🚀 go-pugleaf

Don Duncan (don@ASSEMBLY.AB.CA) wrote:
:   I have noticed that Edmonton and Calgary have a very high number of
: ISPs. Does anyone have any ideas on the ISP designation? Where does
: it fit in ?  Who needs it and why ? Is it marketable outside Canada ?
: Should it be a prerequisite for a job as say an MBA ? Any thoughts ?

My biggest gripe about the ISP process is that it completely ignores
those of us who've been working in the industry for years but didn't 
have the luxury of a College or University education. Many of us are
self-trained and/or have taken highly-specialized courses appropriate
to our field of work.

Until some means of recognizing ones efforts outside the academic
world exist, the ISP designation will mean little more than the
University or College certificate behind it.

There are plenty of graduates out of work, in fact I have 5 of them
currently working for FREE on a software development project. 

These people need real-world experience, training and references 
before they can get a job. The piece of paper simply isn't enough.

One of Microsoft's senior engineers was recently quoted as saying that
the half-life of their software engineer's skills and knowledge was
between 1.5 and 2 years. This strongly attests to the fact that our
most important skills for the next decade will be to LEARN, RELEARN and
UNLEARN.  Until CIPS recognizes that learning does indeed take place
outside acadamia -- business schools, community college night courses,
on-job training, commercial training, mentoring, self-study, CBT 
and more, only then will the ISP designation become a valued 
differenciator between those who can do the job and those who simply
know how to do it.

By the way, I know what the 'canned' response will be, "take the ICCP
exams and we'll recognize you". My response is simply that why should I
have to spend hundreds of dollars and days of time to write 
introductory-level exams for things that I've been trained, tested and
certified to do and have been doing for years, simply because CIPS
doesn't recognize the organization that trained me.

For now, I'll stick with the International Programmers Guild where I
currently hold a P.Prog. (Professional Programmer) designation. They,
along with most Canadian companies still believe that demonstrated,
proven talent is still more important than a "C" on a transcript.

Marty R. Milette - P.Prog. - CIPS Member
Education Specialist - Application Development Tools - Cognos