Check if you can what certification your next employer has.
That's the one that will be most useful to you. Just a matter of churches.
Marc
Can anybody comment on what certifications would be better for a seasoned software configuration manager?
Among these:
CMII
CMMI
ITIL V3
Or others?
Thanks
Tags:
17 Answers
I dont have a next employer. I have a current one but they use neither. Just curious what certifications a seasoned configuration manager should go after and the order of best to not as good.
Are you talking about CM as its defined as including the functions of planning, identification, configuration (change) management/control, status accounting and auditing
OR
are you talking about the focus on maintaining files and tracking change requests?
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It also depends upon where you are - U.S., U.K., another country?
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Assuming you are in the U.S., then my biased opinion is that the one from NDIA is the best for a wholistic approach to CM. I also think the fact that you are "well seasoned" would bend in this direction as well.
(NDIA has three levels of certification, Manager, Specialist, and Apprentice.)
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My understanding of CMII is that you would have to take courses and exams on various parts of CM so cost and time may be restricting factors.
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I don't know of any other CM certifications.
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ITIL and CMMI are not CM certifications.
that is being evaluated - obviously if possible - it is always great to partner rather than just reinventing the wheel.
Obviously, CM Certifications should be aligned with industry standards (e.g. ISO, IEEE, EIA) and frameworks (e.g. Cobit, IEEE, ITIL).
Bob
Everyone, I am a new CM for 5 seperate networks, totaling approximately 3500 users. I am coming from a All around Comm installer/maintainer background, and have been "upgraded" to the CM.
I am employed by the USAF and I've been reading extensively regarding the ITIL vs NDIA vs CMTF ideals of CM.
I currently have the ITIL v3 Foundations certification, and am seeing disparities versus the e gov't enterprise network structures and ITIL.
Which certification would you , in my position, go for? NDIA or ITIL? I would especially like to know from those who have worked in military/gov't CM postitions or project manager positions.
Most of the certifications that are on the market right now focus on Hardware CM - which is great - except they don't really cover the software work that is being done.
We are working on putting together training and a certification for Software CM that will require a knowledge of relevant standards and frameworks also an acknowledgement of specializations (e.g. build engineering) to make it relevant to the work that we do on a day-to-day basis.
Also, the concept of certification itself assumes a "closed" state-of-things. No thinking allowed: it's all done. Nobody even seems to think that it would be paradoxical to have to manage things that are so well-defined. Of course, there is no need to manage this 'knowledge'. It is itself out-of-scope!
It is just a case of layered thinking, which leads to infinite regress. The only alternative I know is self-reference (or strange loop, or autopoiesis, or eat-your-own-dog-food).
Management as open collaboration.
Marc
BobAiello wrote: "Most of the certifications that are on the market right now focus on Hardware CM - which is great - except they don't really cover the software work that is being done."
Please explain what is done in software CM that is not done in hardware CM. And please don't use Build as an example because that is not a CM function; it is a production function that may be assigned to a CM person. In other words, if you are supposed to make coffee every morning, that does not make "coffee supply" a CM function.
CM is CM is CM...whether the business is creating LRWD's or AI software.
There you go again...
Marc writes..." In fact you use this as a way to escape discussion, as an argument of authority."
I guess you actually know his intent. Maybe he just liked the list?
anyway, I suggest that we all take deep and respect each other's views on this one. I have my opinion. Marc - I think you have yours and we should obviously respect each other's views...
I had not seen this one. Again, it will require class-time and $$$, but it looked interesting.
http://www.cmpic.com/enterprise-configuration-management.htm
[quote="bglangston" post=101970]I had not seen this one. Again, it will require class-time and $$$, but it looked interesting.[/quote]
SCM should be something else than a juicy market.
I don't find certifications interesting, especially without any argumentation.
Marc
Marc wrote:[quote]SCM should be something else than a juicy market.
I don't find certifications interesting, especially without any argumentation.[/quote]
Your post gives rise to three points:
1. Since very few appear to have embraced SCM as you state it, it follows that there won't be a juicy market for it, again, as you state SCM.
2. Since SCM as you describe it (or not describe it) would have no rules, no guiding principles, or standards of practice, there can be no certification for it.
3. Since you don't find certifications interesting, then why are you addressing the subject?
On another subject, my post for the CMPIC was for the benefit of Lance, who you might recall, posted the original question in this thread.
Marc,
You refuse to define SCM, yet you say you describe it. I have read what you have written ten years ago, it makes no sense. You have tried to create this schism in a field where one doesn't need to exist and never will. There is no SCM versus CM, CM versus HCM, HCM versus SCM, Tools versus CM or SCM versus Tools.
Now you will say I am insulting you, but I am not I just don't understand why this issue exists or even needs too? I am sure Billy would agree that he does not define what CM or SCM is he is simply a practitioner of it, period, he might even disagree with some of its principles, but he knows that CM and SCM are bigger than him that while he might disagree he can't change what the industry experts have defined.
Things need definition, without it we have no understanding, or common ground. While you are free to write your ideas, others are free to not only contradict those ideas, but also refute them as worthless, in their honest opinions. This is not a direct insult to the person simply their writing.
Regards,
Joe
With apologies to the bard, "The gentleman doth protest too much, methinks."
As to my not reading it, the first question is, "How do you know what I've read or not read?" Oh, wait. I get it. If I disagree with you, then I must not have read it. That must be the answer because the logic is somehow infallible. Therefore, if a person does not agree, then it must be that the reader is too simple of mind to grasp the concept or too illogical in thinking to follow the reasoning.
Regarding "CM applided to Software" as the only consideration for SCM, that is simply not a true statement. In fact, one rather lengthy thread in which you participated, discussed the very concept of what is intended by the term "SCM."
With reference to "CM is a matter of talking," nothing could be further from the truth. This overly simplistic statement leaves me wondering if you have ever read any CM standard or CM portion of an industrial model (e.g., CMMI, ITIL, or ToGOF, to name but three). You might start with ISO 10007 for a standard; the "guts" of it is only two or three pages.
I must confess that I do not know anything about your SCM. Further, I am yet to find anything to elucidate the subject.
You can rest assured, however, that should such a source appear, I shall not waste a moment looking it up.
[quote="jptownsend" post=101988]others are free to not only contradict those ideas, but also refute them as worthless[/quote]But nobody has ever even tried to *refute* my arguments. Telling blandly that my 'opinions' are 'worthless' is no refutation! Not under any definition of that term!
If you read what I wrote, in the previous message, you should have noticed that I *explained* what's wrong with requiring a definition!
There is a circle: you have to first admit that there exists a definition (independent from any tool, since produced in plain *language*), which then *applies* to 'reality'.
Where is the circle? In that this way you cannot let the definition *emerge* from the reality. This is precisely the case of SCM: the [i]management[/i] it provides is based on the tool, and cannot be produced without it.
In fact, this is the general case in linguistics: words take their meanings from specific experiences. The meaning is grounded in metaphors and prototypes.
Marc
[quote="bglangston" post=101989]As to my not reading it, ... Oh, wait. I get it.[/quote]No, no, much simpler! You did it again! Instead of reading, you 'get' it!
You had missed the word 'should', so you went wild ranting on your own fantasies. You just like talking too much, and lack practice of reading.
Marc
Actually, what I "get" is the sentence that immediately follows "...I get it." You know, the sentence that reads, "If I disagree with you, then I must not have read it." That is the only reason I can deduce for your comment that I don't read what you write.
You wrote:
[quote]...so you went wild ranting on your own fantasies. You just like talking too much, and lack practice of reading.[/quote] A bit of the pot calling the kettle "black" maybe? Hmmmm?
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