Comments on: Developer Certification

By: marcodorantes

marcodorantes — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 13:35:03 +0000

A certification for agile developers? I would, then, expect to be an *agile*
certification, to say the least, that is, that *we/practitioners* come up with
an agile/adaptive/thoughtful way to get such a certification.

The topic is very challenging. A broad view of the history of education, in
contrast with the history of schooling/indoctrination would be needed by those
pursuing the setup of an agile certification, as it would be like certificating
the learning process (in complete contrast with the teaching process).

Moreover, who is the subject of such a certification? Practitioners? Why only
them? Perhaps, a more factual certification could be to certify non-practitioner
roles, like management roles, as they often are more reluctant to learn, to
adapt, to change, to not repeat unconscious behaviors.

By: tobiasmayer

tobiasmayer — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 07:20:16 +0000

I believe the idea of a “certified developer” has nothing to do with Scrum. Scrum is not a software methodology, not a prescribed way of working. It is broader than that. Scrum is a framework for “transforming the the world of work”. It is “…an iterative, incremental framework for developing any product or managing any work”. Creating a certified software developer certificate will push Scrum into a tight corner where it will not be able to grow to be all the things it is capable of being. I find that to be very sad.

I don’t like this movement, and I do not support it.

By: alandd

alandd — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 17:10:40 +0000

Agile skills training for developers is sorely needed. If it takes a certification vehicle to make such training happen, that is fine. Creating such training, in a way that people will desire it AND that it will be useful, will be tricky. But this core team is an impressive line-up!

Thanks for taking this on! I have signed up for the group and will contribute. I’ll be getting up to speed this weekend.

By: Peter Stevens

Peter Stevens — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 15:50:04 +0000

Hi Ron,

I have argued for the necessity of a Developer certification ( http://tinyurl.com/d7jh7a ) and I am glad to see that you are working on this.

Best,

Peter

By: alshall

alshall — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 22:08:28 +0000

Thanks. :) Clear.

By: Ron Jeffries

Ron Jeffries — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 22:04:51 +0000

The Scrum Alliance has asked some of us to work on this. We do not work for the Scrum Alliance and we are trying to figure out what is best for the universe. More on this on the google group.

By: alshall

alshall — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 19:52:07 +0000

Ron:
I am a little unclear. Is this something done under the auspices of the Scrum Alliance or just a group of people who are working on a developer certification. The implication is the SA is leading this but the google group just mentions Agile.

By: haxrchick

haxrchick — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 17:16:36 +0000

Thanks for opening this up. Am not sure how I feel on agile certification, but I do really like the idea of having courses that help developers with agile skills (why only do this for product owners and SMs?). Have joined, hope I can help!

By: TheDarkSavant

TheDarkSavant — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 14:58:34 +0000

I commend you all for taking on such a touchy subject. I’ve always been anti-certification, but I feel you guys can do it right. It won’t be easy, so best of luck.

Sorry I can’t join you in Ann Arbor, but I’ll join the Google group and contribute as best I can.

By: mheusser

mheusser — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 14:55:20 +0000

I’m going to make a concerted effort to attend this, if you’ll have me. The main issue is time away from the office.