Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!mailrus!cs.utexas.edu!usc!srhqla!quad1!ttidca!hollombe From: hollombe@ttidca.TTI.COM (The Polymath) Newsgroups: comp.misc Subject: Re: Author seeks help Message-ID: <7875@ttidca.TTI.COM> Date: 20 Nov 89 21:54:10 GMT References: <14468@well.UUCP> <509@rsiatl.UUCP> <227@jove.dec.com> <1989Nov11.225859.16964@cs.rochester.edu> <1989Nov16.052001.1509@wolves.uucp> Reply-To: hollombe@ttidcb.tti.com (The Polymath) Organization: The Cat Factory Lines: 43 In article <1989Nov16.052001.1509@wolves.uucp> ggw@wolves.UUCP (Gregory G. Woodbury) writes: } I seriously doubt that many of the illustrious names mentioned herein }could fully pass the existing "Certified Data Processor" or similar exam }programs without a *LOT* of difficulty. The preliminary information that }I have received about these programs indicates that the main emphasis of the }programs is to provide some kind of reassurance to the BUSINESS community }that the person holding the title knows about the BUSINESS end of computing, }which most of those reading this have little or no interest in. Certainly, }I would have to learn a tremendous mountain of trivial information about }COBOL, RPG, and mainframe environments to obtain the CDP that would be totally }useless in the UN*X and network environments that we use. To make things }worse, a CDP is the *minimum* sort of thing that they are considering for }the "guru" types of positions that some of our leading net citizens enjoy. I like to think of myself as a hacker. I don't have a CS degree. For the last 4 years I've worked in a C/Unix environment. Prior to that was two years of straight assembler work. (Prior to that was 5 years of misc. programming). I passed the CDP exam (first try, with honors -- ahem (-: ) 3 years ago. I think the technical sections of the CDP exam would be trivial for any hacker worthy of the name. To prepare for the business and management sections I earned "Professional Designations" in Systems Management and Systems Analysis from the UCLA Extension program -- two classes a week for a little over a year. Not my favorite subjects, but doable if you really want that certificate. More to the point, the CDP isn't the only certificate issued by the ICCP. There's also the CCP (Certified Computer Programmer) which is strongly oriented to the technical, computer science side of the field (too much math for me, I'm afraid), and the CSA (Certified Systems Analyst) which has a stronger business orientation. BTW, none of the CDP exams I've seen even mention COBOL, or RPG, in their technical sections. The questions are at a much more abstract level, regarding general principles of hardware and software design, maintenance and use. -- The Polymath (aka: Jerry Hollombe, hollombe@ttidca.tti.com) Illegitimis non Citicorp(+)TTI Carborundum 3100 Ocean Park Blvd. (213) 452-9191, x2483 Santa Monica, CA 90405 {csun|philabs|psivax}!ttidca!hollombe