Apply HN: Skill Certification You Can Trust
From the employee&#x27;s point of view this will always be a hated service because people hate being tested. Especially the majority who are not naturally gifted but only got by because of cramming stuff into their heads. These are perfectly serviceable programmers who will learn what&#x27;s needed and do a good job in the industry. In addition, you&#x27;re not forcing employees to put too much emphasis on a single test for a potentially (hopefully?) large group of employees. Does this become a stressor like an SATs for coders? If the employee doesn&#x27;t do well are they screwed? Or do you allow them to retest? If so, you&#x27;ve become just like any number of certification services that have come and gone over the years.<p>From the employers point of view you appear to have the opinion that most jobs are in startups. In reality, the huge quiet slowly moving employer base is below the visible portion of iceberg. These are the businesses that just need coders to keep things moving from day to day. They are not startups, never will be, and don&#x27;t even exist in the world where founders are wanted or needed. There needs in a coder is not a superstar, it&#x27;s someone who can learn to tow the line, get things done, and keep their heads down and code. A average  coder is fine here as long as they fill a niche.<p>Finally, how could you develop a standardized test for all these below the waterline businesses? If a business needs to fill a slot for a person to crank out Java reports for a few years do you test the same as one who needs to fill a position interfacing C++ to POS&#x2F;IoT devices?<p>Not that idea is a bad way to make money. It&#x27;s just that you&#x27;ll likely need to move into a niche and then you&#x27;ll need to drive test retakes, release cram books, and become another paper certificate mill. Remember when paper CNAs and such were all the rage.