[OSGeo-Discuss] Certification commitee

[Daniel Brookshier]

The Object Management Group has a certification program. They make a  
good amount of money supplying both the proctored test and training.

http://www.omg.org/uml-certification/index.htm

Daniel Brookshier
Community Manager
Office: 972-422-5261
Cell: 214-207-6614


On Mar 15, 2006, at 12:09 AM, Frank Warmerdam wrote:

> dmcilhagga at dmsolutions.ca wrote:
>> Another consideration on this is that certification is often a  
>> value-add
>> that companies provide around open source technologies, so there is
>> potential for this to cause competition between OSGEO and the  
>> companies
>> that are selling services and products around the technologies.
> >
>> The open source geospatial industry has not yet begun to offer  
>> this kind
>> of service, but it may come quickly given the rapid maturation  
>> that is
>> currently happenning.
>
>
> Dave,
>
> I'm not sure I have seen many certification efforts where a third  
> party
> company does all the certification stuff.  I guess I am most familiar
> with certifications where a company certifies people on their own  
> technology
> (like Microsoft and MSCE).
>
> Are you concerned about a scenario where a companies wishes to promote
> a certification on a product (say GRASS for example) that it does the
> testing and certification for?  And that OSGeo might be competing with
> that company if it also tried to provide a certification for GRASS?
>
> While I suppose this is possible, it seems to me that a certification
> would (or could) have more credibility if coming from a relatively  
> neutral
> organizations, like OSGeo, that doesn't pursue the certification  
> from a
> profit motive.  In any event, if we were to do so, I think the  
> effort would
> have to be in cooperation with the PSC of the affected projects.
>
> On a number of fronts I too am concerned about OSGeo possibly  
> competing with
> it's own members.  But this hadn't occured to me as one that might  
> be an
> issue.
>
> > I'm not saying that this shouldn't happen -- just that it should  
> be done
> > with sensitivity to the issue. I'd be hopeful that a  
> certification process
> > could be done in a way that is complementary to services offerred by
> > companies around open source.
>
> Well, I certainly think if we pursued certification it should be  
> because:
>  o It helps services companies convince clients of their  
> professionalism.
>  o Gives user organizations a way of identifying competent  
> integrators.
>
> That is, my objective would be to grow the size and effectiveness  
> of the
> open source geospatial services sector.
>
> As Uchoa noted, this could be quite important in government  
> procurement
> situations in Brazil and elsewhere.
>
> One thing I was wondering was whether it would make sense for OSGeo to
> "farm out" the certification process to a private company to  
> administer
> under the supervision of the project PSC(s) and an OSGeo certification
> committee.  There is some risk in apparent favoritism in selecting one
> company to do such a job, but farming it out in this manner might be
> necessary to getting things off the ground in a serious and  
> professional
> way.
>
> Best regards,
> -- 
> --------------------------------------- 
> +--------------------------------------
> I set the clouds in motion - turn up   | Frank Warmerdam,  
> warmerdam at pobox.com
> light and sound - activate the windows | http://pobox.com/~warmerdam
> and watch the world go round - Rush    | President OSGF, http:// 
> osgeo.org
>
>
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------
> To unsubscribe, e-mail: discuss-unsubscribe at mail.osgeo.org
> For additional commands, e-mail: discuss-help at mail.osgeo.org
>