Re: Mailing-List and participation

On Fri, 19 Nov 2004 13:51:42 -0500, Karl Dubost <karl@w3.org> wrote:
> 
> Hello :)
> 
> I would like to encourage people to participate and ask their
> questions, even if they seem too simple or too naive for you.

Okay here goes...*ahem*...

Certification.

I believe that one of the best moves that the W3C can make to promote
and encourage best web practices and the embracing of W3C
recommendations is to offer certifications.  Right now, the average
web developer has no real incentive to increase their learning curve
when it comes to the W3C specs and recommendations.  "I don't have
time to learn that 'new stuff' now" is a familiar refrain I hear from
colleagues, who all the while are studying furiously for the latest
esoteric MS certification.

The reason they make time for THAT learning curve is that there's a
financial incentive in it for them.  I could see something like
"Certified W3C Web Developer", etc. as having that same kind of
incentive.  Who would you hire when presented w/ a resume w/ a W3C
certification and one that's not?  And if you can drive people to at
least learn how work with W3C technologies, I have enough faith in
those technologies that once they are learned, they'll be used.

After all, I CAN build a site using a tabled layout and a 1998
approach to web development, but I choose not to because I've learned
an better and more efficient way.  I have every confidence that most
of people who also learn that "better way" will embrace it.  But you
have to have a carrot to dangle in front of them.  Something to make
it worth their while.

I yield the floor for discussions. :-)

-- 
Bryce Fields, Web Developer
Where I Work: Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education
Where I Play: www.royalrodent.com

"Do or do not! There is no try!" -- Yoda

Received on Saturday, 20 November 2004 01:01:04 UTC