One of the requirements of a psychometrically valid certification program is that each certification must have an expiration date. A certified individual must periodically provide evidence that they still have the necessary skills required by the certification. The BSDA certification expires at the end of five years.
Two methods are available for certification renewal which reflect standard psychometric practices as well as the community-based approach of the BSD Certification Group. Certificants can apply for recertification up to six months before or after their certification expires.
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"Prior to this partnership, we were only able to offer paper-based exams at hosted events in a limited number of cities," indicated Dru Lavigne, Chair of the BSD Certification Group. "We are pleased to be working with SMT which provides testing services in a secure manner at a reasonable cost. This allows us to increase exam availability while still keeping the cost of the exam affordable."
Sean Colton, Director of IQT, said, "We are excited about working with an organization of BSDCG's caliber and assisting them with transitioning their exams to IQT's secure, candidate-friendly CBT environment."
Details on the testing center locations are available in the FAQ section of the BSD Certification website. Exam candidates can continue to use their existing BSDCG ID and use the BSD certification registration website to pay for their examination. Once paid, examinees have a year to schedule and take their examination at their testing center location of choice. In addition to the testing centers, the BSDCG will continue to offer paper-based exams at hosted events.
About the BSD Certification Group:
The BSD Certification Group (BSDCG) is a non-profit organization committed to creating and maintaining a global certification standard for system administration on BSD based operating systems. The BSDCG works with the BSD and sysadmin communities in order to provide a practical and relevant certification.
About Schroeder Measurement Technologies:
SCHROEDER MEASUREMENT TECHNOLOGIES, INC (SMT) is a leading international exam development company offering a wide range of examination and related support services to organizations that sponsor certification and licensing programs. SMT applies innovative technologies and methodologies to ensure cost-effective exam solutions for clients in the healthcare, information technology, professional, trade and government markets. For more information please go to http://www.smttest.com.
About Iso-Quality Testing:
Iso-Quality Testing, Inc. (IQT) is an international test administration company that provides secure, user-friendly, high quality, and reasonably-priced computer-based test delivery services to credentialing bodies, and the candidates they serve, at proctored test sites on almost every continent of the world. More information is available from http://www.isoqualitytesting.com.
The 78 page document outlines 11 knowledge domains, each containing a number of objectives, that form the basis of the certification. The document, a collaborative effort by members of the BSD community, is a followup effort to the BSDP Job Task Analysis report published earlier this year.
"The BSDP Certification Requirements Document provides a comprehensive set of objectives that a BSD Professional should master, ranging from general system administration to advanced security and system maintenance," said Babak Farrokhi, a seasoned BSD administrator and author of 'Network Administration with FreeBSD 7'.
Set to launch in 2011, the BSD Professional certification exam has been in development for over two years. Since the launch of the BSD Associate exam in 2008, there has been a continual effort to put together a certification for the next level of achievement for BSD system administrators.
"The BSD Professional certification is aimed at assessing practical skills of senior level BSD system administrators," said Jim Brown, BSDCG board member. "With the publication of these objectives, the BSD Certification Group is aiming to produce a high quality certification, giving the computing industry a new standard for excellence in system administration."
The BSDP Requirements document is available as a downloadable PDF in English.
The BSD Certification Group (BSDCG) is a non-profit organization committed to creating and maintaining a global certification standard for system administration on BSD based operating systems. The BSDCG works with the BSD and sysadmin communities in order to provide a practical and relevant certification.
]]>The nominees for the open one-year positions on the BSDCG Board of Directors were as follows:
At the BSDCert BoD meeting of Tuesday, August 24th, the Board decided to enlarge the BoD from the current five members to seven. No objections to any of the nominees were raised during the general membership open discussion period. Under the circumstances, the election period was deemed unnecessary.
As of August 30, 2010, the members and expiry dates for the BSDCG Board of Directors are as follows:
More information about the duties of the Board and the election process can be found in the BSDCG bylaws.
About the BSD Certification Group
The BSD Certification Group (BSDCG) is a non-profit organization committed to creating and maintaining a global certification standard for system administration on BSD based operating systems. The BSDCG works with the BSD and sysadmin communities in order to provide a practical and relevant certification.
]]>These positions are for one year terms, starting at the end of the election process. Directors are asked to participate in monthly meetings, and to help set the overall direction of the BSD Certification Group. The details are described in the BSDCG Bylaws.
Anyone from the general BSD community can be nominated, including individuals in interested organizations or companies. Anonymous nominations will be accepted, but please consider copying the nominee on the nomination email. A single nomination is sufficient to list the nominee in the election.
Membership in the BSDCG is welcome and encouraged, but not necessary, to submit a nomination or to be nominated. Directors must be members, so nominees who are not already members should be willing to join.
Please send nominations to nominations.
The non-voting Election Coordinator, James Lane, will acknowledge receipt of each nomination. Each nominee will be confirmed by email, so please include the nominee's email address in the nomination. The names of the confirmed nominees along with the number of nominations received by each will be published shortly after the close of nominations.
The current board is:
The report covers the purpose and methodology of the survey and includes evaluations of over 200 system administration tasks. The BSD Certification Group, psychometrician, and subject matter experts will use findings in the report to assist in the development of the BSD Professional certification requirements, exam objectives, and exam delivery method.
"The results from this survey were very interesting, especially the comments," said Jim Brown, Vice President of the BSD Certification Group.
"Once again, many people took the time and effort to explain in detail their views of what is important in BSD system administration such as installation, backup and recovery, security, troubleshooting, and surprisingly, working with Windows. It gives us a much clearer view of what the BSD community expects a senior level BSD system administrator to know," Brown added.
The PDF of the report is available in English.
More information on BSD Certification can be found at our website.
]]>This survey is designed to collect the views of both the BSD community and employers on the kinds of tasks that are performed by advanced BSD system administrators in their day-to-day duties. The survey records the Importance and Frequency for these tasks for later psychometric analysis.
The survey will assist the BSD Certification Group in clarifying what material should be covered in the exam objectives for the BSD Professional Certification Exam. It is an important first step in the certification process. It is also an excellent way for the BSD community to get directly involved in the certification effort.
The survey features a standard browser interface and takes approximately 20-25 minutes to complete. Translations of the survey are underway and should be available within several days. They will be announced as soon as they are available. All surveys will be available for a period of several weeks. The final end date for the English survey will be October 16, 2009.
We encourage everyone to complete the survey themselves, and refer others to the survey. If you know any employers, educators, or others who may be interested in BSD certification, please let them know about the survey.
More information on BSD Certification can be found at our website: http://www.bsdcertification.org
]]>devGuide.net's BSD Associate certification exam preparation courses will be held in Europe on the following dates:
BSD Essentials Training for Certification Hamburg, May 4 -- May 8, 2009 Choose the 'Special Interest Groups' ticket.
BSD Essentials Training for Certification London, June 8 -- June 12, 2009 Choose the 'Special Interest Groups' ticket.
BSD Essentials Training for Certification Amsterdam, July 27 -- July 31, 2009 Choose the 'Special Interest Groups' ticket.
Special rates are available for members of user groups and groups of 5 or more registering together.
The cost of the training includes the BSD Associate exam test fee and we will be providing a testing room for students as well as anyone else who would like to take the test at the course location.
Included in the course price are lunch, tea, coffee, and sandwiches.
Members of the public can register for the exam only at the BSD Certification registration website. Those interested in taking the course should register directly through devGuide.net.
About devGuide.net
devGuide.net Ltd. provides custom training for the users of the BSD and Linux families of operating systems and other Open Source software. Established in 2003 by Jacek Artymiak, the author of "Building Firewalls with OpenBSD and PF", devGuide.net Ltd. has helped over 200 clients, from top Fortune 100 to SME enterprises, reduce costs and gain competitive edge by providing advice and customized training for their employees and contractors.
About the BSD Certification Group
The BSD Certification Group (BSDCG) is a non-profit organization committed to creating and maintaining a global certification standard for system administration on BSD based operating systems. The BSDCG works with the BSD and sysadmin communities in order to provide a practical and relevant certification.
]]>The board of directors will be expanded to five members with Dru Lavigne and Jim Brown continuing their terms until 2010. Responsibilities may include participating in monthly meetings and helping set the direction of the BSD Certification Group.
Nominations may be emailed until April 3, 2009. Please consider carbon copying the person being nominated on the email.
The non-voting chair, Phil Nelson from the NetBSD community, will acknowledge receipt of each nomination and confirm the nominees. The names of the confirmed nominees along with the number of nominations received by each will be published by mid April.
The eligible BSDCG members will hold an internal vote and the public announcement of the new Directors should be announced by mid May, 2009.
For more details, see the BSDCG bylaws.
About the BSD Certification Group
The BSD Certification Group (BSDCG) is a non-profit organization committed to creating and maintaining a global certification standard for system administration on BSD based operating systems. The BSDCG works with the BSD and sysadmin communities in order to provide a practical and relevant certification.
]]>Starting from February 2009, FreeBSD Brasil LTDA will operate as a BSD Certification Testing Center for Brazil. FreeBSD Brasil LTDA offers local Proctors for the BSDA certification exam in Belo Horizonte, Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo. Exam sessions can be arranged anywhere else in Brazil and Latin America. In this case the nearest proctor will run the exam.
Exams will be offered in 3 different ways:
1 - Individual Pre-Scheduled Exams
Interested candidates who live in or who can travel to Belo Horizonte can use the BSDA registration website to create their BSDCG-ID and pay as usual. When selecting the Exam Location, they will choose:
"FreeBSD Brasil: Phone to Schedule Date and Time (Brazil & Latin America only)"
They can then pre-schedule a mutually agreed upon exam time by telephone. Individual Pre-Scheduled Exams have to be scheduled by telephone, at least 72 hours before the desired date.
2 - IT Conferences and Events
Exams may still be available at Conferences and Events in Brazil. The main targeted yearly events are CONISLI and FISLI, but proctors can be made available to offer the Exam(s) whenever a Conference and Event is interested.
3 - Under Request
If you wish to have an Exam Session in your company, conference or school, or if you have a number of friends interested in taking the Exam, contact FreeBSD Brasil LTDA to discuss all relevant details.
Proctors are also available for countries in Latin America. Contact FreeBSD Brasil LTDA to make the necessary arrangements.
About FreeBSD Brasil LTDA
FreeBSD Brasil LTDA is a company that specializes in FreeBSD Training, Consulting and Support. Since its founding in 2002, it has trained over two thousand professionals, works with some of the biggest companies in Brazil and Government, is run by active community members and FreeBSD commiters, and has a history of having all its employees contributing within the FreeBSD Project. Its founders have been part of the BSDCG effort since its beginning. FreeBSD Brasil also supports the BSDCG by proving infra-structure, like servers and connectivity.
About the BSD Certification Exams in Brazil
More information, in Portuguese, about the BSD Certification Exams in Brazil can be found in the company's web site.
About the BSD Certification Group
The BSD Certification Group (BSDCG) is a non-profit organization committed to creating and maintaining a global certification standard for system administration on BSD based operating systems. The BSDCG works with the BSD and sysadmin communities in order to provide a practical and relevant certification.
]]>Location:
I3C TI - Soluções em Open Source
http://www.iccc.com.br
Av Romualdo Galvão, 1981, 1o. Andar
Lagoa Nova, Natal/RN
Referência: proximo ao Midway Mall - Trecho, entre Av Bernado Vieira e Rua Antonio Basilio
Pre-Registration is Required:
Preregister at http://beta.bsdcertification.org:8080/bsdsme/registration
Bring a piece of photo ID with you to the exam.
There are a limited number of seats. If you pre-register and find you are unable to attend, please email Dru (her address will be in the registration confirmation email) so your seat can be made available to someone else.
Who can participate in the beta?
The intended audience of the BSDA exam is junior level administrators of BSD systems. If you are a working sysadmin with some experience on BSD systems, an instructor who teaches system administration and/or BSD systems, or someone with at least 6 months experience in using BSD systems, you can assist the BSD Certification Group by participating in the beta. We suggest that you skim through the BSDA Exam Objectives to familiarize yourself with the type of material being tested. The objectives are available for download from BSD Cert Site.
What will the beta exam be like?
What benefits do beta testers receive?
NOTE: Beta exam takers who pass the beta exam will NOT become BSDA certified once the beta period ends. The purpose of a beta exam is to gather the necessary metrics to validate an examination, meaning beta exam questions may not yet fairly reflect the skills being certified. Beta testers will receive their score report via email approximately 6-8 weeks after the beta period is finished.
Beta exam takers will receive the following benefits:
If you still have any further doubts, please send us a message to brazil@bsdcertification.org (portuguese language is OK).
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Depending upon the amount of beta testers and the quality of the metrics obtained through the beta trials, additional venues may be required. Please contact the BSD Certification Group if you would like to host a venue and can register at least 20 beta testers.
What will the beta exam be like?
What benefits do beta testers receive?
NOTE: Beta exam takers who pass the beta exam will NOT become BSDA certified once the beta period ends. The purpose of a beta exam is to gather the necessary metrics to validate an examination, meaning beta exam questions may not yet fairly reflect the skills being certified. Beta testers will receive their score report via email approximately 6-8 weeks after the beta period is finished.
Beta exam takers will receive the following benefits:
Who can participate in the beta?
Anyone who has not participated as a SME for this exam is eligible to participate in the beta (see the SME policy link). The intended audience of the BSDA exam is junior level administrators of BSD systems. To assist in obtaining quality metrics we suggest:
How do I register for the beta?
A registration link will be announced in mid-April. It will include the exact times and locations for each venue.
]]>Sept 11, 2006 -- BSD Certification Group Inc. Publishes Test Delivery Survey Report
The BSD Certification Group (BSDCG) published its Test Delivery Survey Report today. This report summarizes the results from a recent survey of potential testing candidates to determine their geographic locations, the price they are willing to pay to take an examination, and their thoughts on various methods for delivering IT certification exams.
From the report`s introduction: "The costs and restrictions imposed by the current test delivery reality have proven problematic to the BSDCG for several reasons...It is obvious that gathering input from the BSD community and potential testing candidates is an important step in determining if the existing solutions are `good enough` and, if they are not, what features should be incorporated into a custom test delivery solution."
Randi Harper, Operations Engineer at Catalis, had this to say about the report: "Although there is clearly a great interest in having a recognized BSD certification exam, one of the greatest challenges will be finding a cost-effective way to deliver the test. Since a majority of the testing candidates will be paying for the exam themselves, the cost of the test will be a major limiting factor in the number of people that take the exam."
The report is available for download from the Group's website.
About the BSD Certification Group Inc.
The BSD Certification Group Inc. is comprised of educators, writers and sysadmins who are well versed in and passionate about BSD systems. The group was formed in January 2005 to create a BSD certification program that is recognized as the industry standard for certifying both the knowledge and the ability to perform administrative tasks on BSD systems. The BSD Certification Group website is at http://www.bsdcertification.org/.
]]>Press Release English
July 20, 2005 -- The BSD Certification Group announced today that the report of the results of their recent Task Analysis Survey is publicly available. The survey was initiated in late April and was offered in several languages. Approximately 60 countries had at least one responder and 637 people participated in the survey.
The report covers the purpose and methodology of the survey and includes evaluations of over 200 system administration tasks, proposed testing methods, and certification types and levels.
The BSD Certification Group intends to use the report to develop a certification roadmap, including a curriculum, test methods, and timetable.
"The report and analysis will drive the curriculum development efforts," said Jim Brown, BSD Certification Group member. "We now have a good idea of which system administration tasks are important to members of the BSD community."
"We also have a good feel for how varied the community is in age and experience," said Brown. "These three factors give us quite a bit of room to work in developing the curriculum."
Another one of the goals of this survey is to ensure that the upcoming certification is an accurate, up-to-date and valid measurement of the skills needed by BSD system administrators, said Jeremy C. Reed, member of the BSD Certification Group.
"There were a lot of comments. It was refreshing to read so many different points of view," said Brown. "The community members really had a lot to say on certifications in general and BSD certification in particular."
"One thing that impressed me was the desire for BSD certification to stand out," said Brown.
"They want the certification to be a significant achievement, and have it highly regarded in the industry," Brown said. "Along with that was a desire to see the certification be accessible worldwide."
In order to reduce the size of this comprehensive report, Section 5 of the report contains hyperlinks pointing to separate PDFs of the graphs so readers with limited bandwidth can just download graphs of interest. The report itself is 143 pages and is available as a 2.8 MB PDF. Each hyperlink in Section 5 contains the size of the associated PDF.
Task Analysis Survey Report
About the BSD Certification Group
The BSD Certification Group is comprised of educators, writers and sysadmins who are well versed in and passionate about BSD systems. The group was formed in January 2005 to create a BSD certification program that is recognized as the industry standard for certifying both the knowledge and the ability to perform administrative tasks on BSD systems. The BSD Certification Group website is at http://www.bsdcertification.org/.
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