Re: The Informix Certified Professional Program

Dority wrote: >If I were hiring a consultant I'd much rather have someone who was >certified >than someone who claims to know Informix. People are often less than >honest about their skills and provide references that always appear >golden. Perhaps. However, I have encountered people who could pass any reasonable test that Informix could dream up. Still, they couldn't get the work done. >At least you know the person you are hiring has some idea of what's going >on -- I worked on a project where consultants were charging $100/hr and >they >didn't even know to check the sqlca.sqlcode after an sql statement. It >was >really cool when they tried to bring the application live..... > Yes there are consultants who are liars. I find that particularly offensive but it exists. No certification program will protect you from that. You need to ask for references. I think that the best references are from supervisors that you have worked for. If I leave a job in good standing, I always ask my supervisor if I can use their name and telephone number as a reference. I don't think that I have ever been refused. I have also been in the opposite situation. I interviewed a person that had done some work for a person that I was still doing some part time work for. I asked pointiheaded (sp) questions. Is this guy alright? Will he work? The answer that I got was that the guy was good and if the corporation had had any idea of what they wanted him to do, he would have still been there. No one has a working crystal ball. You take your chances. When I interviewed for my present job, the guy that I interviewed with happened to know one of my references. I got hired the next day. I don't know if references were checked but I suspect so. Making judgements concerning who you will hire is tough. That's the reason most of us submit it to committee. Randall Young ryoung@bix.com