Certified StupidityIs the technical certification game finally changing?

Jason McCayCommonThread

Format

Basic BeliefIndividual certifications are too easy to game and therefore questionable in their value.

February 12, 2009 10:45 PM

Obie FernandezHashRocket

RMM(Rails Maturity Model)

Disciplinevs.

Unwashed Masses(they’re stinky)

Rewind to 1989

PMM(Process Maturity Model)

Watts HumphreyCarnegie-Mellon

Fast-Forward to 1994

CMM(Capability Maturity Model)

Initial (Chaotic or Ad-Hoc)

Repeatable

Defined

Managed / Quantified

Optimized

Five Main Levels

Present DayBack safe and sound in good old 2009

($1.00 to Marty McFly)

Obie FernandezHashRocket

RMM 0 (“Cowboy” Level)

RMM 1 (“Negative” Level)

RMM 2 (“Positive” Level)

RMM 3 (“Master” Level)

Levels of RMM

No formal development process

No test coverage

No standardized business practices

Static analysis failures

Where have all the cowboys gone?

Agile software development practices

100% test coverage

100% pair programming

Formal and standardized business practices

Successful deploys with considerable scaling demands

Institutionalized continuous learning

Master Jedi

The Rails CommunityWe enjoy edginess.

We don’t like a corporate “feel”.

We especially don’t like “certifications”

The questions and accusations came fast and furious...

Who decides what is appropriate?

Aren’t these just things you like to do at HashRocket?

What metrics are you using to gauge?

This method seems easy to game!

Who in the world could audit something like this?

Doesn’t this screw the individual developer?

Isn’t this just a round-a-bout certification process? We don’t like those!

This will kill innovation.

In response...

RMM is bornRailsMaturityModel.com

Basic Principles

A la carte approach to practices

No attempts to set up a certification

No attempts to define one model “to rule them all”

Auditing downplayed

Focus on customer feedback

Best practices to attain to.

Quick Examples

Distributed Version Control

Everyone Together

Pair Programming

UI Specialist Role

Pets Allowed in Office

On-Site Customer

Questions

Are certifications pointless or invaluable in your organization?

Would this be a better approach for your team?

How would your team perceive being judged using these metrics?

How do you think you would do?

Are you more Ad-Hoc than you are willing to admit?

Thanks!http://www.railsmaturitymodel.com

http://blog.obiefernandez.com/content/2009/02/rails-maturity-model.html

http://www.commonthread.com