Do you believe too many people are certified, or do you
wonder what all the hullabaloo is about, anyway?
What Really Matters
Do you believe too many people are certified, or do you
wonder what all the hullabaloo is about, anyway?
Talking about the MCSE program and the perceived value
of the title is a minefield. Some complaints have proven
to be valid, while others are, shall we say, misguided.
Microsoft is clear about for whom the MCSE program was
designed: For network professionals, Microsoft offers
the Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer (MCSE) credential.
MCSEs are qualified to effectively plan, implement, maintain,
and support information systems in a wide range of computing
environments using the Microsoft Windows NT Server and
the Microsoft BackOffice integrated family of server products.
What tends to get some MCSEs bent out of shape is that
Microsoft makes no measure of the skill set of an individual
before that person gets certified. So, it doesnt
matter to the company whether you have 20 years of grueling
labor in the trenches or if youre a parking lot
attendant who wants to try a different career. If you
have the time, money, and will, you too can get this certification
and use it to join the growing legions of IT personnel.
Heated arguments (to be polite) often break out between
these two groups: Those with experience in the field who
had high hopes for the MCSE designation complain that
these inexperienced candidates have devalued their hard
work. Employees, its claimed, should be able to
tell just by looking at your resume that you know what
youre doingthe MCSE should designate a high
standard, guaranteed. The newbies wonder what the experienced
guys are worried about. There are jobs for everyone. Microsoft
laid down the rules; they followed the rules and should
be able to enjoy the benefits, period.
So wheres the middle ground?
For the first group, it must be made clear that the MCSE
is getting easier to achieve. In the early days of the
program it wasnt a matter of whether or not you
managed to achieve some hands-on experienceyou positively
had to. Thats because there were no study guides
for most of the exams, just objectives. So you loaded
the product, played with it as much as you could, and
took the test.
Microsoft doesnt publish fail rates on their testsbut
I bet the reasons for failures have changed dramatically
since the inception of the program. In the early days,
even if you had more than a few years of experience on
Windows NT Server, you could be blindsided by a question
from some dark area that you had yet to master. Not to
say that doesnt happen now, but its less likely.
There are multiple guides for just about every exam, plus
a boatload of Web sites offering tips (and sometimes none-too-subtle
hints) on the contents of the examsso being blindsided
is less likely. These days its more likely that
an inexperienced candidate fails because he or she has
underestimated the depth of the questions.
It should also be made clear that Microsoft has never
stated that all MCSEs are created equal. It isnt
the business of the certification program to say whether
youre a good MCSE or a not-so-good
MCSE. Microsoft simply lays down the basic requirements
needed to be certified and lets you go for it.
The second crowd should understand that the first three
words in Microsofts MCSE definition are the most
importantFor network professionals.
Being a professional means a lot of things to a lot of
people, but few would argue that integrity doesnt
play a big part in it. Pretending you know something when
you dont can be hazardous to your job, to the jobs
of others, and to the health of the business youre
working for.
No one wants to be a slave to his or her employer, and
the way you avoid that is to have complete and utter confidence
in your own abilitiesbe good! If you take the tests
at such a pace that you have forgotten everything about
a test the day after you passed it, then you should reconsider
your program. No one is saying youre going to remember
every nuance of the software at hand, but a general knowledge
should certainly be at your fingertips. If it isnt,
youre likely to be embarrassed or worsefired
from a job when a critical juncture comes to pass and
you cant step up to the plate.
If youre new to this industry, the marrow of your
learning will come after you get your first jobnot
before.
Regardless of how we achieve our certifications, were
likely to meet at some pointat conferences, on tech
support calls, or amid a network outage. When these instances
occur, there wont be time to ponder how someone
got certifiedonly what we can do for each other
today.