Certified, but qualified?

  Beware the network administrator who comes
  bearing paper certificates but little hands-on
  know-how.

  By Dave Kearns
  Network World, 11/30/98

  Edward Vollmer was finishing up a contract as a
  network support technician in Germany. He wanted to
  find work in the U.S. as soon as he returned, so he
  updated his resume and posted it on the World Wide
  Web. On a lark, he decided to try an experiment to test
  the value of having Microsoft Certified Systems
  Engineer (MCSE) certification.

  "I put two resumes on the Web," he says. Only the first
  was genuine, and it detailed his seven years of network
  and telecommunications experience working with
  products from ADC, Cisco, Network Equipment
  Technologies, Mitel and Cabletron, among others. His
  resume also explained he was soon to receive a
  bachelor's degree in computer science.

  "The second resume was similar but not as detailed,
  with not as many years experience listed, and it did not
  include school," Vollmer says. "But it did include an
  MCSE." He used the name "Lions" on this second
  resume, considering he was being less than truthful.

  Three days after posting the bogus resume, he started
  getting telephone calls and was offered positions based
  on phone interviews conducted while he was still in
  Germany.

  "It's aggravating that I've spent thousands of dollars for
  my education and spent many hours installing fiber and
  crawling underground and figuring out how to configure
  Cisco 4000s and Catalysts," he says. "All I had to do
  was read a Dummies book and spend $600 for all the
  tests, and I could have been called an engineer."

  Indeed, the network industry is replete with certification
  programs. In addition to the MCSE program, there are
  two certification programs for NetWare engineers -
  Certified NetWare Engineer (CNE) and Certified
  Network Administrator (CNA). Cisco engineers can
  become a Cisco Certified Internetwork Expert (CCIE),
  while their 3Com counterparts earn a Master of
  Network Science (MNS) certification. The alphabet
  soup goes on and on. But do these certifications offer
  real value to the people who receive them and to their
  employers?

  Two recent studies - one by the research firm
  International Data Corp., the other by Southern Illinois
  University(SIU) - indicate employers perceive
  employees with certification to be more competent and
  productive. Further, the employees themselves view
  certification as contributing to their professional
  credibility. When SIU asked supervisors to compare
  otherwise similar employees, it found those with an
  MCSE were consistently rated more competent than
  noncertified employees.

  But does certification reflect knowledge? "I've watched
  my co-workers cram for two days, take a few exams
  and then demand a higher salary. . . . And the company
  gives it to them," says Jessica Feldman, a software
  engineer for a major applications vendor. "I've been told
  that if I go for my MCSE/D, I too will reap the benefits
  of a salary increase," she says, referring to the degree
  for certified Microsoft software developers.

  There's even at least one test preparation company,
  Transcender, that offers a money-back guarantee if you
  don't pass the test after preparing with their simulated
  exams - no training necessary.

  Donna Senko, Microsoft's director of certification,
  admits so-called "paper MCSEs" - people who cram
  and pass the tests with little or no real-world experience
  - are a problem, but says current and future tests will
  use more sophisticated situational testing in hopes of
  bringing to light candidates' actual capabilities.

  Many others contend, though, that hands-on experience,
  along with study and testing, is the only true measure of
  competence. Network managers point to Cisco's CCIE
  program as the ideal because it requires previous
  network experience, as well as hands-on laboratory
  tests using Cisco equipment. 3Com's new MNS
  certification goes even further, requiring the candidate
  to design and build a working network, according to
  marketing manager Joanne Scouler.

  To ensure employees get adequate training, some
  network managers suggest putting them through an
  apprenticeship program. Pat MacCarthy, a network
  administrator who in a previous life was a chef,
  remembers the apprenticeship program he completed in
  the culinary trade. "We spent 20 hours each week in
  class and lab work, and 40 hours in a restaurant,
  garnering valuable experience," he says. "We were
  moved every eight to 16 weeks from one position in the
  restaurant to another, to make sure we got a feel for
  the whole house."

  Novell, which started the certification craze with its
  CNE program and has issued almost half a million
  certificates, is picking up on the apprenticeship theme
  through its Novell Education Academic Partners
  (NEAP) program. Angel Sanchez, chief administrative
  officer for Kern County, Calif., schools, is administrator
  of the NEAP program for his school system. He says
  Novell - along with Cisco, which has a program similar
  to NEAP - provides software, hardware and
  instructional material to secondary schools. The schools
  use the tools to run their networks while teaching
  students what they need to know to become network
  managers. Students who successfully complete the
  NEAP program are awarded Novell's CNA status.

  That kind of certification, the evidence shows, leads to
  higher pay and better jobs.

  Still, most network managers agree that certification
  alone is a poor basis on which to judge a potential
  employee's worth. As MCSE/CNE Cameron Brandon
  puts it: "Yes, experience is the absolute best judge of
  merit, but experience and tons of certifications are even
  better. If a guy has experience and continues to get
  certifications, that means he is at home, on his own
  time, studying to better himself."