Considering the 4 hour CLD/CLA exam achievement and fulltime job.

[Rodéric]

Greg,

I'm not sure I fully understand your statement, or maybe I wasn't clear enough. My point is, our job (even if I'm only a humble a test engineer) is about coding but there are many things we do that are not just writing code: wrting the specs, documentation, design the test bench (not only the software), commission the test bench, sales etc... 

 @Jim: I know just exactly how you felt, my point is simply that LabVIEW may be only 50% of our job...

[Yamaeda]

From what i've read an heard about the CLD and CLA i'd say it's about 40 hours with drivers to get a real world version working. After feedback from users and buyer you can add another 40 hours and restructure most of the UI and stuff ...

[RGreg]

Rodéric,

I read your question as "what else does a Labview programmer besides write code?" My take on it is that unless you work for a software house that just develops programs, you're probably doing a lot more than just the coding and the support work for that code (spec gathering, documentation, etc).

I think anyone who writes Labview at least part of the time should get the CLD. But unless you write a LOT of LV on a regular basis, I'm unsure what value the CLA would have.

[SectorEffector]

The problem I have is that I'm alone in my company. I'm the only LabVIEW developer and I am self-learned.

I'm getting questions why some projects take 2 months of my time, but the CLD exam take only 4 hours for a small/medium application.

It is hard to convince people who never coded in their lifes.

Deep inside I know I' m doing a good job, but being alone makes me unsecure.

[Norbert_B]

Just for clarification:

The CLD/CLA exam puts the "graduate" under a huge time pressure. As already in one of the previous posts: The TASK of CLD is a very simple, straight forward task, it is documented (not very well at least in the past) and things are not going to change on a daily basis.

To be honest, to update documentation, document the architecture, implement and test the whole stuff of CLD can easily take about two complete days. AND as stated, it is a very simple task, no surprises along the road as you normally prepare for tasks like this using the sample exams.

In reality, each task is unique, prone to changes at anytime. Badly documented (if at all) from the beginning and THEN, people try to put pressure on you: Less Time and High Quality....somehow "contradicting" points in development.

If you want to do a good job, you need your time. Your manager should include your opinion in the time planning for the project. Growing experience will result in better estimates and more reliable schedules.

And experience will give you the opportunity to react on delays, occuring issues and other pitfalls in a better way.

Also, creating algorithms is a creative process which is not "forcable" at a specific time. Building a well designed, stable algorithm can be done in minutes, but can also take weeks (if you achieve it all)....

just my 2 cents,

Norbert

[Ranjeet_Singh]

---

@SectorEffector wrote:

What does a LabVIEW programmer do in a 40 hour work week, considering the exam is only 4?

---

Then in school why you study for 1 complete year although exam is of 3 hours only.

Its not about timing my friend. Sometime implementation of one algorithm take more than a week. Its all depends on how you do and how efficiently. Writing a algorithm is not hard but writing a general algorithm takes time. After completing your implemented algorithm you need to validate it for all possible inputs. if something wrong then you need to go back and rectify it or modify it.

So please dont go for hours. you will never read a common answer becasue experience wise it varies.

All the above line is my experience and everbody may not agree with it.

Thanks

[djs_at_eaton]

I haven't seen anybody post about validation and verification yet.  In some industries, espcially aerospace and medical, there are requirements to prove that the code works.  Usually that involves another (sigh ! ) document that lists tests to be performed on hardware and software.  In my life, requirements and verification can consume more time than coding.  I've made code changes in 10 minutes and then spent a week verifiying the change and revising the documentation.

[Mellobuck]

I had a VP who once quoted "The output of the Engineering Department is documentation."

I am lucky in that my entire work week is LabVIEW - HOWEVER, that is not the same as saying I perform 40 hours of wireworking in a week. More often, your skills are challenged in going through the requirements and planning the programming and architecture. In addition, several other contributors mentioned that you have to prove that your code works, which means designing Unit tests, integration tests etc.

In addition, as others have said, the exam removes the most high-risk items (in my opinion) in any LabVIEW project, and that is the external communication: device drivers, network drives, databases, distributed targets etc.

Hope that gives you a better idea.

-Mello

[Yamaeda]

---

@SectorEffector wrote:

The problem I have is that I'm alone in my company. I'm the only LabVIEW developer and I am self-learned.

I'm getting questions why some projects take 2 months of my time, but the CLD exam take only 4 hours for a small/medium application.

It is hard to convince people who never coded in their lifes.

Deep inside I know I' m doing a good job, but being alone makes me unsecure.

---

After spending all day with my head in a test equipment, wondering why my program doesn't work when it works in the other station, then unwiring, measuring and testing and finally finding a fuse of a relay and a pull down resistance being too low, that's a solid 8 hours of non-coding.
Such time is quite common and not part of the CLA. 🙂

/Y

[Eric.M]

---

SectorEffector a écrit :

The problem I have is that I'm alone in my company. I'm the only LabVIEW developer and I am self-learned.

I'm getting questions why some projects take 2 months of my time, but the CLD exam take only 4 hours for a small/medium application.

It is hard to convince people who never coded in their lifes.

Deep inside I know I' m doing a good job, but being alone makes me unsecure.

---

Think about your project lifespan. The CLD as well as the CLA only cover a ridiculous part of the V-Cycle, so you'll basically have to go through all the other steps (do them or delegate/organize them) in the other weeks/months/years of the project.

Just like any exam, the CLD and CLA will just give you an overview of certains skills highlighted in the exam 😉

So about you feeling unsecure, don't worry, if you're doing your job correctly, your projects will behave just fine. If they won't, it'll be a good time to feel unsecure