Ace Re-Certs comp times
vining
Posts: 4,368
All I can say to those that completed this in less than 15 hours is "absolutely freakin amazing". To Joe who took 22 hours and achieved 100% (Ace) "absolutely freakin amazing" x 2.
I'm now 3 days into it and at least another day, probably 2 to complete w/ testing. I know I'm doing things that aren't required, experimenting w/ new ideas and accounting for possibilites that I might see in real world devices but not likely in these test devices but still, it took me 3 hours just to create the workspace, create new files, download files. etc. Sure I have to deal with constant distractions but..
I don't like dealing with HEX and oddball checksum routines and that bitwise left shift right shift crap since I haven't had a need to do it since PII and I didn't really have to do it then either. So, I lost some time working with that stuff but still.....even if I had a copy of the the test I couldn't re-type it in fifteen hours. Hat's off fellas! I'm now feeling very small and a Merry Christmas to me too! Boo Hoo, Boo Hoo, Boo Hoo. Oh, wait that's Ho! Ho! Ho!
I'm now 3 days into it and at least another day, probably 2 to complete w/ testing. I know I'm doing things that aren't required, experimenting w/ new ideas and accounting for possibilites that I might see in real world devices but not likely in these test devices but still, it took me 3 hours just to create the workspace, create new files, download files. etc. Sure I have to deal with constant distractions but..
I don't like dealing with HEX and oddball checksum routines and that bitwise left shift right shift crap since I haven't had a need to do it since PII and I didn't really have to do it then either. So, I lost some time working with that stuff but still.....even if I had a copy of the the test I couldn't re-type it in fifteen hours. Hat's off fellas! I'm now feeling very small and a Merry Christmas to me too! Boo Hoo, Boo Hoo, Boo Hoo. Oh, wait that's Ho! Ho! Ho!
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I spent roughly 52 hours on it but since it was over the holidays, opening presents, dealing with guest, etc it's hard to be 100% accurate. If there was some sort of emulator for testing that probably would have reduced the time considerably. Of course I did some testing to verify my parsing routines and checksum calculations but for the most part it was coding in the blind. I guess this is standard for true programmers but I'm a touchy, feely kind of guy and like having my equipment in the room or at least remotely accessable. This coding in the blind method, at least for me, is only good for producing rough code with the understanding that more time is required when the equipment is available for testing.
Now for people like joe who ace'd it in 22 hrs and those guys that did this is less than 15 hours (as long as they passed) I am truly in awe!
I have to do the designer re-cert now and I'm thinking I can do that in under 15 hours, I hope.
Jeff
I?m glad to hear you were able to get the job done vining.
Weren't these just published a few weeks ago?
TurnipTruck wrote: I think maybe August or September if memory serves me. All I know is that I've been whining* about them for what seems like a long, long time. It light of the BullsEye webex I felt my status as an AMX dealer was in jeapordy so I switched to survival mode and conceded.
What happens if you don't do them is really anybody's guess. If they like you and your numbers are good you'll probably have a good chance of getting some slack. All I know is that last year for being 3 CEU short I had to take every online course to atone for my sins. 30 plus courses and I don't recall a thing from any one of them. This year the mood seems even more serious so all I would say is, if you'd prefer not to have to kill your first born as punishment, then get busy. Plan on spending at least 30 hours doing it. Of course that's the amount of time I thought it would take me.
* word change
Of course I can't really navigate the training site and come out the other end really knowing what's required and what's not so I put in a query to the training department to look me up and see if I'm actually done. I'm pretty sure I did the online stuff for installer & what ever else was required mid summer and I just sent in my Designer Practical and my Programmer Practical was sent in 2 days ago.
In total I think the designer practical took around 15 hours but most of that was due to me being anal w/ OCD. I had to update my graphics file and grab new graphics for the equipment spec'd, resize in various pixel sizes, make individual rooms with actual equipemt pics and the line diagrams showing the connection types and of course showing the max wire lentgh based on that device's max amps & the wire size used to supply power as per the specs.
It really could have been done in 2-3 hours by someone profecient with a good graphic app. Mines not bad but I started the day with it crashing and me loosing 2 hours worth of work. I started saving religiously after that and survived the next 8 or so crashes with only minimal loss and irritation.
I guess I can now start enjoyng 2009!
Jeff
Attempt 1... failed
Attempt 2... Closer, but still failed. Looks like I am only sending a portion of the file as the file size is listed as .1mb and it upload VERY fast (Almost instantly and I know my cable modem isn't that fast).
Same issue here Jeff.
I opened the browser, and it appeared as if ready to upload, (even a nice "waiting for mrbickle" note on the lower left of my browser)
So now what?
I cannot upload it. Granted I was cutting it close, but Now I can't even get to the page where the upload is?
WHAT AM I TO DO?
Jeff
P.S.
Let me know if you figure something out.
Well I got an email telling my my prerequisite was done at 23:58 EST!!?? (really??)
(You have successfully achieved the - 2010 AMX Prerequisites - Certification.)
and to my knowledge I've never completed an upload. Perhaps that's why it won't let me back in. Odd!!
Good night all, I think I'm done too.
Spire_Jeff wrote:
1 hour.
Any way congrats to the both of you for completing it on time. I don't know if AMX has any plans but we should create another thread to review the test, share what we did, so we can at least learn form this ordeal. Of course they could be allowing late entries and there is the possibility of needing to do "Preactical Revisions" so I guess we can't. Oh well, at some point though I would at least like to see Joe's code to get a glimpse at how his mind works and see how he was able to ACE it in only "20"
Test time was about 13 hrs, but I admittedly got a little lazy at the end there
Keep in mind, I performed no testing other than compiling.
Jeff
Seriously though another impressive time doing the test.
I know I did mine as if it were a real job, creating constants, arrays, feedback, testing, etc and I'm well aware that I'm not as sharp as a lot of you full timers but even with all things considered the disparity between the times is still mind boggling. Even if your code doesn't work 100%, as I'm sure mine won't, the fact that you could get it to the point where you felt it was good enough to submit in 13 hours is to me simply amazing. My hats off to you!
I emailed training and my boss last night questioning what I should do, and was hoping to hear back from training but no.
I'm going to mail it in. I took about 17 hours with some preliminary testing, and about 2 hours today with a bit of polish to some of the requirements (which I'm pretty sure were written by someone who had a hemispherectomy). Lots of stuff seemed to be there for no reason (ie.Use the "Transport Status Inquiry" to determine DVD power? When we have a Video Sensor? Really? Why? I also set up Ack and Nak for my switch, but they never stated why. Do I need to enforce the string? And do I need to send the projector to the composite video input every time one of the switch buttons is pushed on the Security Cameras Page? ) Maybe it's just me. I like clarity. And lacking that, I like to have more control of the project's design.
Good luck All. And Happy New Year.
J
I did do lots of constants and tried to be as descriptive as possible (without being ridiculous) because I figured that even tho I hopefully will never have to look at the code again, the person grading it might be easier on me if I was easier on them
Jeff