Proposal: How about a professional Amiga certification?
 

And now for something completely different.

Hi guys and gals,
Some of you know me, most of you don’t. I’ve been in the Amiga scene for all 28 years of its life and like many of you I’ve had periods of increased and decreased passion for the platform - sometimes making money from it, and other times just enjoying having a cool retro computer on my desk.

And like many of you, I’ve learned a lot about the Amiga ecosystem – both OS and HW, and I find that the Amiga forces me to think about fundamental computer concepts that are increasingly less mainstream now that easy computing has become so ubiquitous. For example, I hold a Microsoft MCSA networking certification. This (in theory) means that I can plan, implement and maintain an enterprise-scale network of Windows based computers. But I never really use this knowledge. When I went to setup AmiTCP on an A4000 I was surprised to find that it was the first time I’d had to seriously think about network topology since… well… since the last time I needed to setup a network on an Amiga! And while I was setting up the network, I had to figure out what kind of wireless bridge I wanted to use, what SANA drivers were best optimized, whether I should consider an alternate stack like Miami or Roadshow.
How often in Mac, Linux, or Windows do you seriously have to sit and think about the tradeoffs of the TCP/IP stack you are using?

In fact, I’d say I’ve spent far more hours repairing and upgrading Amigas and installing and configuring AmigaOS than I ever have or will any other platform. And that’s saying something since I was the Operations General Manager of Interconnection.org – the largest NGO<->NGO refurbishing/repair operation in the US!

This got me thinking, if we’ve spent hundreds or even thousands of hours studying Amiga, why don’t we have anything to show for it? My particular MCSA certification is for Windows 2000, which is considered legacy (end-of-life) by Microsoft, but is still a valid professional certification. But when it comes to networking, computer repair, programming, or just about anything else my Amiga knowledge is the true foundation.

So this is my proposal: a legitimate professional certification on legacy computers, starting with Amiga. The aim of the certification is to demonstrate that the possessor has deep knowledge of the implementation and maintenance of Amiga software and hardware. A certification and governing body could be formed virtually within the Amiga community and refined over time.

Thoughts?

One question: what would be the purpose of this certification? Plus, I think most users of Amigas today deserve a certificate for - if nothing else - stubbornness ;)

A 'certificate' is usually handed out by the cooperation that produces the hard/software. It's a bit hard to imagine that one of the current Amiga companies will start doing that...

A community driven certificate might not be really helpful in real life, but if anyone fancies to cover an empty spot on the wall it might come in handy ;)

Effectively the same purposes one would use an A+ or MCSE/MCSA – business cards, resumes, LinkedIn, covering a hole in the wall (thanks TCD!), etc.

Anticipating the logical next question: Why not get a universally recognized CNE or MCSE or something?

Retro computing enthusiasts have somehow – perhaps it just is through sheer stubbornness - managed to keep the platform just viable enough that it’s still a world-class way to learn the basics of networking, computer maintenance, programming, OS configuration, and so on. It seems wasteful and perhaps even a little monopolistic that we have to reply on Microsoft or Cisco or somebody to allow us to be considered networking or OS specialists, particularly since that MCSE you earned for Windows 3.11 or that CNE you earned for Netware is probably less relevant that what we are doing on Amiga today.

I agree that there is no Amiga to govern this sort of thing, but that does not stop CompTIA from running the A+ program, which is the baseline certification for computer skills. I've seen enough A+ students at InterConnection to know that we occupy a completely different strata. In real life, we are the people that these folks come to when they can’t figure something out.

But are the skills acquired on Amiga really relevant to some company requiring a person with MCP/MCSA/MCSE? The basics are the same, sure, but on the MCSE level? I don't think so.
I'm more of a linux person than a Windows one, but I got a MCP certification for a simple reason: the company I worked at some time ago required a certain amount of people with Microsoft certificates so they could get some kind of Microsoft Partner status, and that's why I got certified. Didn't matter much to the company that I know most of internet protocols inside and out (you get that by being a Slackware user ;)), or even less that I know my way around AmigaOS. They wanted MCP. Likewise for a ISP company or the like: they will probably require a CCNA certificate.

And we have to be realistic: although we love our Amigas, the average Joe probably never heard of it, much less to understand the applicability of the acquired knowledge of an Amiga user.

I hear you. And I think most of us are at a stage in our life that we don’t need IT certifications. And we really don’t need one to prove our Amiga prowess.

But you could argue that we didn’t need to hook our Amigas up to HDMI displays, or bridge our SCSI controllers to an SD card. We do it because it’s a part of the Amiga experience and because we want to do it.

This is along that same vein.

Amiga is an alternate computer world that never quite caught on, but it’s our own world and we get to make of it what we want. That’s what is appealing about this certification idea. We don’t need the rest of the corporate world to bless this idea any more than we needed them to bless us when we wanted to add USB, discover a chemical way of reversing UV discoloration, or make 16-color displays appear to look like 256 color displays.

No matter how true your intent, creating status and division in any community,
which is the unavoidable result, is not a good thing.

This would be no more a status division than those of us who have an '060 or PPC card or an A1, and those who elect not to get one. I know a lot of us have sig lines that brag about the hardware we own, but I'm not sure that's being done to create a rift in the community.

Most of what I see being done in Amiga is along the lines of "You probably thought Amiga was dead but look what unlikely thing its doing today!"

If IT Certification is about creating a baseline of assumed knowledge, for when you have to interact with possibly unkown people in and between large organisations, then I don't see how this is relevant to Amiga these days and even less how being certified on Amiga, (somehow?), would help you in any current IT field. Of course I agree that you learn a lot about general computing concepts by setting up and using Amigas, but an obscure qualification adds nothing to this imho. The know how is what you get for your 1000s of hours, relevant parts automatically help you if you are an IT pro.

The Amiga platform is too small and mostly hobbyist. You don't need certification for stuff you do in your spare time. I'd be surprised if there were more than a couple of hundred people who are computing professionals working primarily on Amiga, and I bet they all know each other.

If you're into using Amigas, you don't look for any kind of official tech support, excepting the few new products, even then you will deal with a specific person like Jens rather than some random certified employee. You come to a forum like this where anyone who has encountered and solved your problem will be happy to help and you don't need to see Toni Wilens certificate to trust his competence on winUAE matters.

I agree totally. The point would not be to certify that some of us are special "go-to Amiga gurus". It would be to gift our community with a technical certification that is unique to only Amigans. Any Amiga user could test and almost certainly qualify for it because Amiga users have spent thousands of hours immersed in the platform (versus the dozens of hours that your average A+ certified individual has spent with Windows.)

And I see that a main theme here is the idea that this certification would not be in any way useful in the "real world" and I don't necessarily disagree, but do we really know it would not be respectable? My experience has been that most certifications are often very arbitrary and not relevant to the job role (if job roles are what you want to talk about...) In fact, check out many entry level computer jobs and they may say under experience desired: MCP, A+, or equivalent. But MCP and A+ are suites of totally different and sometimes unrelated certifications! Is an A+ cert in printer repair really the same as an MCP in Access 2000? Actually for a lot of jobs - it pretty much is! Not that I'm saying we need these particular jobs. I'm really saying that as long as people put weight in the concept of a technical certification, rather than the content of the certification, why not at least have a cool certification rather than (or in addition to) a lame one?

Do a quick search on "Why learn Latin" and you see that there are arguments to be made for learning the dead language because it is considered foundational to language skills in general, even if it isn't used in one's everyday life/career. Why can't a retro computing certification be foundational to computing skills in general, even if it isn't used in one's everyday IT job?

This thread is now the official register of qualified Amigans.

Match or exceed the listed requirements and record your username here making the following declaration;

I xxxxxx do solemnly declare that I meet the requirements to be considered an experienced Amigan. I promise to keep this party going and to live my life two weeks at a time.

Requirements:

Human
Alive
Amiga user for 10+ years
Can plug in a joystick
Can insert floppy
Can have fun

---------------------------------

I DDNI do solemnly declare that I meet the requirements to be considered an experienced Amigan. I promise to keep this party going and to live my life two weeks at a time.

Hey you guys, you aren't taking it seriously enough!

I got a freaking certificate on a silly LAN-Party here in my place with a couple of guys goddamit, this is serious business!

http://i.imgur.com/hGIn5HT.jpg

Isn't this TJ's A1000? Either way, I'm swiping it. Be back in a sec...

Okay - due to the overwhelming positive feedback I've gone ahead and created a very short sample cert test for you guys to try out and help optimize.


http://www.thebitplanes.com/archives/283

Thanks, but it seems to be some sort of editable pdf?

:great Question 7 :D

11 out of 12. Just one wrong...

83,33. 2 incorrect. I am satisfied.

About 30 of us have tried it! All but 2 have passed with 70% or greater correct answers.
I've added a ton (sorry, a tonne) more questions and set it to dispense a dozen sample questions randomly from the pool.