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Re: Why Microsoft certificates are only good as asswipes

From: Joel Garry <joel-garry_at_home.com>
Date: 14 Jan 2002 17:44:30 -0800
Message-ID: <91884734.0201141744.5f2026f7@posting.google.com>


"Scott Schluer" <sschluer_at_pacbell.net> wrote in message news:<DjG08.32125$GH2.50069522_at_newssvr14.news.prodigy.com>...
> Oh jesus get off it already. I don't know how many more MS vs. Linux
> debates I can take before I crack. Don't you people understand anything?

I wrote this on usenet in 1994:

ME>technical superiority has
ME>nothing to do with the success of an OS. That's why you slam the ones
ME>you don't like - to get the unwashed masses to buy the ones that are
ME>better. It's marketing, not analysis. So tell everybody that unix is
ME>better.

> Each has their own advantages and disadvantages. If you prefer Linux, USE
> LINUX, but don't knock people who made a different choice. If I were a

Well, there is a very good reason to knock people who make a different choice: they decide what other people will work with. Every few years, MS comes out with a new OS, and I see that I have to deal with it simply because it is popular. Each time, I try to rationalize it, thinking "OK, let's give it a try, maybe this time it won't be shoddy crapola." And each time, it's crapola. Even worse, I see the crappy programming spread to other things. Simply due to the overwhelming presence of the MS stuff. And then _I_ am forced to use it, even though I know it could be better.

> company, I'd give more weight to a certification that was appropriate for
> what I needed. If I run an MS based system, I don't give two ****'s about
> the guy with a Linux certification. OTOH, if I run a linux-based system,
> the MS guy isn't going to be able to help me much. If we only had ONE OS
> (be it Windows or Linux) we'd have problems. How'd you like it if the only
> car you could buy was a Ford? Some people like Fords, some people like
> Chevy's (PLEASE don't start that thread).

So, if you have a situation that is MS biased, to the companies detriment, doing what you say would only perpetuate the problem. Unfortunately, that is the mode case, and that is why you are wrong. As well, how'd you like it if you bought a Ford and your wife bought a Chevy and the Ford dealer went away? You seem to have an overly short-term, project-biased view of the situation.

>
> I don't know many people that can sit there and memorize the answers to that
> many questions, not knowing which ones they'll be asked. If you purely BS
> your way through the exams as you seem to think everyone does, you're going
> to be pleasantly embarrassed when your new boss asks you to develop
> something you've never worked with before.

Well, I certainly agree with that! But it brings up the issue of how well the exam reflects the work, and oddly enough, many of these exams implicitly are biased against those with experience. The reason for that seemingly odd statement is the difference between the generality of the spread of the question on the exam and the specificity of most jobs.

And I have to admit, cramming for exams has invariably given me at least one or two questions I may have known and forgotten, or simply missed in the course of experience. The Oracle DBA stuff in particular is very broad, and there are many things that one might not even hit in ones career that are on the exams.

>
> My point is that people should use what they're comfortable with. I work

No! That assumes what they are comfortable with is the best thing! WRONG!
> with MS technologies and don't have a single iota of experience with Linux.
> Yet I manage to pull down $100/hour as an independent contractor doing
> backend web development for MS-based companies. I'm perfectly happy with

What was that joke? The difference between a consultant and a contractor is the consultant got $200/hr... once... for one hour...

But seriously, didn't this past summer show you how a dot.com crash could dump a gazillion people putatively with your same credentials into the job market? That certainly happened on the Oracle back-end in many places... partly because Oracle has a superior back-end, so all the big-time places that crashed the worst skewed the fallout.

> that. I don't agree with all of MS's practices, but I'm not in this
> business to try to turn MS into an ethical operation. I'm in this to earn

Maybe we should try to turn MS into an ethical operation. Then we won't have to have years of lawsuits where they try to weasel a settlement that allows them to make the monopoly situation worse under the guise of endowing education (and thank goodness the judge saw through that!).

> money and do something I enjoy doing and so far it's working because MS has
> a large market share which provides me with a large target market. It's all
> about business, not personal preference and an MCSD cert provides me with

For most people, I would advise doing something you care about. I predict you will have a serious midlife crises when you burnout.

> leverage to gain a larger percentage of that market because people are more
> comfortable hiring MCSD's in some cases. I don't care if the piece of paper
> is worthless to some techie who's got his computer-geek head shoved too far
> up his ***, because it holds weight with the people who pay me. Try to
> learn that and it'll make your days much easier.

Are you sure the people who pay you really know what they are doing? If they think IIS is so great, maybe they are going to fall down and go boom...

>
> Scott
>
> "Bill Gates" <microshaft_bill_gates_at_yahoo.com> wrote in message
> news:a5e097cc.0201101759.646f984f_at_posting.google.com...
> > You look at Linux or Comptia such tests . They at least make you
> > understand
> > some basics of the area you are taking test in by asking direct
> > questions or using question types such as Fill in the blanks.
> > But if you look at MS exams they are a total joke.
> > Just look at the braindump(there are 100's out there that sell actual
> > questions such as Cert 21 or Troytec whatever) answers and memorize
> > the answers (in most cases you don't even have to read the question).
> > True MS claims it demands a higher understanding but is it true when
> > you don't even have to know what the question is and yet you can
> > answer it ?
> > Not many of MS tests are adaptive.
> > True MS has been changing the questions but they are not enough to
> > catch the
> > test taker. Like I am going to be fooled if you change the name of the
> > company
> > from Contoso.com to Baldwin.com or if you chaneg the sysadmins name
> > from Joan to
> > Maria.
> >
> > If I was a hiring manager,I would give more weight to Linux / Comptia
> > type
> > exams than MS exams esp if the applicant has little or no experience.
> > At least the Linux dude knows basic stuff howeevr simple they may be

jg

--
Pissed at least since Jr. High about exams that grade you wrong
because you know what they haven't taught you yet and you answer the
question they asked.
Received on Mon Jan 14 2002 - 19:44:30 CST

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