The certification paradox

I’ll start with a real-life story

A young guy asked me which certification program would be a good one to take, and I told him to go for the DCE, for the simple reason that besides the training it is a showcase for getting noticed by potential employers. In fact, after earning his third star he was contacted about a good job and he is switching for a better salary :smile: Happy ending.

Background

Microsoft’s DCE program is free http://www.microsoft.com/spanish/msdn/comunidad/dce/default.asp, and the Empower ISV https://partner.microsoft.com/global/40010429 has an annual cost of US$ 500, with which Microsoft is betting on growing its developer base.

One advantage of the DCE is that it is a showcase to present yourself as a developer and land a job. The bar is high: getting a third star takes time, study, dedication.
In any case, if you want higher levels of certification you have to pay around US$ 100 per exam.

By contrast, RedHat offers its RHCT programs at a cost of US$ 750 or more https://www.redhat.com/training/rhce/courses/.

For Java I looked, but nothing was clear to me because their site shows nothing http://cl.sun.com/service/education/certification/java/java_certpath.html.

Now comes the paradox

If open source is funded by services, the natural thing is that to get certified in Linux I have to pay for a course and pay for the exam (as redhat does). It is true that I can learn linux on my own or for free, but most people want to take a proper course, and that is a good revenue stream for companies built on open source.

The paradox is that companies built on proprietary software, like MS, can give the training away, because they want more developers using their technologies, to get users and programmers hooked.

If people are motivated by improving their income, they will end up choosing the microsoft path, since getting certified costs less.

Open source is trapped by its services model in this respect, because it has to charge for training and certifying professionals, and professionals will take the path of least cost.