certification (Brainbench)

[Dr. David Mertz]

|"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 :-).

Yours, David...

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