For Sale - Certifications!

William — Mon, 09 Oct 2006 02:13:00 GMT

In the past, there's been a lot wrong with the IT Certification process. I'm sure just about everyone knows some ______ that can't do anything but is really great at dropping buzzwords and creating really complex sounding explanations for everything. Certification will never be perfect - that's nothing new. Braindumps are a reality. As long as there are offsite testing facilitities, some unscrupulous people will allow folks to come in, take the exams unmonitored and record the questions. Again, it's an unfortunate fact of life. I can't really go into all the work I've done with Microsoft on the certification process but I can say this, they are truly committed to making it the best they can. There are tons of stupid conspiracy theories out there about 'why Micro$soft doesn't care' but they are all exactly that, stupid conspiracy theories.

I'm still bothered by the whole braindump thing but have sort of accepted is as an inevitable reality. However this is on a whole different level . At least with braindumps you actually have to do *some* work. Sure, it's monotonous memorization but you have to actually do something. But not with Certnow. Nope, all you have to do is pay them and the rest is done for you.

This got me to thinking about a serious pet peeve of mine. Have you ever been around someone who says stuff like "College is nothing more than getting a piece of paper"? I've met too many of these folks and they irk me to no end. They typically make procalamations such as this with some grandiose tone as though they are really smart because they 'get it'. Those that actually study and work hard to learn are nothing but nerds and suckers in their book. Well, except when it comes to hiring people they need. I have yet to find one of them that says "I don't care if my doctor learned anything or not in med school, as long as he has that sheet of paper." I doubt they work in buildings designed by architects that believe that nonsense. I doubt they fly in planes built by engineers with that attitude. So the reality of that mentality is more along the lines of "I'm too lazy to actually try to earn my degree, but I have no problem piggybacking on the reputations of all the people that actually earn there's" And that's precisely why I hate braindumpers and stuff like this. If you can't pass a certification exam and get hired b/c of your certs, what are you going to do once you're there? If you actually know the material you can certainly succeed, but if you know the material, why would you pay big bucks to cheat on the test? Chances are that you'll just be outed and end up looking foolish - or get moved to management (just kidding about that last one).

Microsoft has a big, powerful, scarry legal department and I hope they use the full force of it to stop stuff like Certnow

Errata for 70-536

William — Wed, 05 Jul 2006 00:42:00 GMT

I just wanted to open up a discussion on it so here it is . I'll be posting updates/corrections/everything else there and if anyone is interested in posting, the floor is open. Please use the link above (here it is) to post. For some reason there...(read more)

Do you have any ideas about preparation for 70-529?

William — Wed, 28 Jun 2006 02:30:00 GMT

As you may know, I'm coauthoring http://www.microsoft.com/learning/exams/70-529.asp . In particular, I'm covering the following objectives: Create and configure an XML Web service method. Create a public method. Attach the WebMethodAttribute attribute...(read more)

The momentum just keeps coming

William — Mon, 19 Jun 2006 18:31:00 GMT

Today, we've hit 246 overall and #2 in Computers and Internet at Amazon. We made #1 yesterday and are at #2 in Computers at Barnes and Noble. I'd like to thank Herb Sewell and Walter Bellhaven for their assistance in this matter....(read more)

/bill's House O Insomnia : Certification

For Sale - Certifications!

Errata for 70-536

Do you have any ideas about preparation for 70-529?

The momentum just keeps coming