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Do Certs Mean Anything?

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5 replies

by mpburton

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I saw a post earlier about a person
who wanted to find out how to get
the CCIE in three easy steps. The
answer that came back was "you can't."
And for someone who is on track to
that certification, I'm glad to hear
that! I'm tired of people being able
to read enough exam-cram books and
read through enough "brain dumps" to
pass certifications tests without any
true mastery of knowledge. I've talked
to several hiring managers at a major
computing company, and their response
to MCSEs was that they meant absolutly
nothing anymore. I would hate to see
the same thing happen with the CCIE.
Fortunatly, they have made such an
exaustive hands-on test that it won't
happen any time soon. And let's be
real honest, when you are forced with
the problem of a major network routing
issue that has caused your entire
eight thousand node network to blink off
the internet, you are going to want
someone who knows their way around the
Cisco CLI, not someone who will need to
"refresh their memory" on how to bring
up the help functions...

SO perhaps I'm just a bit brutish, but
I think that having the CCIE actually
mean something is more worthwhile to
everyone in the long run than making it
into another MCSE...

Michael.

5 replies

by lastsurvivor

All cert do mean something if they are accompanied by experince. I thought it was extremely important for me to get my MCSE I had been working with Microsoft products for a long time and it was my way of showing that all my experience did prove that I had learned alot form my past experiences. I also wish other IT professionals would stop bashing MCSE. Sure there are paper MCSE as well as other certs but the cert still means something if it is backed up by experience and knowledge.

by studmuffin

I agree with what Last Survivor has said, but
it's a catch-22, how many companies hire these days without being certification? People say you need experience, but how is a person going to get it? I know there was a time when companies hired non-certified staff, but getting certified probably improves your chances. As for the MCSE, the Windows 2000 track is supposedly to be tougher than the Windows NT 4.0 track, in that you can't just study off Braindumps, Study Guides and Exam Crams and pass.As for Cisco certification exams, I've heard CCNA is typically more difficult than most MCSE exams, the possible exception being SQL Server, since that is typically one of the more difficult MCSE exams to pass.

by enoble

I have heard that the materials used for certifications is theory, not real solutions. How can one study the material to pass an exam, but know that when you get to practice what you learn, it isn't correct? How are we to know the difference without have the experience to back it up?

by 5 o'clock somewhere

Certification has become a huge liability for the applicants applying for jobs in our interview process. Why? More often than not, MCSEs that can't identify a NIC card, can?t explain the difference between a LAN and WAN, can?t tell me what a LAN or WAN is, can?t pour piss out of a boot with directions on the heel. I am amazed that these individuals are leaving here for other interviews and getting hired. As the CIO, I say, "Not in my shop." I'll take experience over certification any day.Certification is supposed to show a level of understanding, an aptitude to learn, a degree of competency. I haven't found this to be the case. Until the boot camp rubber stamp process is fixed, your certification is worthless when applying here.

by studmuffin

Yeah...but in the case of Cisco certifications, you can order the lab equipment to play with like routers and so forth, so you do get some hands on. Besides experience can be overrated...if that were the case all people with the most experience would be in the highest positions in companies, and that's not always the case. I would value competence or proficiency over experience any day of the week. I'm going to want the person who is the best skilled or most proficient person available, and if some people have more experience, but aren't as good at the job, that's their problem.

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