[SunRescue] Re: OT: Advice on Certification

[Chris Byrne]

>Even MS is cracking down on the idiot paper MCSEs - if you dont
>"renew" up to Win2000 level MCSE stuff, you *lose* it completely;
>e.g., no longer a MCSE.  THis is what I heard from our smart-as-shit
>NT guys a couple of months ago.

That is correct. Anyone who was certified as an MCSE before february 1st of
2000  (myself among them) had to recertify for Win 2K before Feb 28 2001, or
their certification would expire, and the record of their bein an MCSE would
be changed to whenever they decide to take the Win 2K cert.

UNfortunately for MS most of the MCSE's I've talked to about it have decided
not to recert, unless it is required for their job.

I personally agree with MS's decision to recertify, but I don't like the way
they did it. You can basically take all the primary tests over again
individually, or if you did it before February you could take one REALLY
long test covering five primary areas. I think they should have offered a
transition test for people who already have MCSE's.

The other problem is that the quality of the tests is very poor. In an MS
test There's the right answer (sometimes the most right answer), the wrong
answer (sometimes the most wrong answer) and the Microsoft answer (always
the most Microsoft answer). The courseware is generally garbage, either
straight test prep, or MS marketing bullshit, the instructors generally have
no hands on experience with what they are teaching (straight from the
syllabus like in elementary school) etc... etc...

I like the way the ISC^2 does it for the CISSP. Before you are allowed to
test your resume and experience are reviewed. There is a three year minimum
experience requirement. Then you need to test once, and keep current by
submitting records of professional training in the area every year. If you
fail to keep current with training they will re-test you.

I haven't taken it yet myself (its not given very often in a geographic
area) but from what I've been told (and by the study guide)the test is by no
means easy, and it covers large fields of practical knowledge as well as
some pretty in depth specific areas. Unfortunately there is quite a lot of
material in the test that is irrelevant in todays enviroment but other than
that it seems to be an excellent cert.

Personally when I'm in a position to hire someone for a networking or
operations position I like to guage their practical knowledge as well as
theoretical. I devised a "hiring test" for networking people, and in fact
wrote an article for tech republic on it. Unfortunately the article is in
the pay section, but I have a free mirror on my site at
http://www.chrisbyrne.com/writing/other/hiretest.html

Chris Byrne