CISCO MUST BE CRAZY!!!!!

A friend of mine just went to a job interview yesterday, this is like a HUGE step up from what he's doing right now(from 3 Servers to 60!!). He was interviewed by 7 persons, and not one person asked him about certifications. They didn't even care. What they asked him was, can you do this? Can you do that? How would you handle this? Have you ever done that before?
I manage the CISCO routers where he currently works, and all I have is an MCP in Win2K Professional.
The CCNA certification originally lasted 6 years, what, did they make a mistake at the beginning?
No one who goes through the trouble of getting CISCO certified is likely to forget anything in three years, and the technological advances do not warrant recertification in 3 years.
The economy is not encouraging tech spending, companies are not running out to buy new technology, they are even less willing to pay for an employee's certification when it doesn't change how the employee does his/her job.
I once told a client I was Microsoft certified, and their response was: 'I don't care what certification you have, as long as this thing is running I'm happy.'
If CISCO continues with this nonsense, then certifications are going to loose their value. A certification shows that the person has been working with the technology for at least nine months, you don't get certified and then find a job, though it can also work that way. Certification exams deal with real life situations and how to handle them. That's why at my friend's interview no one cared about certs, only experience.
I think CISCO is trying to raise money because tech spending is down. They are also getting stiff competition from companies like ADTRAN and D-LINK that have web based interfaces, and their hardware is cheaper and just as good. Not to mention the web interfaces which make configuration a snap (no pun intended). No more encap frame-relay, just point and click. FUNCTIONALITY and SIMPLICITY, that's what counts.
If Cisco doesn't adapt by lowering it's prices and providing free web interfaces for all it's products, it's going to continue to loose a huge market share. I just did a fiber network with D-LINK hardware because the customer was not willing to spend the money on a Cisco based network, and guess what? It's running fine, no problems.

I am in the currently in the process to ceritfy CCNA. I am doing it to increase career opportunities and income. Now it seems that the extra money I'll get I will be giving it back to Cisco in re-certifying. I belive in keeping current with your cert. But every 3 years. This is rediculous.

I think that's the issue here.. while the underlying technology may not have changed much, the products are changing... and the certification that is in question here is Cisco. While there may not have been a lot of change in IPv4. The cisco products have a lot more features now than even 2 years ago. So as a technical or associate that is supposed to know the product, you really need to be certified every few years.

And to Robotech's question regarding this, if you indeed have not forgotten anything. What's the harm in taking another test? It really shouldn't take too much time, my CCNA test took 10 mins. The only thing is money - and you're company should be forking that. Otherwise, why are you getting it then?

I don't have CCNA, but I'm a router consultant for a company that has a 2600 and 5 1620 routers on a frame relay, plus an Internet connection.
I know what routing is, I studied it in college and I worked for a consulting company that installed Cisco routers at various client sites.
I've never configured a Cisco router for an IPX/SPX network, and even though I've done it for practice, I certainly won't retain the info, because I don't use it.
With DSL and Cable Modem service so easily accessible, plus fractional T1, who even bothers to consider ISDN these days? Hubs aren't even made anymore (to the best of my knowledge).
I have a friend who got his CCNA in his last year at vocational school, he later studied English and has no plans to work in ITT. I bet you he could land a job just by having his CCNA.
I was a Beta tester for the new Network Plus exam, and even though the results aren't available yet I'm sure I passed.
Network + is by no means easy. If you are ignorant of the technology you will fail. I think that's the most important thing, knowing that the technology is there and HOW to use it. The configuration will vary, not so much because of technology but because of software or hardware releases.
There are very few people who work with every feature available in a Cisco router. Like me, I think most persons work with the most common features and if they need to do a special config every now and then, they download a sample config from Cisco's website etc.
As I said, two years is ridiculous!
Six years was okay, and Cisco changed it to two for $$$$$ reasons. Certification is a big business, both for those who make products and those who are in the Cert industry.
If I am hiring someone, I don't need Cisco to tell me if he/she is keeping up with technology. I need to know if that person understands the basics, as well as the underlying principles. Can that person analyze and think logically? If that is the case they can read a whitepaper or a configuration brochure, they don't need to recertify for that.