| MCSEs: We are all idiots Date:11/5/01 11:44:36 AM As we watch our economy slide effortlessly down the road to a solid recession Introduction: As we watch our economy slide effortlessly down the road to a solid recession, the IT and airline industries are fiercely competing for the coveted 'most jobs cut' award. As a response to this and to last year's enormous .com bust, technical institutes, universities, community colleges and seminars that made it their mission, starting a few years ago, to quickly and efficiently pour additional 'qualified' people into the then undermanned and rapidly expanding IT workforce have come to the realization that it is time to slow their efforts and look for alternative courses and programs to pursue. Right? Not one bit. I wouldn't go as far as to say that the opposite is happening, but let's put it this way, if you haven't seen an ITT Technical Institute commercial in recent weeks praising the value and quality of their networking and other IT courses and assuring the promise of a bright future for those who join these programs, you don't have TV. One of the largest issues negatively affecting the health of the today's IT industry is the continued pursuit of failed, and increasingly meaningless certification programs, the most dangerous one of all being Microsoft's MCSE certification. And since there are too many IT certifications out there to spend time evaluating the true value of each one, let's focus on Microsoft's popular MCSE (Microsoft Certified System Engineer) certification since it has in fact managed to process over 400,000 people into MCSE in the last few years. For those who are not familiar with this program, it is in short a certification obtained by passing 6 or 7 exams related to computer networking using Microsoft's popular Windows NT or Windows 2000 operating systems and is aimed to enable MCSEs to design, install, support and troubleshoot information systems based on Microsoft Corp. software. There are no other requirements besides passing the exams, no college level credits required, no proof of class attendance. Just to remove the element of surprise, I intend, in the following article to do my best to expose the misinformation and straight lies that keep the MCSE certification process from being remodeled into an efficient program that could truly benefit the IT industry and its customers instead of making a mockery out of both. How can I be so cruel as to attempt to dash the hopes of those poor souls who are currently on page 3 of their networking essentials book? Well, there's an MCSE 'diploma' with my name on it at home, somewhere, and the only thing I really feel certified as is an idiot for having wasted the money to acquire it. Background: Certifications are not a new concept, they have been around in fields such the automotive industry for many years, but the IT certifications rose to fame very quickly 4 or 5 years ago when the industry was in dire need of a large and immediate input of 'qualified' employees and did not have the patience or possibility of waiting for those working on 4-year degrees to fill the various positions that were opening at an alarming rate in the technology field. The certification process therefore enabled the industry to expect a large supply of potential employees who learned their skills in a matter of a few months or less instead of the years it took for college grads to enter the market. Besides the benefit of a quickly trained supply of fresh employees, new certifications could also be quickly created and existing ones modified according to the latest industry developments something which is just not possible with standard 4 year college curriculums. As a result, those who sought there certifications were thought to be more up to speed on the very latest technologies as opposed to college grads who started their computer education with basic and largely archaic skills and worked their way up to more modern technologies, building a much deeper understanding and greater knowledge along the way. As far as those who were already employed in the industry are concerned, certifications were a relatively easy way for their employers to encourage them to learn new skills to keep up with ever changing technologies and be presented with proof that the classes they provided their employees with were taken seriously enough for them to pass the exams. How popular are Microsoft's various certifications?
The current situation: A little over a year ago, I picked up a book entitled "SQL in 10 Minutes" (published by SAMS in 2000), you could read it over and over again for a solid decade and not know SQL at all, but it's good for a couple of laughs here and there. For those of you who don't know what SQL is, the title of this book is equivalent to something on the order of "How to landscape your yard if you don't have one". Unfortunately, the title of this book reflects to a large degree the much abused sense of urgency that has rendered programs like the MCSE certification simply incapable of truly assuring employers and employees alike that they have indeed learned the skill sets supposedly required to pass the exams, the rush to get it done simply does not push students to learn any more than they must to pass the exams. But how much did the industry as a whole suffer from this massive input of low quality labor? I'm not sure whether Microsoft and all of the other companies who benefit from the MCSE program and desperately want to keep it going realize it or not, but they are actually doing a great disservice to not only those who wish to work in the IT industry and those who already do but also to the businesses that hire these people. How did this certification frenzy hurt the industry you ask? Well, an impressive number of people whose extensive hands on computing experience allowed them not much more than to easily dominate their friends in Quake, were hired to participate in overseeing corporate networks after completing their MCSE certifications in a few weeks. The biggest backlash of this is a widespread lack of proper security planning and implementation over much of the internet:
The biggest mistake made by both those who relied on getting certified to find work and those who did the hiring was confusing the real meaning of the certification, being certified meant and still means that a person managed to pass some relatively simple exams, nothing more, it does not in any way assure a certain level of expertise or experience. The result of this madness? The number of unemployed MCSEs should soon rival with the number of the employed variety. The number of expensive mistakes made by inexperienced, unknowledgeable and poorly trained MCSEs is unimaginable. The cost in terms of lost productivity, data loss, and other damage resulting from these employees' mistakes will probably soon warrant its own heading on corporate balance sheets.
What keeps the failed and overcrowded MCSE certification program going?: How can a program so heavily flawed, so void of real value, and so expensive survive? While unemployment in the IT sector grows faster than we can keep track of it, while ineffective certification programs, such as the MCSE cert., are increasingly being recognized for what they really are and as companies are starting to realize the losses they suffer from hiring poorly trained certification-brandishing applicants, MCSE classes are packed. Much of the reason for this is the incredible volume of propaganda that surrounds this program and others like it, all parties involved that stand to profit from the continuation of this madness keep applying pressure to avoid serious interruptions to the certification frenzy. Microsoft and co.: It is certain that Microsoft uses their many certification programs as tools to lock customers into its specific products and platforms, this is also true of Novell, Oracle and Cisco of course. This effect comes directly into play when companies seeking to upgrade existing servers and workstations or to add new systems, ask for their IT staff's advice as to operating system and other hardware choices, most employees undoubtedly select whatever platform they are either familiar with or certified to manage. Is Microsoft responding to the current lack of opportunity in the IT industry since its certifications and the rush to qualify a staggering number of people significantly contributed to the problem? A short-lived sense of relief came over me when I noticed that Microsoft had added yet another certification to their repertoire, the MCSA, which might have refuted everything I've just said if it were a much more intensive and demanding revision of the MCSE certification as it might have resulted in a reasonable number of better trained and qualified people filling the positions that still exist in this IT mess, but in fact, it's quite the opposite, a less demanding program with fewer exams and therefore a greater output of half-qualified and largely inexperienced future job seekers... a fantastic idea. Testing centers: Testing centers, which have been established in locations ranging from technical schools to flight schools (114 centers in California), stand to lose a considerable steady source of income if the continuous flow of certification seekers somehow diminished. The majority of the 400,000+ MCSEs out there have spent $100 on each of the 6 or 7 exams required to obtain their certification, that translates into a total of over $240 million which does not take into account the other 100s of thousands of people who took tests to accomplish certifications such as MCP, CCNA, MCSD, CNE, CNA... Exam prep. material, Transcender is smiling from ear to ear. A DVD-ROM might have the capacity to hold the list of publications which include the word "MCSE" in their titles. But we'll leave publishers alone after having simply said that there are hundreds if not thousands of books published with the only and specific purpose of preparing students to pass the MCSE exams, and the number of copies sold must be quite impressive indeed. Online job listing services: Job listing sites rely not only on job postings (the volume of which has tremendously diminished) for their income, but also on job seekers' visits in order to justify their banner prices to advertisers. Newly certified and inexperienced applicants provide these sites with a healthy traffic volume and in response to the current size of the unemployed IT workers pool, Monster.com has recently launched an advertising campaign in order to draw some traffic to their site from the crowd of 'I can't believe I made a mistake this large' burger-flipping MCSEs out there. These advertising campaigns, not only bring job seekers in for a visit, but also send the wrong message to those who are considering a move from their current industry to the IT sector by giving them the impression that these sites are just overflowing with opportunities, nothing could be further from the truth. Job seekers: Those who have taken and passed the exams required to receive their MCSE certification and who relied and still rely on it to open doors for them despite their utter lack of previous experience or even solid understanding of the topics they were tested on are quite happy with the way the MCSE requirements and exams are currently structured. Many of them, along with the schools that taught them, frowned at Microsoft's attempt to discourage others from following in their footsteps by switching from straight forward multiple choice exams to an adaptive format that respond to correct answers by asking tougher questions and vice versa. The simplicity of the exams, the ability to pass them by simply practicing on or memorizing mock tests, and the large demand for IT personnel up to about 2 years ago combined with the disproportionately high salaries enjoyed in the IT industry at that time made it all too attractive an offer to resist, even for those who weren't all that motivated by the industry as a whole. Certified and non-certified training centers: And then of course, there are the variety of technical education centers founded around nothing else but teaching classes aimed at helping students pass the exams required to obtain various certifications. This very specialized industry racks in an impressive amount of money and the volume of misinformation they feed to their existing and prospective students would be amusing if it didn't rob so many of them out of their money to no avail. Having taught over 400,000+ MCSEs alone in the last few years, this industry has grown at an alarming rate, between technical colleges, specialized training facilities, boot camp organizations and all the way up to state and private colleges and universities, the income derived from charging students or their employers between $2,000 and $10,000 each for MCSE certification classes translates into revenues in the $800 million to $4 billion range, and this over last 5 years at the most, since the fever began. What is the standard response received by disillusioned recently certified students who have either not found work or not received any type of raise or promotion from their certification? More certifications. And although this eventually might lead to a skilled workforce of people who actually stick to it instead of calling it quits, it isn't for that reason that schools recommend this approach of accumulating a bag full of certifications. The most alarming example of just how much money was flat out stolen from individuals and companies who fell victim to the MCSE disaster is the concept of the MCSE 'boot camp'.
The training center industry has in fact grown so large, that it is now increasingly hiring a larger percentage of the people it itself has trained than most other industries! ITT Technical Institute recently ran the ad below seeking to fill an instructor position, it was 1 out of a total of 4 ads under the MCSE heading in the Los Angeles section of computerjobs.com.
Employers: Probably most disappointing of all, is the fact that employers also fall victim to the certification hysteria, and those who know quite well how over glorified the program is are no exception. Since the program's inception, companies who realized that it was often exploited by inexperienced applicants seeking to get in the door routinely tested these applicants through short oral or written quizzes to try and weed out the more obvious impostors, but even those who are convinced of the program's lack of real value are more than happy to advertise their staff's various certifications in order to secure business for themselves. Just as nationwide automotive maintenance and repair chains regularly boast that all of their mechanics are ASE certified, so do large technical support and other IT consulting firms when it comes to their employees' MCSE and other certifications. This fact forces companies in that sector, whether they believe in the certification process or see it for what it is, to send many of their employees to acquire these certifications in order to instill some false sense of confidence in their customers' minds. This behavior gives the certification frenzy cycle some additional momentum, and manages to convince job seekers that there indeed is some real value to the MCSE program. Conclusion: Obtaining an MCSE certification does not have to be a meaningless endeavor, and there are those who go through the process for the explicit purpose of learning the material they need to be familiar with instead of simply trying to pass the exams as soon as possible. In that sense, the MCSE certification can be a positive step forward for those who truly wish to have it be just that and who recognize that they will have to learn more on their own than that which is required to pass the exams. However, you can't have a program be successful and meaningful and warrant the creation of a multi-billion dollar industry, if it results in the certification of people who may have actually made an effort to learn something and of others who just aimed at passing a handful of exams to get it behind them. This is the basic flaw of the MCSE certification process, the ease with which it can be be taken advantage of by some diminishes its overall value and devalues the efforts of those who take the program seriously, this is why a complete restructuring of the program and of its requirements is not only a good idea, but is actually owed to those who wish to join it for the right reasons. In the minds of many employers and MCSEs, the certification has become nothing short of a joke with the many parties profiting from it trying to keep the laughter down and therefore the backing needed to incite a thorough reexamination of the program in order to turn it into what is was originally supposed to be, and never was, simply isn't there. After all, I too believe that the program was originally supposed to result in individuals being certified as people who have actually acquired some solid, thorough and meaningful knowledge of a particular product or service (in this case, Microsoft's Windows NT or 2000 based networking technologies). The best possible way to get out of this mess is to discourage those who are not truly committed to learning the skills required to do the job they are supposed to be training for. And the only way to do this is to rebuild the MCSE program from scratch, no part of its current format should survive this revision except for the original concept which I hope was based around correctly and meaningfully teaching the skills needed by those who desire to enter the IT industry's networking field and certifying their knowledge by requiring that they pass a series of rigorous examinations after having spent a required amount of class time, and having covered specific topics, in certified training centers and universities. Instead of this restructuring, we seem to be rapidly heading for a situation where more total income will be generated by training, testing and advertising to MCSE certified and certification bound individuals than employers stand to profit from the hiring of these people as a whole, and as ridiculous and illogical as that may sound, the propaganda generated by the variety of individuals and companies that stand to gain from such a situation is loud enough to keep the silliness going for a while yet. Is there any good news you ask? Of course there is, the Silicon Valley housing shortage problem has improved considerably, and if you decide to move to the area I'm convinced that your realtor will throw in a couple of MCSEs to paint the place. |
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