From: Ryan Leavengood Date: 2005-11-04T12:44:15+09:00 Subject: Re: Ruby Certification On 11/3/05, Bill Kelly wrote: > > I'd go as far as saying, based on my limited first hand > observation, that certificates--despite the hard work of the > student--may be a scam. (Even if well-intentioned...) Most definitely. I'll go even further and say that many computer science and engineering degrees are of questionable value (I won't say a scam, but close.) And I have one! While a graduate certainly knows more about computer science than the average person off the street, that still doesn't mean they are totally ready to program in the real world. Especially because many universities these days have become like factories, cranking out as many graduates as they can as quickly as possible. Certification programs are even worse. In the end nothing teaches like experience. Of course you can't just wake up one morning with years of experience under your belt, but you can certainly do some open source work, much like other people volunteer to get their foot in the door in their fields. If I've learned anything in the past 10 years or so, it is that learning itself takes time, and those who try to hurry it along will end up not learning anything in the end. Of course we can debate the merits of certifications in the general sense all day, but I think you will find that most seasoned Ruby programmers will not find the concept of a "Ruby Certification" very palatable. Ryan