>>>>> "Keith" == Burtt, Keith <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
Keith> I have a request. I'm in a battle trying to get the company
Keith> to pay for classes to have folks in my group certified.
In my sometimes-humble opinion, certifications, for the most part, are
completely useless.
If you want useful criteria for clues, look for things like
publications, presentations, and a track record of actually _doing_
things more than plugging in one vendor-supported black box into
another vendor-supported black box and then trying to figure out whom
to call when it breaks.
During interview processes, identify these folks by finding out not
only what they've done, but what specifically they did on these
projects that were so great and wonderful. Present them with some
problems and find out how they'd go about solving the problem.
Vendor certifications almost never test general problem solving
ability, which is what's important, but rather the ability to memorize
which button to click when the time is right. It's a sideline
business; don't be fooled into believing that it's something more.
This isn't to say that anyone with such certification is fundamentally
clueless or the process of learning the stuff needed to pass
certification tests is useless, but certification isn't automatically
a Good Thing. But consider another certification that most on the
list know about: firewall certification. Almost useless.
--
Matt Curtin [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.interhack.net/people/cmcurtin/
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