Lullabot Ideas
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Do you wanna be Lullabot Drupal Certified?
Blog by James WalkerAugust 11, 2009 - 9:36pm
When the subject of Drupal Certification comes up within the community as it has done recently (see Dries' blog post and the mailing list thread), we here at Lullabot take notice. While we don't generally take an active role in the conversation, our name invariably gets thrown into the mix. That's flattering. We work hard to be the top Drupal training company. We have put over a thousand people through intense, hands-on workshops and taught thousands more through books, DVDs, etc. We love empowering people to make cool stuff with Drupal and have done our best to make a sustainable business doing so. But...
We have no current plans to offer certification.
That is certainly not because we haven't discussed it. We have had countless hours of internal discussions about it. We have even discussed it with potential partners, existing clients, and others but we always come to the same conclusions: it's not time yet.
Is the investment worth it?
Our focus is to arm people with the knowledge they need to make awesome Drupal sites, modules and themes. This is (in part) how we help to grow the community and further the platform. Our training offerings have been very succesful towards this goal. Putting together certification exams, adminstering them and providing certification is an ongoing, significant investment that doesn't directly advance our mission.
Lullabot is not a big company. Anytime we consider a new offering, we have to be sure that it makes sense for us. To do it right, we would put tens (if not hundreds) of thousands of dollars into developing the program. That kind of investment needs to be worth it.
The drop is always moving ...
Probably too fast, or at least too far. A huge challenge we face with our training curriculum is keeping it up to date. Each new Drupal version brings vast, sweeping changes to APIs and interface which means that annually (at least), we revamp our training materials.
To further complicate matters, any Drupal site of significance uses Drupal Core plus 25 - 50 contributed modules. Any meaningful certification would need to include enough of these to ensure that the certificate holder was capable of delivering quality work. However, the rate of change within contrib modules is even faster than core.
Drupal developers, themers and implementers currently face an enormous task of staying relevant. A certification program, therefore, needs to not only follow the same level of work, but should reflect that competence in version 6 does not necessarily translate to version 7. "Lullabot Drupal 6 Core, CCK 2.x and Views 2.x Development Certified" doesn't have quite the same ring.
Certification is a reputation business
And, therefore, delicate. We take extreme pride in our work. To be "Lullabot Drupal Certified" means that we are - in some way - vouching for a person's ability to deliver. A few bad apples could quickly begin to devalue what it means to be "Lullabot Drupal Certified".
Worse, to someone with no involvement in Drupal "Lullabot Drupal Certified" looks no different from "Company B Drupal Certified". If "Company B" certification is cheaper and easier to complete (and results in less skilled Drupal talent), then the whole "Drupal Certification" moniker degrades towards meaninglessness.
Wherefore art thou, Association?
To combat the reputation issue, one can look to the Drupal Association to either provide training material, or "certify the certifiers". As a founding member of the Association, I've seen this discussion from that angle every time it's come up. Chances of the Association stepping in here are minimal. Dries (also President of the Association) has stated that he's against it publicly.
It's a free market, open to anyone who wants to participate.
So, what now?
Lullabot loves you. Many of the things we do (like Online Workshops and DVDs) are direct responses to feedback and requests from people like you. While people have often suggested that Lullabot could or should offer certification, few people have approached us and asked if we would certify them. If you're out there, now is your chance:
Do you wanna be Lullabot Drupal Certified?
Comments
I love Lullabot and Drupal as Much as the Next Guy, but...
I love Lullabot and Drupal as much as the next guy or gal, but I say no thanks to certification whether its issued by Lullabot , the Drupal Association or anyone for that matter.
Technical product certification is ugly at best and a racket at worst. As I've tweeted before, certification creates artificial scarcity in the marketplace. Any business that depends on the artificial scarcity of a commodity (Drupal talent in this case) is doomed to fail in the long run.
If I were to offer advice to Lullabot, it would be to stay out of the issuing of certification and stick to the training of future Drupal rock stars. If someone ever does come along with a certification I'm sure Lullabot training would be more than enough to help anyone pass any test created by any certifying 'authority'. The downside to offering certification (that James alludes to in this post) is too great a risk to damaging the goodwill that the Lullabot brand has created.
But, that's just my opinion.
andre
Grammar Nitpick
[word-nerd]
"wherefore" actually means "why". It should read simply, "where art thou, Association?"
http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/262200.html
[/word-nerd]
of all the criticism...
I respect you for standing up for the language, Paul :-)
However, in my obvious nod to Mr. Shakespeare, I mean "why" in the "for what purpose" interpretation. Is this part of the point of the Association? Should it be? It's probably a moot point, but there are those who feel it should be part of the "why" the Association exists.
Somebody's going to do it
So why not Lullabot?
I get the feeling that once Drupal is noticed by a specific market, there will be somebody that realizes offering Drupal certification is profitable and get in to it for all the wrong reasons. Given that I believe it's going to happen, I'd rather see it come from a company that's already deeply involved in Drupal and knows what should be included in a certification program.
I agree with Andre that technical certification is ugly but I don't know that it actively creates artificial scarcity. There are definitely companies who position their training that way; who try to create that scarcity. I'm leary of any certification that comes from a company whose only business is in certification.
As a web developer that's specialized in Drupal, certification gives me a shortcut to show that I'm committed this software. Explaining what I know to clients who don't understand Drupal is pretty much impossible. I'm not a fan of certification in general but I don't see another way to demonstrate some base level of knowledge to the public.
Havta pass
I've thought of this in the past as well but the target is moving too quickly to ever hit. Certification also seems counter-open source to me but that's more of a philosophy thing. I think what might be more beneficial is a type of checklist of what you should know and/or have read to be in the know about certain topics. This community is growing too quickly to point to a set number of things and say "you're a rockstar if you know these things and how to use them".
Technocracy in action
Discussed this with Jake in person (who weighed in on Dries' blog post), and repeating the thoughts for a wider audience:
Drupal's technocracy is WHY we don't need (or want) a certification program. The way you know someone is good at Drupal is they are good at Drupal, IN THE COMMUNITY.
Post a module, gain respect.
Post a patch, gain respect.
Post a theme, gain respect.
Review patches and make suggestions, gain respect.
Get involved in dozens of ways. Gain respect.
With respect comes power, be it in the form of trust, or more directily, of commit access.
Folks like webchick and KarenS (to name 2 who I _know_ moved up the ranks in this very manner) aren't trusted because someone issued them a certificate, they are trusted because they did stuff, did it well, and did it within the community.
If certification does happen, it'll be at the detriment to the community we have, which is one of the most thriving ones in the Open Source world. I'd rather deal with someone who authors a cool new and useful module (or patches one to do something new) than someone who took a multiple choice test about the Drupal API.
My thoughts exactly
Well put.
Great, but...
That works great for other developers. There are lots of people that I know and respect from seeing their names in issue queues and blogs. That doesn't scale out to end users though.
I know there are a lot of bad certification programs out there, places you can buy a document that says you know everything. The problem that certification tries to solve (or at least what I'm interested in solving) is between a consultant and a client. Certification should work as a signal to a client that a respected 3rd party vouches for a minimum level of ability for this individual.
Certification wouldn't (and shouldn't) make a difference in who gets commit access to a module or core. It doesn't make a difference when it comes to producing patches. It's an indication that can be recognized by people who haven't used Drupal that a certified person knows something about Drupal.
actually, that makes my point...
So certification will attempt to communicate to someone outside of the community that the person in question has skills. The only people who can answer the question of whether person X has those skills IS the community, and any attempt to put some other organization in that spot (be it Lullabot, the Drupal Association, Acquia, etc) is going to be a defacto coup for the role that the community currently plays. That can only be BAD for the community to grant any _one_ company or group or even individual that power. Yes, we have a benevolent dictator in Dries, but should he stop playing that role, thanks to the GPL, the community would still survive, and Drupal would remain.
This is a classic case of trust metrics. See http://advogato.org
for one long running attempt to programmatically do this. (#rule35 obDrupal module: http://drupal.org/project/advogato_import ) I would support such an attempt, but as mentioned, these can be gamed, and aren't really foolproof.
My point is the solution is non-trivial, and a certification program has more of a negative effect than a positive one, given the current thriving state of the community.
Quick followup
Just a quick followup pointing out how trust metrics go stale and meaningless:
I'm listed as a open source 'master' on advogato, based on the peer trust metrics. But I haven't updated my account there in years, and don't even mention Drupal, which I've done for almost 5 years now, so it's quite stale about me, since I'm not active there.
In the meantime, Drupal, as a project listed on advogato, as a total of only 3 people listed. http://advogato.org/proj/Drupal/
Dries himself is only ranked as a journeyman, and deekayen as a master.
You can't trust metrics to be correct, if they aren't current. Drupal moves very fast. Anyone want to hire someone who last worked on Drupal 4.6 to code up a complex site on D6?
Just to clarify
Like I said though, the certification just says that "a respected 3rd party vouches for a minimum level of ability for this individual." Certification is a pretty well-understood protocol. Someone seeing you have certification knows you did some training and took a test. It's not a blessing or ordination to be the Employed One.
I don't think it's reasonable to ask a potential client to go ask the community if I have any skill with Drupal, though I have been found via Drupal.org. There are lots of people in the community who don't know me; my lack of communication doesn't mean I don't know how to write code for a Drupal site.
End users by definition are interested in the content for their Drupal site. That doesn't mean they have to be interested in the Drupal project. This means they need a more clear signal than asking the community.
Dries is a master, because I said so...
Advogato's trust metric is so weird... it's all about trust flow, and it turns out that my own trust rating, despite years of being inactive on that site, is more than enough that my single ranking of Dries as a Master (after I posted the above) has enough juice to reclassify him as that.
Perfect example of how broken even the best thought out systems can be. :) Actually, Advogato's algorithm is meant to handle abuse of trust better than grant of trust, I think, so this makes sense. If I handed out better status willy nilly, my opinion would be worth much less.
Of course, the flip side to
Of course, the flip side to Seth Cohn's argument is that it's entirely possible for one to become highly knowledgeable in Drupal without ever contributing anything to "the community." If he or I were to hire someone, we'd probably check their D.o profile first, but not every hiring manager is going to think that way, particularly those more familiar with closed source circles - and it's not fair to someone who's maybe been working in Drupal for the past three years, but whose boss forbid them from ever contributing anything or something along those lines.
That being said, I agree with James Walker that trying to certify against a target which moves as much as Drupal and its contributions is going to be a challenge. But some certification, even against versions of core and modules which are now outdated, is better than none, is it not? If the certification is legit, anyway…
It's a tough situation, but personally I think we're doing all right with the status quo.
While certification is
While certification is tempting and Lullabot would certainly be up to the task of offering a credible program I can't just help but think that your time is much more well spent creating more and better training material and actually shaping your training based on what is best at the moment rather than what is required to pass some exam that is probably outdated by the time the examiner finished writing it.
What might be interesting is some sort of community certification based not on passing exams but on contributing to Drupal - it might even get people motivated enough to contribute (i.e instead of studying to pass an exam write up that documentation that is needed for module XYZ and we will give you a badge to take around and show clients) but I realise that is as fraught with difficulties as anything else...
Scoring
Make a metric and it can be gamed. If there are points for patches then patches will be split. Introduce voting and you have to fight sock-puppets.
Rather than fighting the difficulties in that system it's probably safer to stick to known processes like certification (where savvy clients are also aware that certification isn't everything).
Excellent perspective
James, you have articulated well the reasons for caution in this realm. This should be read by all Drupal folks interested in the subject.
I agree . . .
I agree that is would be at best incomplete and also thankless. Keep in mind also that somebody who knows less about Drupal but is honest and only takes work that is appropriate to their level of knowledge will do a better job than somebody who knows more but still over-sells themselves.
There are simply too many variables to give somebody an up-or-down rating. And somebody who specializes in focused skills like Ubercart or CiviCRM migvht not be a good generalist.
In theory certification would be good, in practice it is almost impossible to do it right.
Doesn't oDesk have a Drupal test?
re: "Technocracy in action"
Seth Cohn makes some good points - there are already lots of measures of how active or how useful a Drupal user or developer's contributions are to the community.
Why doesn't Lullabot develop metrics and faceted reporting on Drupal users' activity?
The results could be repurposed to not only help distinguish active users but also encourage users to become more active.
Caution
The training courses Lullabot offers are excellent, and I think they are regarded highly enough to merit posting on an individual's CV. But having additional exams and certification are of limited additional value to the community and the individual concerned.
I'm looking at building a Drupal team in the near future and the bottom line will be what's in their portfolio - if they are a designer, I'd like to see site mock-ups and any live examples; if they are a developer, I'd probably like to know what their OO/data design skills are - but again, I'd want to see live examples of what they've actually achieved. I'd be additionally impressed if they have a good track record on d.o
In a previous life, I used to attend lots of business-style courses - I could call myself a project manager by attending a 4 day course and passing a Mickey Mouse exam. Although they were good courses and passed on some good theory, it then took 10 years' experience for this to be of any use or impress a potential employer. Drupal moves so quickly that I doubt a certificate would be of any long term benefit.
If people want kudos - learn the basics of design or software development at college. Then "do stuff"
Open Source certification
I like this thread of discussion. @Andre Molnar - you are right Certification can very easily devolve into a racket. Many would argue that many of the "standardised" tests out there (SATs, TOEFL, IQ testing, Aptitude testing) are a form of a racket, as well.
But that doesn't mean that some sort of recognised programme would not be possible. My idea is why not Open Source the certification in the same way Drupal itself is Open Source.
For instance, I think there is a way to have a certification that can take into account both practical experience and Drupal.org juice.
I suggest a successful programme would need to have at least these two components:
Here's a document suggesting an outline of such a curriculum
http://docs.google.com/View?id=dmjbnhb_4pnh27kc9. (If anyone would like editing right, get in touch.)
This curriculum could be community-driven, have a maintainer, periodic version releases and some sort of a compatibility measure (API). Different providers could then provide differently structured training courses to help people compile a portfolio that would be a proof of a certain level. This could also help new users with self-instruction and large companies to manage their in house training and staff development.
Then there could be "certified" assessors out there, who would review a portfolio and attest its "validity" as proof of a certain level. Or it could be done the same way security certificates are issues through some sort of a "web of trust".
This would still have the "racket" potential but it would provide a way for customers and employers to have a way to figure out if they're dealing with someone trustworthy.
I was hoping for a session on this in Paris (http://paris2009.drupalcon.org/session/training-drupal-professionals-tow...) but it looks like I might not be able to make it afterall.
There's also this project that's trying to achieve something similar: http://groups.drupal.org/node/22703.
There's a lot of experience with curriculum authorities and portfolios in the world of education but I'd like to experiment with bringing some open source ideas into educational design (and vice versa).
Dominik
Pointless
Given there are a hundred different ways of doing the same thing (image galleries, "recent content" lists, "featured content" lists, layout, theming, page titles, etc, etc ad nauseam), how on earth would you even be able to *define* a standard set of questions? It would ultimately have to be a sit-down in person test like the high-end RedHat and Cisco certifications, a multiple-choice questionnaire would be a waste of time that only benefitted ignorant managers and HR people who could feel a sense of power for denying someone based on a "lack of recognized accreditation".
@Damien McKenna - you are
@Damien McKenna - you are absolutely right, a multiple choice questionnaire cannot be the foundation of a certificate. It has to be some sort of a portfolio system.
The issue of multiple ways of doing the same thing has been tackled in language competence testing for instance by the ACTFL proficiency guidelines: http://www.actfl.org/i4a/pages/index.cfm?pageid=4236. They have a way of recognizing a level of competence without comparing exact ways of sentences you'd find on a multiple-choice test.
Focus on "Why"
In my mind, when someone says he/she is "Drupal/Joomla/etc certified" means he knows his way around the system. I think the best way to do it is to somehow integrate Drupal.org track system into badges.
If I am looking to hire someone who knows Drupal, I will look at his track record on Drupal.org i.e. how many modules submitted? quality of the code, and his/her posts on drupal.org.
If drupal.org implements a user points system (x points for module submitted and then for each site using that module (x more points), x points for solving one problem, solving bugs etc), once a user has accumulated enough points, assign him different badges "beginner, advanced etc) which they can use on their websites/portfolio etc.
just my 2 cents.
Do you know anybody good with Drupal we can hire?
I get this question asked to me multiple times a week. There's now even dedicated businesses that do nothing but hire Drupal talent on behalf of people who are new to the Drupal.
I am constantly being approached by Drupal users who've been burned by a fly by night Drupal shops. These Drupal shops claimed to have expertise and blown their customer's entire budget coding their customer into a Drupal 4.6 corner.
My typical response is "You checked at least three Drupal 6 references right?". No, I didn't think so.
I don't think certification is going to satisfy the needs of Drupal developers. But it would be helpful for people who are choosing Drupal for the first time to have some way of knowing if the person they are hiring has a minimal skill level. The idea that first time Drupal users are going to decode the secret Drupal handshakes of credibility is not practical.
I think the Drupal association would consider sustainable models of verifying a basic Drupal skill level. By sustainable, I mean a group of people, and businesses that had a long term interest and commitment to see the program through. So don't be dissuaded from seeing this through if you are interested. Just be realistic that it's going to take a few years commitment to see this happen with a Drupal association endorsement. Most of the good stuff that happens in Drupal happens because someone had a crazy idea and saw it through to the end.
Kieran
Certification means nothing
Will Drupal certification achieve its purpose? Will Drupal certification tell us whether a person who claims to be a "Drupal expert" is truly an expert? Will Drupal certification tell us whether a person is worth hiring?
On all counts: NO.
In a past role, I was a team lead for a group of Java programmers. During this time, I found that Java certification, with all its respect and careful administration, told me nothing about whether a person was worth hiring. It told me nothing about whether a person could get the job done. All it told me was that the person knew how to pass a test.
When we evaluate a potential employee or consultant, we need to look at his/her ability to think, to adapt, to learn, to work with others, and most of all, to get things done. A certification exam tells us nothing about that. We need another solution other than certification.
Regarding Kieran's point: for clients who know nothing about Drupal and just want to get a website up, have they checked references? Any web shop (Drupal or not) should be able to provide a list of satisfied customers, with contact info. A statement from a satisfied client is better certification than any piece of paper.
Technocracy
I really like that word :)
My own personal opinion on certifications has always been that they are useless... to me, a developer. The technology that I've always been interested in changes too frequently and a certification can only be a measure of what you learned at some point on your journey to where you are now. I know where I've been, so the certification becomes useless when I can simply prove what I know. I can see this being useful to an employer as a first means of measuring up an applicant, but if they're not checking into the actual skills deeper, then they're setting themselves up for potential failure IMO.
Drupal is also about credibility or karma, not certifications. I've boasted rather proudly in the past (oh Lullabot) that I was at one of the first Lullabot certified individuals (certificate of completion that is). I've also placed it on my resumes in the education sections. Lullabot is a name that employers know and respect and I wanted them to know that I was in some way associated with that name as a pupil. However, it is still not an accurate measure of what I know _now_. I've recommended people for employment before to recruiters, given recruiters advice on how to determine a developers credentials (by looking at code they've contributed) and such. So it's been on my mind for a long time how to more easily get at this sort of data and represent it to those who do not have the time and/or know-how to make these determinations.
Hence, I came up with drupalfamous.com which was to be an aggregate system for measuring karma based upon such things. This never took off due to lack of time and resources, but the idea is still a valid one that I want to incorporate into the larger picture of the product I envision creating very soon.
If you're interested in hearing more about it, are good with algorithms an such, or simply want to help out supporting the idea of a validation system based on how our current community already works vs. the outdated certification idea, please get ahold of me so we can talk.
Would you hire someone based on their certification?
While there certainly are some merits to certification, in the Drupal ecosystem it doesn't seem to make sense. Having certification on a resume will make it appear better, but who would hire based on that? Anyone hiring Drupal talent should look first at the individual's portfolio and then their Drupal.org account and their community involvement. Those will be the greatest measure of a person's ability to finish a project with high quality results.
If Drupal shops and other companies looking for Drupal talent aren't likely to hire based on certification then where is the value of a certification program?
Thanks for opening up this discussion further!
Another swish of a discussion from Lullabot
It's amazing how much better the discussion is on this page as compared to others I have both seen and participated in.
In those discussions, I have advocated a union to defend the interests of those who work for a living, as opposed to a racket of an anti-open source corporate certification program that only looks out for the interests of the employer, is aimed at lowering salaries, and/or, worse, is set up as a horrendously exploitative system such as odesk.com, which actually monitors the desktops of those contracted to do work (and where a recent Drupal certification "prize winner" much touted by Drupal certification enthusiasts publishes a going rate of USD $19 / hour)!!
I would also like to point out that the client would be better served by adopting an agile process management approach to their work environment and the installation of best deployment, build and versioning practices in order to create a democratic and transparent work environment, rather than seeking guarantees in some kind of mechanical and two-dimensional (non-process oriented) "skillset".
In any case, the discussion on this page has been invaluable in getting the pulse of the state of opinion in the Drupal community at large (heavily opposed to certification it would seem) and in being able to see the best of thought out reasonings on both sides. Thanks for the post!
Victor Kane
http://awebfactory.com.ar
http://projectflowandtracker.com
Lullabot should go for it
Speaking as a Drupal Association board member, I can report that there is no enthusiasm in our ranks for having anything to do with a certification program. This is not a commentary on certification, but a declaration of practical limits on our mission and resources.
Speaking for myself, I agree that the credibility of a certification rests with the certifying organization. I think that Lullabot certainly has credibility in the community and in particular through your focus on enabling and empowering people and organizations as they are entering the community.
I had a minor role in helping to establish the ColdFusion certification system several years ago, and one thing that they got right was their solicitation and consideration of community input. I personally took several prototype exams, including one that was given in a commercial testing center.
Although I am not personally a supporter of certification programs, I think that Allaire's thoughtful consideration of community input made for a highly relevant program.
Reputation/Recommendation is thicker than certification...
Just two cents as an alternative idea... have been thinking about what is the most important thing to clients when I engage them. Certifications seem to be the old school way (just think MS certs at $1500/pop or more) of showing your credentials. In my experience I have worked with enough folks that had a resume full of expensive certifications but didn't seem to have two cents worth of customer service skills or business integrity. In open source software there seems to be two kinds of real credibility/reputation... your contributions to the oss project and/or your client recommendations from past work. I have been thinking that a rating system for clients and community members could be an excellent way for the Drupal world to offer the potential client real feedback and some quality control. An Ebay type system (though not without its flaws) or some other such rating system that allows clients and developers a mechanism for publicly available feedback on each other could do the trick.
This could be administered by a credible organization (have discussed the idea somewhat with Acquia because they have already attempted some developer vetting) so the outside world would recognize and trust the ratings. Client Y could register that a project is being built by Developer X and Developer X could agree this is true. Then once the project completes they could each offer feedback and a rating of the other.
This helps solve a few problems for the community:
1. Good developers can build reputation (true certification) beyond posting the proverbial "happy client reviews and logos" on their own sites. (Which I use heavily by the way but also feel can be meaningless because they are not verified in any way.) This also serves the purpose of weeding out the lame duck developers who ditch their clients mid project or deliver half baked goods and move on to the next unsuspecting mark.
2. Good clients can build a reputation and I would imagine have a much easier time of getting new development help should they need it. I know when a client is referred to me with positive feedback from a trusted source on their working process, on-time payment of invoices, etc - I am much more eager to work with and service their needs. This also allows the community to flush out those time/energy sucking clients that seems to bounce from shop to shop getting as much up-front free work as they can before not paying invoices and/or being the general pain in the ass they are. ;)
3. Good developers can then also rate other good developers lending credibility to each other where deserved. This helps the "new guy" who is a solid developer come up through the ranks and land gigs. It also has some self regulation in that a developer with a high rating will be careful about who they recommend and therefore "share" their rating with.
So if I take myself as a use case I have found as a Site Architect/UX Designer/Themer my best contributions to the community have been when I can build attractive and functional/user friendly drupal sites for happy clients who tell all their business buddies Drupal is the best thing since sliced bread. Though not a direct code contribution I have found this gives back to the community which lends itself to building reputation both for myself and Drupal. Ultimately it would seem this kind of feedback is what has propelled Drupal to the level it is at and though it has some impressive technical specs on paper (the equivalent to certifications) it is other clients/users recommendations that bring Drupal into the room. It would be sweet to have a credible place for this feedback to be created, shared, and valued.
well that turned out to be more like 5 cents... :)
Community rated developer / client - just like Angies list
In the spirit of Open Source, I think we should have a service point where we can rate developers and as well as clients.
Especially I am dealing currently with a client who fits the profile you describe in # 2, it is not pleasant. It would be nice to let other developers to be beware of this kind of client.
I think getting a high rating from our past clients will speak volume compared to having a certificate which only speaks for our technical training. If there is a site where we can rate each other that would help to spawn future client-developer relationship.
-Gowri
Training and Certification for end users, not developers
I have such a mixed bag of opinions on this, because I do believe that there is validity in being "certified" in a particular field, I guess I'm saying if you were an airline mechanic, one would need to be certified in airline mechanics. Right? You want your doctor to have a continuing education, and a lot of practice. Right? Ergo, while there is a challenge to certifying developers, it can be done with reasonable accreditation. This is something that post secondary education needs to handle, not the open source community, in my humblest of opinions.
Back peddling though a bit, being certified as a developer from a web site (like w3schools), in any web medium is strictly lip service if you ask me. I've been developing pages for many a year now, have a bachelors in science, certified in Cisco 1,2,3, MOUS, yada yada yada, but if you cant deliver on time, or back up what you do - you're sunk. I've put my foot in my mouth enough with web development, that I know what I can and can't do now. I know I have both a positive and negative reputation in some circles, and I feel I am doing pretty well, no one can win 100% of the time anyways, sometimes you just fall on your face with a client. Learning how to mitigate that is also essential.
I just don't play an active role in any community, because I got tired of social networking in 2005, and I spend my free time off of computers. There are enough people contributing, that when I can offer a comment I do, but I find that most people beat me to it anyways - so my activity in the community has no bearing on my skill level. Funny thing, I am thinking about seeing if I can get one of my helper modules into the Drupal projects, because it helps me all the time to develop faster. So, maybe I am about to eat my own words.
What I do believe is that certification for end-users and end user admins is becoming essential, so much so that I am starting to work through training materials and end user mastery classes, so that my clients actually know how to manage their content.
I believe that end user Drupal training is reaching a critical mass, from my perspective it is much like anything else program wise, you must train the people who use the system to be successful, all my kick ass programming, whatever is mute unless my clients can use it. And right now, no offense - there are just not any good materials for me to point my clients to, online, that covers their work flows and administrative tasks that apply to their business practices, and I am finding that in order to monetize my development, I have to offer many services other than development to make my clients successful, and to me that is offering end user certification and wicked good documentation on their site.
To me, that reputation, my client's, is more important to me than anything, those are the people who bring me business, not the "community". Sorry if that stings a bit. But, I'm a curmudgeon with many web trends that most people latch on to. Remember when javascript and cookies were the devils work? I do, now mostly all I do is jquery and ajax. Funny how things change, but always stay the same. I swear if I hear the word tweet one more time...
Anyways, I think that certification is something that can be given a metric and accredited if done in a post secondary education setting. If you offer differing levels of certification, and someone who has a master's in Drupal knows bloody everything about it - then where is the harm in that?
Training and Certification Per Module Version.
I am particularly interested in the topic of training and certification in the area of Drupal theming.
I see no reason why certification is not being offered based on modules. For example, I am interested in learning the theming of Drupal. I may decide to learn either drupal 5.x, 6.x or 7.x and gain certification for what I have studied.
If you are interested in CCK, Jqwery or views, you gain certification for it and so.
It is time to get started if not already started. WHY?
Certification from "LULLABOT" will be seen and considered as a testimony of competence when dealing with customers because "LULLABOT" is a recognise leader in the training of Drupal development.
Majority of folks come to attend lullabot's training because they want to offer the service of what they have learned online and offline. Therefore certification should come in to assist them to get into business by certifying a particular skill gained related the development of the web
"Failing to provide certification to the people you training is providing failure in a nutshell to the people you train"
PS; It's my personal opinion