Ok, aftermath time. In Winter Scripting Camp I saw some very cool stuff, but I know folks want to learn from this event too, so I want to call out some stuff that I didn’t like so much, and explain why. I’m keeping these brief - if you’d like a longer explanation, hit me up in the PowerShell Q&A forum. BTW, none of the discussion below implies anything about the grade I awarded the entry. I considered a much broader range of criteria and opinions in awarding grades.
We’re well into our beta for the VERIFIED EFFECTIVEâ„¢ Windows PowerShell 3.0 Toolmaker exam, and expect the program to go live in March or April of 2013. There’s a good bit of information on the program home page that you should review if you’re interested in getting verified.
[As a note, once the program goes live, it’ll be available to anyone worldwide - although the exam will only be available in English for the foreseeable future; we don’t have the resources at this time to offer localized versions]
I should point out first that we’re doing this program through my company, rather than directly through PowerShell.org, mainly because of some legalities. My company (Concentrated Tech) has the insurance and other items in place needed to do something like this, and I didn’t want PowerShell.org, Inc., to have to pay for those things. That said, a lot of folks have been involved in vetting and designing the exam scenarios. Another advantage of using Concentrated Tech is that the company is set up to do a lot of the interviewing and statistical analysis needed to make a relevant exam.
The cost is the second thing I’ll discuss: at $150/person, I know it’s not cheap. But at least two human beings look at each person’s work - there’s no machine grading - and they gotta get paid. We also need to recoup some of the substantial investment that went into the exam design. Over a 3-year period, it’ll hopefully be about break-even. We’ll see.
On to the exam itself. There are a variety of “forms” for the exam, meaning everyone isn’t getting the same assignment. That said, the approach for each form is pretty much the same. You’ll get 2-3 “assignments” to complete, all of which involve writing scripts and/or commands. You get a specified amount of time to complete your assignments.
(as an aside, making multiple different exams that all test substantially the same skills is really tough, which is one reason we did a lot of testing and statistical analysis - to ensure the equivalency of each form - as part of the development process).
Some assignments are straightforward: write a script that does this, this, and that. You’re given a bunch of criteria and just have to spew out the commands. There’s room for creativity - so long as you (a) meet all the criteria and (b) comply with the stated best practices, you pass. “Extra” stuff doesn’t count against you, and the exact approach you use isn’t graded - so long as you achieve all of the results and comply with all of the stated criteria.
The “main” assignment in each form is harder. You’re given a shell transcript, and you’re asked to look at it and duplicate the tools you see used in it. For example:
NOTE: As of 4th February, we’re full up for the beta. Check back later this year for the program launch.
I’m ready to begin a formal beta test of the new VERIFIED EFFECTIVEâ„¢ examination program, which we’d previously referred to as “PowerShell Verified.”
Participation in the beta will be free, and if you pass it “counts.” If you’re interested, please download the Program Guide before February 10th, 2013.
You must agree to perform you examination on February 11th or 12th
. Complete the Program License Agreement found in the Guide, and return it, with photo ID, as indicated. Be sure to indicate either Feb 11th or 12th as your desired exam date. Materials will be sent to you via e-mail, and you will have 24 hours to complete the assignment. A qualified candidate should need no more than 4-5 hours. We’ve posted a complete set of information about the program in general and the PowerShell exam in particular. At this time, I can only accept participants who are USA residents (more on that below). International expansion will happen when the program formally launches later this year. I will only be accepting 2-3 beta participants. If you submit your Program License Agreement but don’t hear back the same day, then you weren’t selected for participation. The final examination will be $150, and will be a human-graded assignment not a machine-graded exam. A certificate for passing scores will be delivered electronically, and you may order a physical certificate for a nominal fee. The first exam will be PowerShell 3.0 Toolmaking. You should be able to pass if you know how to write advanced functions, including dealing with pipeline input, ShouldProcess support, and parameter attributes and validation. You will also need to know how to create custom formatting views and type extensions, and how to create script and manifest modules. You will need to be familiar with Windows PowerShell remoting and remoting configuration, and know how to create custom remoting endpoints (session configurations) having a specified configuration. You also need to know how to write proxy functions. You should know how to connect to SQL Server databases from within PowerShell, and how to issue queries to retrieve and manipulate database data. Note that not all of these topics may be included on every examination, but you should be prepared to perform all of them. I look forward to hearing from you!
Everything’s been going pretty smoothly, so we’ve decided to open Winter Scripting Camp to everyone! Read everything below carefully for the best camping experience!
Scripting Camp is a precursor to the Scripting Games, which will kick off in late April. During Camp, you’ll have the opportunity to participate in two events. We aren’t offering any prizes, but we will announce winners in the PowerShell.org blog, on Twitter, and so on. Camp is really a way for us to kick the tires on our new software platform. If you want to participate, here’s how:
We’ll be announcing Winter Scripting Camp the first week of February. This is a special invite-only event that will be open to subscribers of the PowerShell.org TechLetter. It will work just like the Scripting Games, but will feature only a couple of events and will not include any prizes. We will, however, announce the top scorers. Scripting Camp is primarily an opportunity for us to audition our new platform, to kick the tires, and make sure everything’s ready for the official Games, which will kick off in April at the PowerShell Summit 2013 North America. If you’re interested in Camping with us, please sign up for the TechLetter this week (prior to Feb 1st). We’ll be sending out a special notification to the TechLetter subscriber list with sign-up instructions.
