Signs on the Sand

IBM is giving away 2000 free vouchers, applicable to selected WebSphere and XML certification tests.

To qualify for a voucher, a candidate is required to be one of the first people to pass the aligning Pre-assessment/Sample Test between January 1, 2005 (12:00 a.m. Eastern Time) and April 30, 2005 (11:59 p.m. Eastern Time).

Each Pre-assessment/Sample Test costs $10 USD, so one can get IBM certification for just $10.

So I did this week. The pre-assessment test is done online, boring. Then in a couple of days I received a voucher for a real certification test. I've got a certification center just 500 meters from my work, so next day I went to take a test. It's Test 141, "IBM Certified Solution Developer - XML and Related Technologies". 57 multiple-choice questions, 90 minutes, 58% to pass. XML fundamentals, XSLT, XPath, XML Schema, DTD, DOM, SAX, Web Services, I even got one question on XSL-FO, nice. Well, despite no preparation and quite rusty Java XML skills I passed with 94%.

So it works and they're still sending free vouchers. Go for it you want to be IBM Certified Solution Developer or just looking for some entertainment.