that info (more credit card hits for the
> cert tests) and more tears.
>
> I've found it to be almost as expensive as going to GA state.  Isn't
> our industry forcing us through this type of re-education pratically
> another degree every 2-3 years just to stay current?   BTW, the
> JDJ mag / web site has a few comments about current state of complexity
> and API breadth needed to be _called_ competent.  Hmmm.
>
> For example, EJB / JMS is pase, now it's UDDI, WSDL, doc. centric etc.
>
> Best of luck to all,
>
> curt
>
>