On Sharpening the Saw:

When I typed out that statement, little did I know that Brainbench - that old online testing certification body, announced that for the week of March 5-9 (Mon to Fri) all their tests would be for free. I mean... Wow! Free!!!

Last time I took these tests were in the '90s - I think, when they were still in their introductory phase (in other words, for free). I mean, lets face it... I wasn't in any mood or situation to get certifications that I would have to pay for. But... for free? Well, that changes everything.

So as I perused the topics I would like to consider for certification, I wondered what I would like to be known for... and naturally, what skills did I consider having. After all, even if they're for free, these certifications come with a transcript - and it won't look too good to have passed on, say, the 5th try on something. Plus the fact that I was not entirely free to take these tests the entire day, so I had to maximize my free time (usually evenings).

Well... take these tests I did - and I'm glad to say that will just stock knowledge backing me up, I was able to pass all the exams I took. What exactly were these exams? Below is a screen-shot of the exams I took.

If you look at the list, its a combination of core skills (Coaching, Business Communication, Managing People in the U.S. setting, Presentation Skills, Listening, Problem Solving - Qualitative)and technical skills (Disaster Recovery and Planning, Project Management, Customer Requirements Analysis, Software Business Analysis, RDBMS concepts)... skills that I feel, a consultant of my background should be familiar with.

The nice thing about this? I proved to myself that I did know enough of certain topics - granted, I'd need to review more, but I had the basics (and in one case, the advanced concepts - and not the basics) covered. Yup... I sharpened the saw in taking exams - and by taking the exams, I know I still 'know' some topics - for example, the RDBMS concepts were last taught by me some decades ago.

Since Brainbench loves to say that these certificates come with a three-year coverage, well... lets just say that I can peddle these (if need be) until the end of 2014.

So once again, thank you Brainbench... hope this promo and game repeats itself some time.