Fasten your belt

Which certs are better? These from vendor or those vendor-independent like CompTIA? Or should I go for something non-proctored like Brainbench? Is their cert credible or is it just a scrap-paper? Which is the best credential and which just a fake made for money? There were a lot of discussions about that and there will be on this blog.

But what if there existed something different? What if one could get vendor-independent certification for free and what is more important - gain the respect of the community. Why should the community respect it? Because they've developed the tests by their own! Smells a little bit like one of web 2.0 ideas. And it really works for those who are interested in Java related areas.

What I'm talking about is the JavaBlackBelt Certification Community founded few years ago by John Rizzo and Nicolas Brasseur. The point is not only in certification but also in the fact that everybody can contribute by creating her/his own questions. These are moderated also by the community. I wrote that the exams are for free but actually I lied. For most of them you have to pay with... the contribution points which you've earned by adding/commenting/moderating new test questions.

The exams are taken on-line so what about cheating? JavaBlackBelt answers to that question quite reasonably.

The site keeps your profile where your certification track is stored, divided to levels which are visualized as belts of various colours (like in some martial arts). To achieve the highest, black belt you have to pass around 20 tests.

I think this is a very interesting alternative for Sun certificates all the more JavaBlackBelt exams covers much wider set of Java related skills. There are even more extreme opinions.

Seems like it's true what they say in their logo - they not only certify the developers, they build them.

More interested? See the presentation:
JavaBlackBelt presentation at Javalobby
(those guys are quite funny, have a look at slide number 13 ;))