[BSDCert] thoughts from an over certified BSD geek

[Nick Buraglio]

The ISC2 and Cisco CCIE are the standards that many higher level certs 
should be based on.   There are fewer people that have them, but in my 
experience it's pretty rare to find someone that has one that is not 
experienced and skilled.   Both of those tests are different than many 
of the "certification factory" tests, which is something that should be 
taken into consideration. Hands on of some sort is almost a must in my 
opinion.
What is the opinion of the adaptive tests?
Does anyone have any experience with the Juniper tests?  I've been 
working with Juniper equipment for just under 3 years and have read the 
JNCIA tests (gotta love the junipers, they're based on BSD).  They're 
proctored by Prometric, but I don't know anyone who has actually taken 
one.  They seem to either be a little specialized I guess.


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- Nick Buraglio,  Network Engineer,  NCSA
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On Apr 4, 2005, at 10:24 PM, Sancho2k.net Lists wrote:

> Chris Buechler wrote:
>
>> I know VUE and Prometric are being shied away from for cost and other
>> reasons.  I agree that this is a good idea.  I've taken tests at 6
>> different VUE and Prometric centers in Louisville KY, Evansville IN,
>> and Jeffersonville IN.  The quality of the facilities varies
>> drastically, from a monitoring and compliance with procedures
>> perspective, as well as the quality (or lack thereof) of equipment.
>> Sometimes you're watched on camera, with microphones, and through a
>> window, other times they don't really know or care that you exist, and
>> several situations in between.  Some test centers have nice machines
>> with good monitors, some are absolutely horrible.  I took one test at
>> a location with a 10+ year old 14" CRT monitor that must have had a
>> dot pitch of .5, and it was dying so it flickered badly and did other
>> nasty eye straining things.
>
> This is an excellent point to bring up.
>
> We saw a similar situation at a place where I worked. Actually, we were
> a certified Microsoft and CompTIA exam center as well. Our equipment 
> was
> at first all right, and as time went on and our focus started shifting
> away from the certification area, the equipment started to get worse 
> and
> worse. Also the attention to detail in the area of proctering got 
> worse.
> It got to the point that there was absolutely NO overseeing from our
> end. Just an empty room, and a camera with no feed. And a guy taking a 
> test.
>
> Point being, yes, be very very careful where you think you want to
> administer this thing.
>
>> The CISSP and SSCP are notably missing for the most part from brain
>> dump sites.  Why is anyone's guess.  My first thought is far better
>> proctoring.  Secondly, maybe the work experience requirement makes
>> these dumps in less demand, though the certifications are clearly in
>> high demand and are highly valued (overly so, in many circumstances,
>> or touted for the wrong reasons or under inappropriate circumstances).
>>  Lastly, maybe the code of ethics has something to do with it.
>
> I think a little bit of all of those, but mainly the professionalism
> behind the certification in itself. Try as they might, MS has a hard
> time convincing anyone that the braindead MCSEs produced in a boot camp
> really know about system administration. No, they were the guys that 
> had
> their noses buried in an Exam Cram for a month before hand. Never laid
> their hands on the keyboard all this time. Who wants to spend time and
> resources to get a cert they'll have to maintain through real work
> experience type things if they just want to braindump it in the first
> place?
>
> There is definately something to be said for structuring a 
> certification
> in such a way that discourages the morons from trying to land a freebie
> at it. Push the requirement for real world experience. In my mind one 
> of
> the most effective ways is to require hands-on knowledge. Red Hat's 
> RHCE
> seems to have a handle on this, for example. Verification of experience
> might help, a la CISSP.
>
> Hands on lab, project work, whatever - simple multiple choice question
> bank I think makes the least sense.
>
> DS
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