Funny thing happened on the way to work today

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Funny thing happened on the way to work today

... I stopped by a VUE testing center to earn the Advanced Certified ColdFusion MX 7 Developer status. On a whim last night I signed up for a test first thing this morning on my way to work.

In 2001 I read the complete ColdFusion 5 Certification Study Guide and completed all 9 test exams in CF Buster before getting the Adv CF5 Cert Dev, but this time I thought why not just take a whack at it to see how I do cold.

This makes the 4th certification this quarter, also including:

posted on 1 June, 2006 at 10:55 AM.
Learning, ColdFusion | Comments (13)

Comments

Congratulations! I havent even thought about taking this test, I still have the allaire/macromedia certificate for Coldfusion 5 Advanced (both certificates strangely enough). I wonder if I would pass the advanced coldfusion MX 7?

comment by Mark Drew, posted at 6/1/06 12:15 PM

So not to be stupid or anything but did you pass? What was your thought about going in Cold vs. the other method? I actually did the same thing for the original exam (Guide and CF Buster).

i guess if you didn't pass you would not have drawn attention to it but I am curious about the study - no study approach.

comment by Ron West, posted at 6/1/06 3:58 PM

Ah... Yes, I did. I guess I didn't state it clearly, but that's what I meant when I mentioned I stopped by to earn it. 86%, which gets Advanced, so not bad for just walking in. :)

comment by Steven, posted at 6/1/06 4:01 PM

homey... any idea if there wil be testing available for CFMX7 at CFunited?

danke schoen tw

comment by tony of the weeg clan, posted at 6/1/06 10:23 PM

Tony, I don't see CFMX7 Certification on the CFUNITED venue description, so I've asked the organizers to confirm. I'll let you know.

Also, I wanted to link this thread to a relevant discussion about the value of IT certifications that occurred on Sean Corefield's blog in 2004:

http://corfield.org/blog/index.cfm/do/blog.entry/e...

comment by Steven, posted at 6/2/06 10:57 AM

Hey Steven,

How was the security course? I am planning on taking it, just wondering how difficult the questions are.

btw nice blog

comment by Erhan, posted at 7/8/06 7:12 PM

Erhan, the Stanford Security Certificate is not very expensive, and it required 8 hours of online lecture. I had to watch the programs twice to let it all sink in. Some material was already familiar to me, but it provided a comprehensive survey of a wide range of topics. The test is fairly short, but they are very strict and require 100% to pass. I'd say its tougher than the ColdFusion exam, but not nearly as hard as the RHCE.

comment by Steven Erat, posted at 7/8/06 8:20 PM

Thanks for the response

yeah, the course is 400 bucks, will probably register it on monday. The only thing that bugged me was the 100% pass, Do you have any tips on this?

Thanks again.

comment by Erhan, posted at 7/9/06 2:52 AM

The good news is that each subsection has its own short test, and you have 3 chances to pass each one (with 100% each). Take good notes when you watch the lectures because the test questions draw from concepts that were explained (in audio) but are not written explicity in the presentation materials.

If your goal is just to pass the exam without wanting to soak up the information, then I would watch the first subsection then take short exam for that section. If you don't pass, then watch the first subsection again, and take the exam again. You can do this up to 3 times. Assuming you pass the first exam at some point, move on and focus just on the second subsection, repeating the lecture once for each time you attempt the short exam after it.

If your goal is really to learn the material, then I would watch the whole 8 hours once while taking good notes, then go back and watch the first subsection and take the first exam. Repeat for each of the other sections similar to the strategy I mentioned earlier. I think this way you would be sure to watch the whole course material twice, which helps it sink in. Using just the first strategy you might get lucky and pass each sub-test the first time, resulting in having watched the 8 hour course just once, and maybe the information doesn't stick as well as if you watched it all twice.

comment by Steven Erat, posted at 7/9/06 6:39 PM

Thanks alot Steve! I will try your second suggestion!

its just that I am a horrible multiple-choice test taker. :) Having 3 tries is a good thing, and I guess all 3 are different questions I assume.

-Erhan

comment by Erhan, posted at 7/10/06 3:52 AM

IMHO, I really think that test should be more difficult. Don't know if things have changed, but the MX 6 exam didn't require much logical reasoning or creativity, just know what the tags do and you'll at least pass. I know it isn't meant to be an IQ test but it really should provide more value in the end. If I was hiring a CF developer the last thing I would care to know is whether they've got the CF cert.

comment by Daniel, posted at 7/17/06 10:34 AM

Yes, the term "Certification" can mean many things, from a full University program, to performance based hands-on exam (RHCE), to a 60 minute multiple choice. As an employer, I wouldn't discredit everything labelled as a "certification", but I'd look carefully at what level of learning and experience the certification type represents.

There was a long discussion on Sean's blog a couple years back:
http://corfield.org/blog/index.cfm/do/blog.entry/e...

comment by Steven Erat, posted at 7/18/06 12:15 PM

If your goal is really to learn the material, then I would watch the whole 8 hours once while taking good notes, then go back and watch the first subsection and take the first exam. Repeat for each of the other sections similar to the strategy I mentioned earlier. I think this way you would be sure to watch the whole course material twice, which helps it sink in. Using just the first strategy you might get lucky and pass each sub-test the first time, resulting in having watched the 8 hour course just once, and maybe the information doesn't stick as well as if you watched it all twice. Not my original post but I strongly agree with this. I just want to ask if you passed and how does it feel?

comment by Hintless, posted at 6/12/09 12:47 PM

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I live west of Boston and work as a Software Engineer with ColdFusion and Flex, specializing in Linux. Recently I graduated in Professional Digital Photography from CDIA.