Workplace skills
by Volker Weber
How many people are certified on IBM Workplace? Worldwide. Counting admins and developers. So one person who is certified for both gets counted twice. You only have to pass one test each for the certs. What do you think?
Comments
My guess is about 112 people ;) but i have seen IBM certifications with fewer certificated people ;)
Here is your career chance. I mean, if IBM sells this baby. ;-)
There's the “if” right there. Oh the stories I could tell about the promise of Workplace...
But I won’t, not in public ;o)
Just seen the exam titles. Oh puh-leese...
“831 -Developing Web Sites Using IBM Workplace Web Content Management 2.5”
My customers want to see Workplace. Of course this doesn't mean they'll actually buy it, but at least I can bill the presentation (and even partly some of the preparation) time.
The potential is there. But it wouldn't be the first time that IBM fails to sell a good product. I have some paper labelled "Certified OS/2 Engineer" lying around somewhere...
Workplace will live or die based on Workplace Designer. I hope IBM is doing whatever they have to in keeping Maureen and (P.) happy.
Certifications won't really matter until the product has momentum.
And why would certifications start to matter once product has momentum?
What's "IBM Workplace", and why should anybody be certified on it ... ?!
Chicken and egg, Slavek. Certifications may not REALLY mean much in the real world, but they do serve two purposes. First, it's something for the CV screeners in HR to use to judge which pile your CV goes in, long before any interviewing goes on. Second, the number of certified professionals on a given platform can be a factor in purchasing -- who wants to buy a system that nobody can support?
The CLP comparison is not really fair. The first exam towards CLP came out what, 10+ years ago? Lots more time for people to take it than the WP exams.
Seems like (someone could ask Barbara Bowen for confirmation) they're trying to certify on the WP "packages" (mail, cm, etc.), not so much on the platform as a whole. I guess that means that the certs are a bit easier to get.
Agree a developer/engineer community is part of the ecosystem and certifications are an attempt to build part of that ecosystem. And for their role the holders of those certifications may/should expect some reward.
It may be just due to my interests changing or my accumulating experience which tells me there is moer to it than just the technology. Having developed solutions based on Notes/Domino as many of you have its reasonable to have one person perform essentially all the roles during the life of a project. Those roles would include requirements gathering and analysis as well as the technical build/deployment and then training. So why does the certification only concentrate on the technology? And why does it ask for sometimes trivial/obscure/inconsequential details of the product?
Isnt it better value for money to get three letters on youor resume that spell MBA instead of CLP? Yes its a different universe, so how about a masters degree in the business processes and human aspects of what IBM/Lotus products implement?
I am one of the ones that carry a Workplace cert. No huge benefit yet but at least I am one step ahead, just in case. LOL
Oh c'mon, Ben. Go ahead and tell us.
Frankly, I lost track of WorkPlace years ago. I've no idea what it is or why I ought to care. And I used to cover IBM as a fulltime journalist.
I also have an OS/2 Certified Engineer cert, Frank. It did once get me a job. The electric company had an opening for an OS/2 network admin. Once they saw I had the cert, the interview was merely a formality. Or at least they wanted to make sure that I wasn't an utter jerk.
