NYCPHP Meetup

[Daniel Krook]

Hello,

Kristina Anderson wrote:
> I would sure welcome a NYS professional license for 
> software developers 
> and want to know would anyone else want to get active on that?  It 
> could require a certain number of years of actual paid 
> experience and a 
> test and whatever else...I'm 100% in favor of this if it 
> helps us get 
> more respect.  As Urb pointed out, other types of engineers do have 
> licensing.

Jim Hendricks wrote:
> The real discussion is not on what qualifies one for the 
> profession, but rather, how do we accurately measure 
> ability.  I don't have the answer to that question.  And, 
> I think that were an answer to that question readily 
> available, there would be no need for this discussion. 
> Maybe part of the licensing process should borrow from the
> medical community and require a period of "residency".

Peter Sawczynec wrote:
> So, maybe if firms and sites (PHP.net and all such related sites)
> started advocating cert programs as one of, if not the first serious
> step, toward an evolving measurable genuine industry competency and
> competitiveness that would help programmers more effectively work
> towards and achieve known knowledge levels that might have nationally
> known pay scales.
> 
> Then a programmer could plan a career and salary objectives a little
> more logically. And businesses could budget and allocate programmer
> workforce more exactly.
> 
> Somewhere, something is all good and better than the existing free for
> all. 


Kristina, Jim & PSaw,

This is the gap that The Open Group aims to address. 

Their IT Architect and new (looks like just released) IT Specialist 
programs require you to submit a package detailing your education, but 
more importantly, experience and project history.  There's a baseline that 
needs to be met for certain skills, along with a board review. 

It requires a significant amount of time (and cost, though cheaper than a 
degree) to prepare.   The program is not technology specific and measures 
people and business skills as well.

This differs from a traditional approach to certification which requires 
the user to sit for a two hour test and answer some multiple choice 
questions.   It might be worth looking into.

Certification overview
http://www.opengroup.org/certification/

IT Specialist Certification Progam
http://www.opengroup.org/itsc/cert/

IT Spec Cert Guide
http://www.opengroup.org/itsc/cert/docs/ITSC_Certification_Guide.html

Package templates
http://www.opengroup.org/itsc/cert/docs/templates.tpl



-Dan

Daniel Krook
Senior IT Specialist
Content Tools Developer - SCSA, SCJP, SCWCD, ZCE, ICDAssoc.
Global Solutions, ibm.com