LabView Certifications

[Matthew_Kelton]

The only NI course I took was TestStand.  At the time, there was only one 1-week class for it.

I do not have a high opinion if the LabVIEW or TestStand classes.  I have seen the class material, as my former employer bought the material for training of its new hires.  I find the class to be more a sales pitch than educational.  Most of the examples are 99% complete, and it makes people think it's so easy that they rush back to their bosses saying it is an easy programming language, buy it.  Then they get it and are staring at a blank screen, and all of a sudden they realize that they don't know how to do anything.  In the 8 years I have been doing this professionally, I have seen several customers that came to us saying we took the class and bought LabVIEW, but we can't figure out how to do what we want.

The TestStand class I took was informative, as I knew nothing about TestStand when I walked into it.  But the three of us that went came back with that same feeling that we knew how to do everything.  Then, we started with that blank sequence file, and we still basically taught ourselves.

It is not fair to expect NI to be able to teach you how to program in LabVIEW in a week or two, but they also shouldn't be making it appear that they can, either.

I taught myself LabVIEW to start.  The local Alliance member hired me part time while I finished grad school and I learned more from the owner of the company, and it just grew from there.  I had the advantage of working for an Alliance member, as I had lots of different projects, so I got exposed to a lot of different aspects of LabVIEW.  I have seen some programmers that have several years of experience on one LabVEIW program, or programs that all very similar, so may know DAQ very well, but have no knowledge outside of that palette.

I would skip the classes and focus on the free exams.  If you really are struggling there, then take the courses, or ask questions here as to why a certain thing is done or not done.

[jon_mcbee]

I think that you have summed up my situation pretty well, I taught myself and have been learning on a need to know basis.  Probably the best result from studying for the CLAD and CLD is that I will round myself out as a programmer.  The reason I was asking about the courses is that although I know how to program I amy not necessarily be programming the way that NI prefers on an exam and I thought that if nothing esle the courses that they offer would drive that home.  I recently picked up a book called "The LabVIEW Style Book" by Blume and am hoping that it will point me in the right direction.  Do you have any thoughts on the book or can you recommend others?

Cheers!

[Matthew_Kelton]

I know nothing about that book.  The only I have looked at was "LabVIEW for Everyone".  Back in 98-99, it was pretty much the only book out there (that I could find at least).  It was OK.  I learn by doing, not by reading, so I may not be the best authority on these.

The book I did look at spawned my first LV program though.  There was a paragraph in the book that spoke of using a parallel port for a DIO card.  But then it didn't tell you how.  I called NI and they said it wasn't possible.  Well, I figured the author wouldn't have said it was if it wasn't. so I started trying to figure out how to do it, and sure enough I figured it out.  I had a crude little program.  Then I started making it look pretty.  After that, I was not intimidated by LV anymore and dove into the mess of code the previous grad student left behind.

[Matthew_Kelton]

Here's a link to NI's Development Guide, which includes their style guide.  The document is sort of old, but should give you some basics.  Your LabVIEW help should also have some information in it (see this link).

[Ben]

No comments on the CLA exam so I toss in some comments.

I sit next to a CLD that has taken the CLA exam multiple times.

If you have a computer science education, the CLA exam will be much easier. We have a young pup that that passed his CLA on the first try.

The format of the exam has changed since I took it (back then it was the CLD exam on steroids) so I will be seeing the new version for the first time next month when I try to re-certify.

In prep for the certifying and re-certification at the CLA level we have been studying the LV Advanced App Dev course. If we all pass, we will have 11 CLA on staff.

I just hope I pass since my education taught me about Maxwell, Schrodinger, and Gibbs but next to nothing about CS.

Ben

[johnsold]

I took the LabVIEW Fundamentals Exam which is available on line. I passed, but someone who uses a non-Windows platform is at a disadvantage. How can a DAQmx question be considered a fundamental part of LabVIEW when it is not available on several platforms? I did not take notes, but there were at least two or three questions about things which do not exist in the Mac version of LV? How much better (than a Windows-based LV programmer) do I have to be to pass the higher level exams?

Lynn