I've been thinking about this for sometime now, and wonder what others think of the idea.
Essentially I feel that Joomla is big enough now to be able to set some standards so that when end users (clients) are looking for a developer they might have some type of benchmark or accreditation system that they can see from X or Y developer.

Nothing elitist about this, rather a way to "try" to sort out different operators from the ones who might not carry out their business in the same manner...

Thoughts?

Views: 402

Comment by Martin Rasser on October 15, 2009 at 4:58am
I'd find that extremely good! Zend does that, Google does that etc. It includes a test and a fee and I think that could also be a good fundraiser for Joomla. But this topic should be moved to discussions.
Comment by Norm Douglas on October 15, 2009 at 5:06am
Yes sorry... I must admit I find the ning concept a little confusing... discussion vs forum vs blog
Comment by Wilco Jansen on October 15, 2009 at 5:16am
Certification in general is a good idea. It is a clear sign of the project maturing, so I am all in favor for an official certification program. Setting up such a program is a task that must not be underestimated, it is time consuming and a lot of work. Beside that it needs to have an official status, maybe as co-licence from OSM or maybe directly driven by the project.

Interesting to hear if you have any concrete ideas on setting this up.
Comment by Thomas Kahl on October 15, 2009 at 5:33am
This would be a good thing. But this is discussed since 2005 also concerning certification of 3rd party extensions. It is very difficult to set the standards and do the whole organisational stuff. Until now, there was no solution for this. And i think, this can only be done by the Coreteam / OSM. Maybe it is possible to ask Zend if we could take a PHP 5 Cert Test as a basis and build the Joomla-Test on it.

To be honest, i don't expect something like this before Joomla 3.0 ;-)
Comment by Radek Suski on October 15, 2009 at 5:49am
I think it's great idea. We talked about it also at the JoomlaDay Germany with Roger and Peter.
I think the ITIL certificate could serve as good example.
Comment by Norm Douglas on October 15, 2009 at 5:55am
So this can only be a good thing... I for one would be very interested in helping to set it up. I think that so long as there is many people sharing the load of admin.. such as small groups handling the different areas then it can be done.
Comment by Amy Stephen on October 15, 2009 at 8:23am
I love the idea!

Step one is to work together and write a solid set of tutorials written for developers and document our API. I would put time on this. If we could find ten or so people who would help, I think we could get it done in short order. It would be really awesome to deliver this with Joomla! 1.6.

That type of material could be used then as a basis of certification.

The Drupal community is considering certification, as well. I agree with Dries's comments that this type of activity is best left to the free market, not the Drupal Foundation. Companies like Lullabot, which are in the Drupal Training business, are far better equipped to define and manage this. Lullabot called for interest from the community.

The reputation of the business performing the certification is what helps establish its value and that makes sense to me. There are certifications available now for Joomla, and for Drupal. I these programs are not violating any law by offering this service, nor do they require anyone's permission. Buyer beware, though, that getting a certificate of Joomla! Developer expertise is different from a Acme Training than from Andrew Eddie based on his Art of Joomla! series.

I agree very much with Wilco, certification is a sign of a project maturing, If we want to hasten this, we should try to assemble a team and get some developer documentation going. Doing that would do *wonders* for the quality of code and attract developers, too.
Comment by Arlen Walker on October 15, 2009 at 9:05am
I'm against certifications of any sort, based on principle and past history. They're an exclusionary tool, used to keep Other People Not Like Us at bay, and generally speaking prove nothing beyond the ability of the certified to pay for and take a test.

It's nice to think that test scores actually correlate well with performance in the field, but I've known too many paper CNE's and MCSE's and the like to believe in that particular fairy-story.
Comment by Ricardo Parissi Accioly on October 15, 2009 at 9:08am
I agree with the idea of certification. It is important once the project is mature enought. I belive it is about time for start planning how certification would work.
We could have developers certification, designer certification, company certified... things like that.
I'm here to help and get people from brazil involved with it.
Comment by Akarawuth Tamrareang on October 15, 2009 at 9:19am
Oh! Certification as I know long time ago that's I have been talk about this.

- Certification for User/Admin Level
- Certification for Developer level
- Certification for each Extension (like Microsoft Certification with Microsoft Partner)

the Concern Joomla! is TM of OSM. and this a lot of work to do.
- Cost for Curriculum
- Cost for Examination
- Cost for Tester

every one that's need the Certificate much pay for that.

In Thailand I'm run Joomla! Training too!. and give Certificate for user/admin level with my company name. our student can used this Certificate in their resume and many people can get the full time job.

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