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Comment by jon_dahl | Hacker News Reader

This is better than most "college is a waste" articles, but it repeats a common mistake: thinking that people are hired for their skills. When I'm hiring, I don't want someone with a "web design" certificate or a "Python programming" certificate, or (worse) a "sales and marketing" certificate. I want someone who is smart, passionate, loves to learn, thinks creatively, knows how to write, and is enjoyable to work with. These things can't be governed by a certificate system. Of course, they also don't correlate strongly with a college diploma. But there is some correlation, at least with some majors - give me a philosophy major over a business major any day.

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And all else being equal, wouldn't the test help you? If you can, it's probably best to hire based on things like passion and creativity. But if your main python developer quits two weeks from your launch date, it might be more convenient to hire someone who already knows the language, and can prove it.

Related post from Jamis Buck: http://weblog.jamisbuck.org/2006/11/10/just-say-no-to-certif...

This is kind of how I feel too. I agree that a college degree may not be a good indicator of skills. But is the solution really more standardized testing? The data on standardized testing is pretty clear: It leads to teaching and learning to the test. Which is great if the test encompasses absolutely all skills and knowledge that people are supposed to have, but that's not the case.

People need to give up the idea that it's easy to evaluate people. It's not, you can't just look at some one-dimensional number. (Be it GPA or some certification score.) If you want to really know their strengths and weaknesses, you need to get to know people.

Yeah, and I think the point the author makes is that a college degree is just as bad an indicator of that as a certificate with a number on it. If you want someone with those qualities you can interview them and find out.

>I want someone who is smart, passionate, loves to learn, thinks creatively, knows how to write, and is enjoyable to work with. These things can't be governed by a certificate system.

Yea, plus, those details can change with time. People can be moody, motivated one day, slack the next. Those details can be influenced by a lot of internal & external factors. So yea, that's a good point.

You could create certification tests for those as well - general knowledge test, creativity test, writing test, personality test

I'm not sure if you were being sarcastic or not. I can see it now: "I'm a certified Awesome Dude."

No I'm being serious, and "Awesome Dude" is in the eye of the beholder, you can only really judge that in interviewing.

How would you suggest certifying creativity?

"Creativity test" to me sounds like something that wouldn't work well.

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