Link Salary Certifications 2

[pivan]

Need some help here.

I am working on job descriptions and salary grades.

I am considering tying salary levels to certifications that the developers have or need to get in order to come in or move up to the next salary level.

ie: to be hired into or move up to Sr Software Engineer a person would have to have/obtain Sun Java Developers Certification.

to be hired into or move up to Software Engineer a person would have to have/obtain Sun Java Programmers Certification.

Other criteria years of experience in key body of knowledge area and education.

My intent is to provide an objective means for promotion other then the subjective "gee, your a nice guy and you do great work!". Lines of code, as we all know, is a little silly and I am about six months away from truly groking Function Point Analysis. My development staff of 15 people is outstanding and all of pretty much equal experinece and capability. I dont know if I can have 14 Sr Softwar Engineers so I am using certification as a bar between the two-three salary grades.

I would be interested to hear some opinions on this.

Thanks,
Ivan In not now, when?
If not here, where?
If not us, who?

Just do it!!

 

[MasterRacker]

I think forcing people to certify is a waste of time. At a minimum you better not expect them to pay anything out of their pocket for a certification you are requiring.

Obtaining a cert. does not automatically make someone better at their job, therefore automatically promoting them or automatically giving a raise based on a cert. is no better than the "good ole boys" method.

Why can't you have 14 Sr. engrs. and no juniors? Pay for performance. Maybe the titles need to be a little different based on degrees and certs (Ex. "engineer" usually requires at least a B.S. but "designer" is someone who does the same work, makes nearly the same pay if they're good, but doesn't have the sheepskin.)

Do goal based reviews and pay for achievment of the goals and actual production. Measuring production is tough but there are ways. Jeff

If everything seems to be going well: you don't have enough information.......

 

[mrsurrender]

MasterRacker wrote:
> Why can't you have 14 Sr. engrs. and no juniors?

My home is Germany, and I always thought that we Germans tend to look for titles rather than abilities. Maybe my view is wrong.

Even in bigger companies in Germany we try to keep the hierarchical structures more flat than it used to be a few ten years ago. So we don't dissociate titles into senior or junior. Try to keep the titles flat, bring yourself and your employees together in a team, look at the output and the motivation of somebody, and you will get the most "out of it".

 

[mrsurrender]

Oh, I forgot something. Salary.
If it is not the title that makes it, people not obviously expect others to have more income. We hardly talk about salary, still we know that it is different to one another. Maybe it's because I am not employed at a low working level, but still there's something about it, I guess.

 

[pivan]

Thanks for the insight guys.

You both make a lot of good sense. In not now, when?
If not here, where?
If not us, who?

Just do it!!

 

[NoBrakes]

I have watched the industry become more and more cert. centric over the last few years thanks to Cisco. I can tell you with utmost certainty that there are a lot of people who can study for, and pass a test, who aren't worth the paper their cert is printed on. I know several people who studied for and passed the CCIE exam with no real pratical experience. I would no more put them in front of customers than fly to the moon.
If you need to rely on certs to judge your peoples capabilities then you are too far removed from them and their work. Get out of the office and start paying attention to whats going on in your shop. You'll learn real quick who's handling their end of the log and who isn't. #-)