Yesterday I met James Lindley during lunch break at the 30th Annual FISSEA Conference at NIST. His name tag had a red speaker banner attached to it, so I figured he’d be a good person to sit next to in the NIST cafeteria. Turns out I was right.
Among other things, we talked about his time in Hawaii in the 60’s while he was stationed at Schofield Barracks, the Big Five, his time reviewing static source code at the IRS, his previous speaking engagements at FISSEA, and his plans for publishing a book.
His presentation yesterday revolved around his clever method of implementing a certification program within the IRS without spending any money. I was in the audience listening.
How the Internal Revenue Service IRS Created an Agency-Wide Professional Development Certification Program with No Money
Here are my takeaways from James Lindley’s presentation:
- “I’m a voracious reader and a hell of a test taker.”
- An Executive level champion was needed.
- “You need to make certification attractive.”
- Have a certificate suitable for framing.
- “You want to motivate management if you can.”
- “We always think about bandwidth.” (when training)
- GoTo Meeting free on Chrome (up to 10 users).
- PMP was the most popular certification track.
- Emphasize Professional Development over Certification.
- Name and fame. Recognize the newly certified.
SEE ALSO: Presenting at the 30th Annual FISSEA Conference at NIST
