Hi, everybody. I am new to this forum as well as LabVIEW. I am currently a graduate student in a prestigious university in Shanghai, China and major in control engineering. I have an experience in Microsoft Visual Studio programming for more than 3 years. As a matter of fact, I am, however, quite new to LabVIEW. The graphical programming concept gave me a great impression and I decided to learn LabVIEW seriously.

After half a month's hard learning of LabVIEW and finishing reading a couple famous books on LabVIEW, I had a try on the fundamental test on ni.com and get 34 problems right out of 40. The certificate for CLAD here in Shanghai will be on the 22th of Sept., and I have confidence that I can pass it.

My question is that given that my goal is to get the CLD certificate before the end of next year, what should I do if I want to bridge the gap between the written-test-only CLAD and the programming test for CLD while I cannot take the NI Intermediate course? There will be another fact that I might get involved mostly in projects developed in C++ and C# in the following year. It means that I will only be able to learn LabVIEW by myself and through some self-assigned projects. What will be the best way to get through?

Finally, all answers and suggestions will be greatly appreciated. Will it be worth it if I pay all the money to get the CLAD and CLD certificates?

Regards,
Krypton

It depends if you're going to use LabVIEW in the near future, e.g. find a job that involves LV.
The LV-certificates have an expiry date. After 3 years you loose your certificate. To keep it you'll have to redo the exams.

Thanks for the reply. I will graduate and be hunting for a job at the end of next year, so I will have enough time to build up my experience in MS Visual Studio as well as LabVIEW at the same time. Per my observation, LabVIEW is, except for NI, only used by some not-so-large instrument companies. That is why I am doubting for the significance of getting a certificate. As far as job hunting is concerned, it is better to get a wider range of selection. Get a certificate to get a job, or get a job and then get a certificate, which is better?

I have no idea how the job market is, in your country, but if it's nor really hard to find a job as an engineer, I'd do the certification, when I'm in the job. On the other hand, if it's really hard to get a job, only the best get a chance, and then just an other piece of paper may proove you're the one of the best ...

Besides: the CLD exam, can be really hard, if you lack of experience. If you don't find the correct approach in the first 30 minutes, you will inevitably run into a time issue. IMHO the CLD exam can't be done, just with the knowledge from the courses, you really need some practice ...

Hi i2dx,

I have just read briefly your website based on my limited German knowledge and learn that you got CLD at the end of last year. For the job market thing here, I also think it will be easy to get a position as an engineer or a researcher when I am supposed to get the master's degree by the end of next year. Apart from that, I have had internship experience in Microsoft Research Asia, Intel R&D AP and Infineon CoC (a German Corp.) I mean it might be easier for me to be a software engineer.

When I first got to know LabVIEW, I am deeply impressed by its concept and later on each day I got to know more about NI I found it to be a great company. Whether I will do the certificate or not, I am destined to learn LabVIEW, so it is only monetary matter and I can afford it. In this sense, I am curious to know more about how to deepen my learning.



To be honest, it might be easy for a Chinese student to pass the CLAD written test. What I want to ask dealing with CLD is that supposedly if I am diligent enough and could devote 5 hours wholeheartedly every day to LabVIEW, is there much chance that I can pass CLD when I take it at the end of next year? If so, is there a systematic suggestion for me? (My current LabVIEW skill is mainly course knowledge which should be attained after the LabVIEW Basics I and II training and can read/understand VIs written by others.)

Is it 3 years or 2.? I remember reading somewhere as 2 years....

Certificate before a job, or job before a certificate? My personal experience is there's no way to predict what will impress a prospective employer, especially coming right out of college. For instance, when I graduated college my first boss hired me in part because I had earned my private pilot license after 11 months of training. He thought that demonstrated perseverance and dedication. He was primarily looking for someone with good work habits and certain personality characteristics. Everything I needed to know I learned on the job.

Once you've been in the industry for a while certificates may be useful or even expected if you are looking for a Labview specific job, but I think they have limited value when looking for your first job. Rather than getting a certificate, I'd do projects, write a one page summary about each one, and give those to your prospective employers. When documenting your projects be sure to include what problems you had and how you solved them. *Every* interview I have been on has asked me about how I overcame challanges.

My $.02

[Edit]
However, there's nothing wrong with getting the CLAD if the cost is not prohibitive. You can also purchase the course kits for intermediate training. They are expensive for a student budget but much more affordable than instructor-led training.

This post has been edited by Daklu: Mar 26 2008, 07:02 PM