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| GeoCommunity Mailing List |
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| Mailing List Archives |
| Subject: | RE: [gislist] GIS Certification? |
| Date: |
06/10/2004 10:35:01 AM |
| From: |
Anthony Quartararo |
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I have visited. I've been following this since early rumblings of it at
URISA surfaced with Dr. Huxhold, and I was actually an early support of it.
Reality and experience changed all that. I see numbers things to download
on the site, but what I don't see is examples of this "portfolio"
measurement process, or the criteria used to compare one person's
"portfolio" vs. the next person to apply. You'll no doubt see where I am
going with this, and as has been asserted by others in addition to myself on
this list and elsewhere, the measuring system for determining certification
qualifications can never be so comprehensive enough to truly be meaningful,
and as a direct consequence of this, it must be broad, generalized and very,
very subjective. Which leads to the still unanswered call for a clear and
unambiguous explanation for why we (the industry and consumers of the
industry products) need certified professionals ?
Jack, Preetha, David Maguire, Peter Batty, Xavier Lopez, Warren Ferguson,
Stewart Asbury, the Bentley brothers, Bob Samborski, Don Cooke, and dozens
of others that have contributed enormously to our industry, it's best
practices, it's technology, it's pervasiveness also have one more thing in
common. None has been certified (to-date to my knowledge), and certainly,
during their most fruitful years, they were not. Would anyone consider not
hiring or working with any of them because of a questionable lack of
competence because of a failure to demonstrate certification. Granted, many
if not all of the above may now voice support for certification, just like
they do for OGC initiatives, but that does not mean they buy the whole
farm....
You artfully dodged the main thrust of my last post:
"When certified
> professionals, who until the day prior to certification were
> providing sub-par products, services or performance, are
> still providing that same level of poor service and
> performance the day AFTER certification, who's going to take
> responsibility and say "uh, maybe this wasn't such a grand idea...."."
Anthony
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Scott Grams [mailto:sgrams@urisa.org]
> Sent: Thursday, June 10, 2004 11:11 AM
> To: Anthony Quartararo: gislist@lists.thinkburst.com
> Subject: RE: [gislist] GIS Certification?
>
> Anthony,
>
> The former CEO of Kinkos would be proud. The GISCI
> Certification program is not examination based. It does not
> favor good test takers who memorize facts. It is a portfolio
> based system that looks at an individuals educational
> achievement, professional experience, and contributions back
> to the profession. Please visit www.gisci.org for more information.
>
> Regards,
> Scott Grams
> GISCI Certification Manager
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: gislist-bounces@lists.geocomm.com
> [mailto:gislist-bounces@lists.geocomm.com]On Behalf Of
> Anthony Quartararo
> Sent: Thursday, June 10, 2004 10:02 AM
> To: gislist@lists.thinkburst.com
> Subject: RE: [gislist] GIS Certification?
>
>
> I've made my opinion known on this subject in the past. I
> really hate to say "I told you so...". This whole
> certification initiative is a SOLUTION looking for a PROBLEM.
> Really now, what was the original impetus for starting this
> effort waaaay back when ? How on earth did the GIS industry
> ever make it this far WITHOUT "certified" professionals ?
> One sure way to stifle innovation, creativity and
> entrepreneurial endeavors is to suffocate would-be
> professionals with certification requirements mandated by
> Governments without full consideration for the
> intended/unintended consequences. Again, I draw the analogy
> that many in the GIS industry would be all-to-familiar with:
> an ISO-9000 certified/registered company that still manages
> to delivery crap. How can this be? This company would have
> had to put in place a quality management system,
> documentation, internal audits, training, continuous
> improvement campaigns, endure annual external audits and
> re-certification audits, and after all that jazz, still churn
> out crap.....all the while, using the ubiquitous and
> overblown "ISO certified"
> logo on marketing materials and blasting everyone within
> earshot that they have an ISO system in place. Does this
> sound familiar to you ?
>
> Well, back to the certification initiative. Remember those
> people in school who were great test takers? Multiple
> choice, True or False? Interesting interview with the founder
> and former CEO of Kinkos the other day on the news, said his
> father came home one night and found him doing homework late
> at night, and asked what he was doing
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