IT Certification

[skalie]

To get oneself a piece of paper that you can hang on the wall in the IT world you will be asked to pass an exam or two.

These exams are taken on computers and the results are immediate, close your eyes and press the button, it's either Yippee!, or, there went another couple of hundred bucks down the drain.

The thing is that the questions and answers to these tests are availiable on the internet, sometimes for free, sometimes for money.

The general formula is to learn by wrote all the answers, and hope like hell that not too many of the questions have changed. This is the way they teach the subjects as well.

In my day this would have been considered as cheating.

I would imagine that anyone working in the industry would know this and therefore the certifications would carry little weight in the actual working environment.

Or is the ability to pass exams just for the sake of it an attribute in an employers eyes these days?

[skalie]

Not Microsoft, CIW.

Edit:



I know people who have failed the CCNA examination who could have taken a Cisco router apart and put it back together blindfolded, while configuring it in a drunken stupor.



Actually that was precisely my point.

[Zombie]

IT certs accomplish 2 seperate functions for employers. For hiring purposes, it shows employers that the applicant can perform rudimentary repititious movements, i.e. click on an answer, click on submit, click on an answer, click on submit. It is a popular misconception that IT tests are scored on the basis of the number of correct answers submitted, but this is not true. Cameras record the number of times the testee has to blink; the less times a testee blinks, the higher the score. This is so that companies are assured of getting the most "screen stare" for their money. Comprehension of the subject matter is actually irrelevant.

The second function is by way of current employees obtaining certs. This proves to the company that the employee is spending time away from their job thinking about their job and proactively doing things related to their job, and thereby the company is able to artificially decrease the salary rate that they are paying the IT personnel. Again, the employee is not scored by correct answers, but by the amount of time spent on each question. The more time spent, the better the score because the company is getting "free labor" from the employee.

Knowledge is not important in the IT field, because IT people are basically lazy, ill-kept sand bags that don't really perform a necessary function in a modern company. They are mainly there in a scapegoat capacity, for those times when a real worker make a mistake. The company can then say, "Ahh, those stupid IT idiots messed things up again." After all, the technology behind computers and networks doesn't really ever change; occasionally acronyms are updated to make it seems as though the technology is new. Let's face it, how many thing can you really do with 1's and 0's anyway?

[Zombie]

Heh no CCNP, networking is just my hobby. Plus I'm afaid to go get any other certs, I'm afraid my signature might end up spelling something offensive.

[disturbed]

I was mis-guided into starting Novell back in High School.
Had my CNA right after I turned 18.
Almost 20 and in two more test I will have my CNE.
All of this has taught me one thing, not a damn thing counts unless you have the experience.
On Average, CNE's with less than 3 years in IT make around 40,000.
I am still being paid hourly and can barely afford my bills.

Pity me, gimme a job :)