1) To verify that a 'trusted' certifying group recognizes this certificate bearers abilities to be in line with recognized industry standards and abilities. (directly relate-able to a job or business)
2) To indicate said certificate bearer is in line with the thinking and philosophy of a particular group, with social reknown (educational and social use)
3) A discussion piece. (a topic starter or like a vanity plate)
In todays society, 1 and 2 are primarily the reason for certs. First one being the main driving force as schools tend to churn out kids that have book learning and no real practical experience. Someones gotta weed out the wannabes.
What does one "Do" with a Master Beekeeper Certification?
Me? I would toss it onthe large pile of other certs i have. just because you have a cert doesn't mean you know what your doing and doesn't make you successful at what your doing. Anyone can pass a test. its not hard at all.
Knowlege is easy to aquire, but application of that knowlege is rare to find. AKA wisdom
One can use it to establish some level of credibility and experience in order to obtain employment in a bee related field.
Well i suppose it can be but i honestly think its used more for getting more money.
One can use it to convey 'trustworthiness' and knowledge to establish ones own business reputation
???? Trustworthiness?? Sorry but i dont' see that. The cert doesn't magically give character to the individual.
One can use it to establish they have a recognized educational and experience background to provide instruction to others.
True on educational, but not true on experience. Like i said, anyone can pass tests, and be a booklearned expert. Experience only comes from getting out there and doing it and quite frankly most book learned experts have none that i have met.
If you have said certificate, how do you use it? in your job? to help others? a bragging point?
To use as a tool to get more money.
Certificates such as a Master Beekeeper Certificate are often largely scrutinized and viewed with skepticism. Technology in every industry changes over time. "Acceptable" methodologies change over time. Some fields are so vast in terms of approach and type (such as the how many types of honey bees there are, so many different methods of breeding, etc....) That certifications are difficult to cover the entire spectrum and there fore on specialties.
Good, you see the fallacy in certs. They only certify your basic abilities.
If you support such certification, please indicate YOUR support and the reasons FOR YOU only.
I don't support or support them. Their a piece of paper. A cert would make absolutely no difference in any decision i might make in hiring or not hiring a individual. ONLY application of their knowledge in a live situation can do that. Then and only then can one make a intelligent decision on hiring.
If you are skeptical of such certification, please indicate YOUR skepticism and the reasons FOR YOU only.
Certs are given in a pre canned situation. It basically says, yeah that guy knows what a honeybee is and what race it might be and some of the diseases that might be encounterd. Specifically, I have a pesticide applicators license. It follows the same reaasoning and testing of a bee cert. Disease control, types of bees, sanitation, ect ect ect....
The test for applicators license is around 200 questions long and you go through the same thing of scenario questioning. Its basically logic and common sense
I have had to use those certifications in a business/work purpose and even though I am in a position to have need of certifications, I am skeptical about those holding them as I have had plenty of first hand experience of working with others who have the same certifications yet are not able to demonstrate the same capacity to perform as others in similar position.
I too have truckdriving and IT background. Never got a certification for driving a truck. Just passed the DOT physical, got my DL and started driving. They came up with the certs after i started. Now i have all the qualifications to handle hazmat, explosives, oxidizers, and a half a dozen other "certifications" I've driving doubles, trips and other various forms. Certs most certainly do not invoke higher safety or excellence in the industry. I've seen idiots driving every day that have certs and they are absolute Jerks on the road with no regard for safety.
On the IT certs. They started those because graduates with degrees were coming out and couldn't even identify the on off switch on a computer.
First one that really came out was the A++ cert. Its a joke. I don't have one, and will never have one. waste of my time in it. I do have Sun certs 2.5 - 11 and the ONLY reason i got them was to get more money. I would get my cert and ask for a raise, or go to another company and with the cert they increased my pay by 5 a hour or so.
I never needed any certs in the IT. My experience was that of no one had a certification for the experience i have and had. BTW don't have anything higher than a AS degree either, and i can walk in and land a Sr. Unix admin job making 120 -150 k a year if i so desire. Just can't physically handle the stress anymore after 6 heart attacks and 2 bypasses caused by the industry stress.
In the end, to me, holding the certification is not proof of ability, it always falls back to evaluating the individual based on what they demonstrate, not they paper they have.
Big Bear
AMEN To that. I have in the past, interviewed guys with all kinds of certs, and degrees and no common sense. In my hiring process i would require all applicants to fix a computer problem in the computer room.
It would be a server that i had setup to do failures. They might fix one thing and it would go to another failure, and so on and so on. I would have probably gone through 100 applications or so and then whittle them down to 10 that i would interview, and out of those 10, the one who found the problems, fixed them, and offered a suggestion to increase stability or security got the job. Oh and one thing i would test every applicant that got an interview on was, I would invite them for a interview, and tell them casual shirt pants, no ties or suits cause they would most likely be getting dirty or something. IF they showed up in a suit, or tie, they got the standard 15 min interview and on their way. If they couldn't follow instructions for the first meet, then i didn't need them on my team.