[Asterisk-Dev] RE: [Asterisk-biz] Asterisktraining andcertification :: AstriconTraining

[dbruce at bananatel.com]

I think this is going to be a VERY sore topic with many people.

This dCAP training/certification seems to be (according to the edvina.net 
website) a product of Edvina AB and Sokol and Associates. Certification 
itself seems to be tied to Astricon. It also seems to have the blessings of 
Digium. The only mention of it on the Digium website is a link at the bottom 
of the main page linking to the astricon.net site.

So... the BIG questions I envision are:

1) What are the criteria for getting Digiums blessing for a dCAP tarining 
program, or will Edvina and Sokol and Associates be the only entities 
allowed to bestow dCAP certification ? Are there formal specifications and 
curriculum for providing a training course?

2) It has been indicated that BKW (deservedly) will be taken care of as far 
as certification is concerned. Who else will be "taken care of", and what is 
the criteria for someone to be taken care of? Are all the people who 
submitted patches/bugfixes/applications for Asterisk going to be taken care 
of? Are all of the people on the developers list going to be taken care of? 
Are all current users of Asterisk as of a certain date going to be taken 
care of? Are all of the organizations running Asterisk commercially going to 
be taken care of?

I don't think that it is right for Digium to be supporting something like 
this. It creates barriers to entry. The cost of $3275USD is, IMHO, outragous 
considering that literally hundreds (and possibly thousands) of people 
contribute to the success of Asterisk. It creates an artifical barrier to 
entry. Consider the programmer/technician who lives in a developing country: 
The cost of certification, not to mention airfare, is several times their 
yearly salary. A company looking to hire a person for implimentation of an 
Asterisk system will likely choose a person with certification over a person 
without said certification. Even if you don't live in a developing country, 
the cost is still prohibitive.

Should Edvina AB and Sokol and Associates be able to offer Asterisk 
training? Yes, they should... but it should not be Digium certified.

What will be next? maybe "Digium Certified Asterisk Digital TDM Telephony 
Professional" or "Digium Certified Asterisk Analog TDM Telephony 
Professional" or "Digium Certified Asterisk Development Professional"?

Asterisk is "Open Source". If someone has the knowledge and the talent to 
make it into a product offering, then they should be able to do so without 
any artificial barriers such as certification. Their offering should stand 
on it's own merits. Digium should be a neutral entity in this.

Lastly, a specific question for Daniel Pocock: Your message seems to 
indicate that you are a contractor. In your win-win-win situation, how would 
you react if your employer/contractee decided that, although your work for 
them was/is exceptional, they were only going to award subsequent contracts 
to a dCAP certified individual or organization?

Regards,

Derek Bruce

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "joachim" <zoachien at securax.org>
To: "Asterisk Developers Mailing List" <asterisk-dev at lists.digium.com>
Sent: Monday, December 20, 2004 3:49 AM
Subject: Re: [Asterisk-Dev] RE: [Asterisk-biz] Asterisktraining 
andcertification :: AstriconTraining


> Frankly, I dont think you really know Brian.
>
> Brian should not take any exam, he should be  the one asking the 
> questions.
> He was just worried other people, with a certificate, would be considered 
> more valuable as consultants even if they only know a fraction of what he 
> knows, forcing him to get a certificate too and have to pay and spend time 
> on something pro forma.
>
> Its not the same as "all he wanted is a free cert".
>
> Talking to Bkw with words as "bothering us", sounds very inappropriate 
> especially for someone coming to asterisk-dev for some support on choppy 
> audio.
>
> Go bitch somewhere else.
>
> Zoa.
>
> Bruno Hertz wrote:
>
>>On Mon, 2004-12-20 at 00:43 -0600, Brian West wrote:
>>
>>
>>>and said he would take care of it... :P
>>>
>>
>>Frankly, it was pretty obvious that all you wanted is a free cert.
>>Why not 'talk to Mark' in the first place instead of bothering us?
>>
>>Regards, Bruno.
>>
>>
>>
>>
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