Informix Certification Exam Thoughts???

All: With the recent post "End of an era" http://groups.google.com/group/comp.databases.informix/browse_thread/thread/9a837ede581746bd/0f7e2a1caa7f6024?show_docid=0f7e2a1caa7f6024 I'd like to hear your thought about the Informix certification program since I'm working down that path. Is this a certification worth pursuing? My employer uses Informix and I'd like to know if this is a worth while effort and is there a future taking on this career path decission? Thank you, Christopher

When Informix started their certification program, I had 5+ years of Informix under my belt. Because I consider myself more of a logical DBA and not a 'tuner', I took a pass on the IDS certification. Some of my friends who also had 5+ years at the time laughed at the certification because they and I viewed as a way for Informix to make a couple of bucks off of us. The truth is that if you do the work, and have verifiable references, you can get work without the certification. Plus I know DBAs who have been certified on platforms like Oracle that couldn't do the job. But they could study for certification tests. ;-) And that's the real problem. Most of the certification tests don't really measure what you know and can do, but what you can remember from your book work. A lot of the questions deal with not which is the correct answer, but what is the most correct answer and how we can stump the test taker. This isn't true of just Informix and DB2 tests, but also of Oracle and others. But the problem is that people don't check references and resumes. They take comfort in that you've got that cheap piece of paper that says you're 'certified'. (In my case and also in OTC's case, some of those pieces of paper say 'certifiable'... ;-) Because of that, I'd say take the test if you can get your company to pay for it. Even if Informix goes away, the fact that you spent X years in a technology will give you a leg up over others. I'll be honest, there have been projects where I could snooze through the PM role that the client chose a less qualified git because he spent the money to get his PMP. Clients don't understand that PM training was/is part of Software Engineering training, nor do they understand that an Engineering degree is a wee bit more in depth than other programs in terms of formal training. So you may want to consider that because customers are sold on the concept, you may have to take those tests. YMMV -G > From: cesmiga@gmail.com > Subject: Informix Certification Exam Thoughts??? > Date: Sat, 25 Jul 2009 09:43:43 -0700 > To: informix-list@iiug.org > > All: > > With the recent post "End of an era" > > http://groups.google.com/group/comp.databases.informix/browse_thread/thread/9a837ede581746bd/0f7e2a1caa7f6024?show_docid=0f7e2a1caa7f6024 > > I'd like to hear your thought about the Informix certification program > since I'm working down that path. Is this a certification worth > pursuing? My employer uses Informix and I'd like to know if this is a > worth while effort and is there a future taking on this career path > decission? > > Thank you, > Christopher > _______________________________________________ > Informix-list mailing list > Informix-list@iiug.org > http://www.iiug.org/mailman/listinfo/informix-list _________________________________________________________________ Windows Live™ Hotmail®: Search, add, and share the web’s latest sports videos. Check it out. http://www.windowslive.com/Online/Hotmail/Campaign/QuickAdd?ocid=TXT_TAGLM_WL_QA_HM_sports_videos_072009&cat=sports

"epsilon" <cesmiga@gmail.com> wrote in message news:c9793a1a-8143-4639-bbf5-cb492a79d08b@j9g2000vbp.googlegroups.com... > All: > > With the recent post "End of an era" > > http://groups.google.com/group/comp.databases.informix/browse_thread/thread/9a837ede581746bd/0f7e2a1caa7f6024?show_docid=0f7e2a1caa7f6024 > > I'd like to hear your thought about the Informix certification program > since I'm working down that path. Is this a certification worth > pursuing? My employer uses Informix and I'd like to know if this is a > worth while effort and is there a future taking on this career path > decission? Informix is an interesting economic case. There is a very small, slowly dwindling, and rapidly ageing supply. But, thanks to a lack of promotion, there's also a gently decreasing demand. My personal experience is that no-one has ever asked me about my certifications, and as a hirer it's not something that features at all in my "essentials" or even very highly in my list of "nice to haves". I think it's unlikely to be important. But other cultures (US, India, China ...) seem to place a higher premium on academic or professional achievement.

On Jul 25, 9:13 pm, "Captain Pedantic" <theharlequi...@hotmail.com> wrote: > "epsilon" <cesm...@gmail.com> wrote in message > > news:c9793a1a-8143-4639-bbf5-cb492a79d08b@j9g2000vbp.googlegroups.com... > > > All: > > > With the recent post "End of an era" > > >http://groups.google.com/group/comp.databases.informix/browse_thread/... > > > I'd like to hear your thought about the Informix certification program > > since I'm working down that path.  Is this a certification worth > > pursuing?  My employer uses Informix and I'd like to know if this is a > > worth while effort and is there a future taking on this career path > > decission? > > Informix is an interesting economic case.  There is a very small, slowly > dwindling, and rapidly ageing supply.  But, thanks to a lack of promotion, > there's also a gently decreasing demand. > > My personal experience is that no-one has ever asked me about my > certifications, and as a hirer it's not something that features at all in my > "essentials" or even very highly in my list of "nice to haves". > > I think it's unlikely to be important.  But other cultures (US, India, China > ...) seem to place a higher premium on academic or professional achievement. Certification is never bad I believe Informix certification is recognised by IBM PartnerWorld. If you join an IBM Business Partner they can gain partner points through your Informix certifications. As IBM moves to a controlled software distribution model these certifications will become more important for business partners who want to resell IDS