Idealliance CMP certifications

[hsearcy]

Has anyone had experience with the Color Management Professional certification programs offered by Idealliance? I'm considering investing in order to expand my understanding of color management and add marketable skills to my resume. Any opinions on the courses? Value of the certifications? Any other/better options besides Idealliance?

 

[gordo]

Certification is only valid for 2 years. I wonder how schools would be perceived if their diplomas and degrees were only valid for 2 years after course completion?

 

[Dov Isaacs]

Certification is only valid for 2 years. I wonder how schools would be perceived if their diplomas and degrees were only valid for 2 years after course completion?

This isn't at all unusual for professional degrees and certifications. Medical doctors, dentists, veterinarians, etc. all have requirements for ongoing, continuing professional education and recertification.

Quite frankly, we quite often see “issues” in the printing industry due to the failure of print professionals to act as professionals keeping up with modern best practices as opposed to acting like a bunch of Luddites with a “if it ain't broke, don't fix it” attitude, refusing to accept that workflow concepts in terms of color, transparency, ISO standards, etc. have advanced dramatically since the late 1990s. I contend that print professionals, especially in specialties such as color, need continuing education and recertification.

- Dov

 

[gordo]

Most professions - like medical doctors, recertify every 7-10 years. You mention changes in color tech over 20 years. Recertification every 2 years is IMHO seems an excessively short period of time.

 

[Dov Isaacs]

Most professions - like medical doctors, recertify every 7-10 years. You mention changes in color tech over 20 years. Recertification every 2 years is IMHO seems an excessively short period of time.

I'd have no objections if recertification was every five years or so.

- Dov

 

[Deleted member 16349]

This is a little bit related to the separate issues of education and training. One is more related to things that should not change too often, like logic and science and the other is related to the effective use of some specific methods and technology being used at some point in time.

The effective use of evolving methods and technologies will require continual training but of course that does not guarantee positive results if those methods and technologies are not based on a valid science for the problem at hand. The approach can be wrong or even the science can be wrong. This happens on all professions and therefore there is the requirement for continuous upgrading.

I am not a colour scientist. I am an engineer. I might be oversimplifying the whole issue of colour management but I see it as having clear failures in the logic used to solve the problem. In my limited view, I see that colour science has little to do with developing simple and effective methods to obtain reasonably predictable and consistent colour across multiple printing processes.

 

[hsearcy]

Most professions - like medical doctors, recertify every 7-10 years. You mention changes in color tech over 20 years. Recertification every 2 years is IMHO seems an excessively short period of time.

Certifications such as A+ in IT and PMP in project management have to be renewed every three years. Two years is not ideal, but I'd be ok with it as long as the certification is giving me real world value and not just some letters to add to my email signature.