Why did you decide to get certified?

I recently posted this question on the CDMP LinkedIn discussion forum, and some interesting responses have been rolling in. The following was posted by Patrick McMullen, Data Architect at the Walt Disney Company (included here with permission):

Wizard of Oz: "Why, anybody can have a brain. That's a very mediocre commodity. Every pusillanimous creature that crawls on the Earth or slinks through slimy seas has a brain. Back where I come from, we have universities, seats of great learning, where men go to become great thinkers. And when they come out, they think deep thoughts and with no more brains than you have. But they have one thing you haven't got: a diploma."

From one company to the next, the degree of commitment to sound architectural principles and IT program management differs. The responsibilities / roles / job descriptions and job titles of data modelers, data architects, data analysts, etc. varies. Passing a series of standardized exams covering a wide range of data management best practices, and meeting the ongoing requirements for continuing professional development, offers potential employers assurance that a candidate possesses broad knowledge and experience in data management. Someone who patches together a few badly designed, poorly documented database tables lacking in referential integrity might claim to have performed "data architecture" on his resume. CDMP certification offers hiring managers the assurance that a candidate possesses real knowledge of Data Management best practices, and a level of commitment to professional development.

Given two individuals with similiar educational achievements - an individual with a diploma, and one who fell 3 credits short of earning a diploma - the individual with the diploma isn't noticeably smarter than his diploma-less counterpart, but that piece of paper will open doors that would otherwise be shut. If, at some point, you may wish to be hired, promoted or simply retained, it would be best to make it easy on management to justify your qualifications. All things being equal, I would rather be the candidate with professional certification.

Dorothy: "How can you talk if you haven't got a brain?"
Scarecrow: "I don't know... But some people without brains do an awful lot of talking... don't they?"

Linked In Membership Growing

I have been getting new member requests weekly, and we now have over 40 members of the CDMP LinkedIn group! There is even starting to be some discussion activity. If you are a Certified Data Management Professional or are actively pursuing certification, you are welcome to join. I hope that this community will grow and the discussions will become more active. Let others know that you are certified by joining the group!

Eva

7 more CDMPs earned at Seattle Bootcamp

Another successful CDMP Bootcamp was held in the Seattle area on October 30-31! This time it was at the Washington School Information Processing Cooperative (WSIPC) TEC center in Everett, right next to Boeing field. Two people came from out of town to join the bootcamp this year. Mona Pomraning came all the way from Texas! Theo Spanos drove up from Portland, also giving the Portland DAMA chapter one more CDMP. The DAMA-PS Chapter and Seattle area now has five new certified data management professionals: Past President Bill Hoke, Jeannette Rodin, John Parent, ChaiJen To, and Jay Gardner.

As always, it was exhausting, but also a great opportunity for data professionals to share knowledge and support each other in working toward a common goal of getting certified. Thanks to WSIPC for allowing the use of their beautiful lab for two days.

Online CDMP Exam Cram November 29 - 30

WEB604 - CDMP Exam Cram

Description: The Certified Data Management Professional (CDMP) is offered by the ICCP and DAMA International (www.dama.org

). This course prepares individuals to take the CDMP examinations. By attending this review session you can improve your likelihood of passing at the Expert/Mastery level by 30%. The CDMP at the Expert/Mastery level can also be used to qualify for the I.S.P. (www.cips.ca

) and also for the CBIP (www.tdwi.org

)

This course is offered virtually in a Webinar format using Elluminate. To register contact the ICCP office at 1-800-843-8227 or office@iccp.org.

TOPICS:
DAY 1:
1. Introductions and course goals
2. CDMP requirements, Test items, Skills-Gap Analysis
3. Item Writer's Guide - strategies to answer questions,
4. Information Systems Core (ISCORE) and related topics.
5. Data Management Exam (DM)

DAY 2: (Specialty Exams)
6. Data Warehousing Exam (DW) and Business Intelligence & Analytics (BIA)
7. Data and Information Quality Exam (DIQ)
8. Data Base Administration Exam (DBA) & Systems Development (SDV)
9. Associated Topics and Next Steps

Length: 2 days
Days: Saturday & Sunday
Time: 12.00pm-6.00pm (EST).
Participant Min: 4; Max: 12
Examinations: 1st examination - within 30 days of course completion.
Proctoring arrangements: USA: ICCP office; Canada: CIPS/PDIT (mjk at cips.ca

)
Registration: USA: contact ICCP office at office@iccp.org; Canada, contact CIPS/PDIT (mjk at cips.ca

)
Fees: USD$295 (reduced fees for ICCP holders and I.S.P. holders using this course for recertification credits - contact CIPS/ICCP office)
CEU Credits: 12 CECs (continuing education credits - 10 CECs = 1 college credit)
Materials: Once registered, you will receive USD$165 worth of course study and reference materials for your future needs.
Pay-if-Pass: For those individuals who register for these courses, you will be able to take the FIRST examination only on a “pay if you pass” basis if the exam is taken with the ICCP office proctoring the exam. Note: for the CDMP Practitioner level the pass rate is 50%.
Instructor: Pat Cupoli, CBIP, CCP, CDMP

The ICCP also has study materials available to purchase. If you go to the following link, http://www.iccp.org/iccpnew/materials.html

you will see the materials available. To order any study materials, you can either call the ICCP office at 1-800-843-8227 and order with a credit card or you can fax an order (fax number: 847-299-4280) or you can mail a check or money order to the ICCP office at 2350 E. Devon Avenue, Suite 115, Des Plaines, IL 60018.

Portland CDMP Bootcamp

The Portland DAMA Chapter has six new Certified Data Management Professionals after this week's CDMP Bootcamp! The first Portland Bootcamp was held on August 25-26, 2008 at The Standard in downtown Portland, OR. On Day 1, the class drilled through sample questions and discussed topics on the Core I.T. exam in the morning. The collective contributions from the class participants helped everyone gain a better understanding of linear programming, accounting and statistics. For many it was just digging out buried knowledge and remembering it was there! After lunch, the Core I.T. exam was given, and EVERYONE passed at the masters level on the first try! What a confidence builder! After that, the group was ready to tackle the Data Management exam, and after discussing the DM study materials for a couple more hours, the exam was given at 4:30 pm. It was a very long but productive day.

After a long Monday, we decided to start day 2 with some quiet time to take specialty exams first thing in the morning or do some individual studying. Then we covered exam questions for the Data Warehouse exam and had some lively discussions about various aspects of data warehousing, the differences between OLAP, ROLAP, HOLAP and other relevant topics. This group clearly had some experienced data warehousing professionals! We ended the day with more exams for those who still had exams to take or retake. Overall it was a very fun and successful Bootcamp! I invite the participants to stay in touch and share their experiences in comments or guest posts on this blog as well.

Zachman Enterprise Architecture Exam ready for beta!

On August 8-10, 2008, a team of ICCP exam developers completed a weekend marathon session in Montreal to create the first ICCP certification exam focused on THE ZACHMAN FRAMEWORK FOR ENTERPRISE ARCHITECTURE™.

The team was comprised of experienced ICCP exam developers Pat Cupoli, Francine Adams, Loretta Smith, Gil Laware, Deborah Henderson and Eva Smith (me), along with subject matter experts John A. Zachman, John P. Zachman (Jr.) and Stan Locke. About 70 questions were submitted by various authors before the session. In over 25 hours of intense discussions, these questions were reviewed in detail, revised and refined by the group. The team also worked together to write more than 4o new questions to complete an initial pool for the 110 question exam. It was quite a memorable experience! :)

The exam will soon be offered as a free beta over the next few months and will be one of the qualifying exams for the CDMP. It covers the latest updates to the Enterprise Architecture Framework, so those interested in taking the exam will want to brush up by studying the most current publications at http://zachmaninternational.com/. (Trust me, you WILL want to brush up on your knowledge of the Framework, even if you think you know it well... Although the basic Framework concepts and principles remain the same, there are some changes in terminology that are covered on this exam.)

Stay tuned for more information about the beta and locations where it will be offered....

First Time In

Thanks for inviting me ! I have been a CMDP ( Masters Level) since 2004 and have just been through the renewal process. It wasn't too painful but there weren't any PDU's available at that time for participation in the organization of Data management - in particular DAMA International. Now there is ! thanks ICCP.