Re: [NOVICE] PostgreSQL Training

Quoting Chris Travers <chris@travelamericas.com>:

> Before I begin, I think that most of us agree on the following points:
>
> 1:  The PostgreSQL project is not in a position at the moment to bless
> any attempt to create an official curriculum or certification.
>
> 2:  The idea of patterning PostgreSQL certifications on Microsoft exams
> is patently offensive as a paper PostgreSQL Certified DBA could do a
> whole lot more damage than a paper MCSE.
>
> 3:  We are all for leveraging as many advocacy tools as possible.
>
> 4:  It is not easy to get PostgreSQL-specific training at the moment for
> many people on this list.

I totally agree with 1 - 3 but I don't understand what you mean in 4.  Can you
explain further?

> On Thu, 2003-12-11 at 04:49, Stephan Szabo wrote:
> > On Wed, 10 Dec 2003, Tom Lane wrote:
>
> > > I think there *would* be resistance to labeling anything as "official
> > > PostgreSQL certification", mainly because of the problem of who gets
> > > to decide which things are "official".  No one will object if companies
> >
> > If we wanted something like that, it'd presumably end up being the
> > community's responsibility to be doing some level of oversight. Possibly
> > initial test/class material creation would be done that way too.  I don't
> > really think we have people that could put in the effort necessary to
> > build and then maintain such a system at the moment though, but I'm not
> > sure that such a thing would necessarily be impossible.
> >
> Obviously, it is impossible to set up an official
> curriculum/certification at this stage.  But I still think it could be
> done in a gradual way.  Here is how we *could* do it.  Note that this is
> NOT an overnight fix and will probably take years or decades to get to
> the point where we have community approved standard certification.  We
> may never even get there.  I think that is OK and things that are worth
> doing are worth doing well and a graduated approach will mean that there
> is some benefit to be had well before we get to the end-game.
>
> Here is a clearer picture of what I am proposing:
>
> 1:  The development of a community curriculum project officially
> separate from the PostgreSQL project, but working closely with the
> PostgreSQL advocacy community.  This would lead to:
>
> 2:  The development of a community approved curriculum outline.  The
> outline would not specify a temporal but rather a logical order covering
> all topics the community feels must be covered in order to be considered
> proficient with PostgreSQL.  Much of the information could be
> product-inspecific.  This would lead to:
>
> 3:  The development of curriculums derivative of the outline by members
> and third parties.  It could also lead to online tutorials, references
> (above and beyond the Postgrsql documentation).  At some point a
> non-profit organization may need to be formed to manage the ability of
> others to claim that their curriculums complied with the outline.  Third
> parties, such as Brainbench may be persuaded to offer some
> certifications of this sort as well.
>
> 4:  Eventually such an organization may wish to create a certification
> process for PostgreSQL skill.  This would likely include an exam similar
> to the CCIE or RHCE-- a theory written test, an installation/database
> design hands-on test, and a troubleshooting/fix this install hands on
> test.  This would likely be a LONG way away and would be predicated on
> having a large community of trainers and examiners around the world.

Ok, I see what you're trying to do.  In looking at this it occurs to me that one
 of the way to aid in this effort is through more tech documents.  For instance,
I have asked before what is the recommended procedure or stategy for recovering
a database that has "crashed".  Something like that is wide open (and might not
even be the correct language) but several tech notes addressing specific
scenarios would not only aid in actually helping someone but would also document
real situation that could then be tested on.  Extending that scenario to other
area would build a nice library/knowledge base for the community which was be
more formalize and more efficient that searching through the newsgroups.

<other stuff deleted>

>
> Best Wishes,
> Chris Travers


--
Keith C. Perry, MS E.E.
Director of Networks & Applications
VCSN, Inc.
http://vcsn.com

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