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certification (Brainbench)

Bengt Richter bokr at oz.net
Fri Feb 15 15:55:30 EST 2002 
On Fri, 15 Feb 2002 14:01:49 -0500, "Dr. David Mertz" <mertz at gnosis.cx> wrote:

>|"Trung Hoang" <thoa0025 at mail.usyd.edu.au> wrote in message
>|> i was wondering if i can get certified with python from an
>|> internationally recognised company?
>
>"Emile van Sebille" <emile at fenx.com> wrote previously:
>|I don't know if they're still doing it, but at one point Brainbench.com
>|was working on competency testing, and IIRC, gearing that towards
>|employers and prospective employees. http://www.brainbench.com/
>
>Let me chime in slightly, given the thread.  I happen to have *written*
>the Brainbench Python exam.
>
>Unfortunately, my experience in working with Brainbench so was not
>positive.  Aside from being a real PITA to work with, and not paying me
>nearly enough for my time, I really did not feel that their guidelines
>allowed production of nearly as good a test as was possible.  I have/had
>some background in test design, and it was painful to me to work through
>constraining and poorly conceived Brainbench test creation guidelines.
>Even after creating the exam as best I could within their framework (bad
>creation software also), they still required me to go back and
>rephrase/restructure many question for the worse.  In the end, I felt
>bad about creating something that is seriously flawed as a
>skills-validation tool.
>
>In other words, I don't believe that Brainbench's Python exam is a
>*good* testing tool.  I can't speak specifically for other topics; I did
>not write them, and never took one (except some initial playing around
>in a topic I didn't really know, just to get a feel for the mechanics of
>the exams).
>
>That said, the original question was from someone who wanted a
>certificate.  You can certainly take the Brainbench exam, and get a
>piece of paper out of the process.  There's not necessarily a need to
>forward my criticisms to your potential employer :-).
>
What would your thoughts be re an automated exam as a PSF - licensed free
collaborative project? Maybe even the exam definition itself could somehow
feed off a wiki-like process, if you constrained formats appropriately
for defining test elements?

Regards,
Bengt Richter
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