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Home > Archive > General Discussion > August 2000 > ********A Must Read!!! A Must Read********
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********A Must Read!!! A Must Read********
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| This is a very nice article written by IT Professional who tackles the unfair label of paper MCSE that's thrown around. Read it it's long but you'll enjoy it if you're trying to become a MCSE and some current MCSE's that this article talks about won't like it, Oh well you can't please everyone. The article comes from www.cramsession.com
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I’m beginning to see the term Paper MCSE everywhere I look on the Internet and I don’t like it. The term is being used by many to devalue MCSE’s with little or no experience, and I don’t know why. Like many other catch phrases you’ve got to wonder what motivates such verbiage. I remember a few years back when the term paper network administrator was attached to the CNE certification to sell the MCSE, but this is a different IT market today and I don’t think it’s going to be as easy to fail to recognize that Tiger MCSE’s (Paper Tigers / Paper MCSE’s) play a vital roll in staffing an IS department.
As a Director of Information Systems, when I look to fill a position in my department, I of course, first look for experience, or more precisely, Product Knowledge Experience. For example, if I need someone to manage and maintain a group of NT Servers, I look for someone with product knowledge in NT Server. (or if the OS was Netware I’d look for someone with product knowledge in Netware.) This seems simple enough, but as any network manager or IS director will tell you, it’s just not that simple. Finding experienced computer professionals in today’s market is very difficult and the ones you do find will cost you money. You either have to steal them away from another company, find one that is discontent, or you settle for one that has plenty of experience but has a personality issue (i.e. complains all the time and can’t get along with anyone.). Or you just can’t find anyone at all. So, what do you do if you can’t find experienced people to fill the job? (Experienced people being, those with product knowledge.) The next best thing is someone with a certification. A certification at the bare minimum represents someone with enough product knowledge to pass the test and was enthusiastic enough to learn. To me this is the best hire because you’ve let the person know that you are giving him/her a chance and that you expect him/her to take advantage of this by learning and working as hard as he/she can until up to speed.
How many people graduate with a degree in computer science that have any experience? I do know of a few, but were they are mostly programmers. If you look at what the universities are teaching in terms of network management and product knowledge, you still have someone that needs to be trained to maintain your unique company needs. And after a year of training you have a computer network trained, computer science major with an MCSE or product knowledge experience that just doubled his or her income, and the question isn’t, are they going to look for another job, the question is just how long do you have before you have to make a counter -offer or start all over again. This is something with which an IS Director in the real world has to deal every day. In any IS department; everyone is on some sort of learning curve learning some new technology. It’s said that, every IS Department turns over every fifteen months or so, from the entry-level people learning networking basics to the senior network engineer teaching him or herself how to use advanced networking devices. It is part of your job to learn. Like a POW in those old World War II flicks, it is your duty to escape—It is your duty to learn as much as you can so you can find a higher paying better position. The more acronyms that you can put on your resume, the more money you can make. I always say: to get a really good job in computer industry you need enough acronyms to satisfy a popular children’s soup. A friend of mine that worked at Microsoft told me that when interviewing a potential candidate it is more important to test that person’s ability to learn rather than what he/she knows right now, because what he/she knows right now might be obsolete in six months. So the value of a so-called paper MCSE is: Where else in any other industry can you draw from a pool of people that have the enthusiasm and energy to learn what has to be the most uninteresting, mind grueling information and quickly make themselves available for hire? I don’t know of any, and I also don’t know why Tiger MCSE’s are getting so much criticism.
I read an article on the Internet where a network manager is quoted as saying that he would rather hire two people at 12.00 dollars an hour and train them, than overpay a paper MCSE. It’s been in my experience that anytime you hire cheap and then train, once you’ve trained them they have product knowledge and now they can triple their income by simply finding another job. The jobs are out there, too. Clearly, that network manager must have a large turnover. Yep, that’s the way it works in real life. Not only do I know what I’m talking about, but I have been the trainee, the trainer, the network manager, and the MCSE with and without experience. Don’t let anyone convince you otherwise. In this rapidly growing industry there are never too many MCSE’s, paper or otherwise. When you can’t find enough people to fill a position, some product knowledge looks a lot better than none at all.
Doug Chick
Director of Information Systems
MCSE, MCP, CCNA
dougc@katsur.com
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| Don't pay the MCSEs with little or no experience alot of money then. Pay them what they're worth. Alot of MCSEs w/no experience just want the opportunity to work. My problem is that alot of recruiters look for too specific skills eventhough an applicant has experience. I had extensive experience in NT but very light in SQL,yet the company decided not to hire me. Alot of job postings are too idealistic. It is extremely RARE for any person to know every BackOffice Product,yet recruiters list jobs that seem to ask for the world. I think IT managers have to be realistic about the people they hire. I could've taken the job despite my lack of SQL knowledge because i believe i can learn quickly. Just my 2 cents worth! | |
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| I know what you mean, Bill. When I look in the papers, the employers always seemm to be asking foe someone with 5 or six years of experience using a particular piece of software, and if you don't well then just don't apply. I've ran into that problem over and over again. If given the chance, learning would be possible, but so many just won't give us that chance. As for the "paper MCSE's", well, a lot of people are trying to get their MCSEs just to get a job in the first place. | |
| JoeBlock 2000-06-29, 12:35 am |
| Tomorrow, I willl be sitting for my final paper to get the MCSE+I certification - all in 6 weeks. Of what value will this certification is to me? For once, I don't have to listen to $,000,000 solutions when I can just get it for $ ,000. I am 46, earning way above what many MCSE gets, paper or otherwise. I hire as well. Those Paper MCSEs offer the best bet - pay them market rates, get them to perform and ensure that they put the knowledge to good use. IT managers must also be good HR practitioners! Don't forget also to encourage employeess who have the potential to be MCSEs, give them the opportunities to manage IT, and get them certified. | |
| elwatson 2000-08-03, 3:09 pm |
| It really is nice to hear those with and w/out "certificates" expound on the reality of the market. Like all jobs, there are the MCSEs and there are THE MCSEs.
In a capitalist economy where profit is the motive, certification has become a big boondoggle to say the least. It has it merits,of course,because we all agree that it shows the person has the requisite knowledge to perform the task at hand. How well h/she does it is another question. Much like a Harvard trained MD at the top of h/her class versus a foreign medical school (you know the ones for American students who couldn't cut it in America) who are at the bottom of their class. It is all relative.
I am 46 years old and looking to start a new career. Fine age...after all, those of my peers who have been ambitious enough are now managers, vp's, etc., and I am starting over. Once upon a time back in the 70s the rage was repairing computers and programming, and then in the 80s it was Paralegal work. Now its MCSE. Billy boy must be given credit...a lot of people are now working thanks to his dream.
I know that after breaking my backside studying, more than likely I will end up like most---certification but no experience. I say give those who put the effort in a chance. If they do not prove themselves, then...here's the door. Paper MCSEs or whatever you wish to call them is a joke. Think about it. The average person thinks you are a "genius" for even mentioning what you are trying to do. Hard work deserves credit and a payoff in capitalist America.
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| Take it from the guy who wrote the article. The cert is one of the few discriminating factors that a boss/manager can use in the selection process. Certifications tell an employer a few things about you. 1. your trainable. 2. You excel 3. Your staying up with the technology.
We all know that Windows NT 4.0 isn't going anywhere soon but a year or two from now the question you maybe asked is, "Are you Windows 2000 certified?" Why? It tells the employer that your staying progressive.
Another point. Would you want a non ASC mechanic working on your high end vehicle? Most likely not. Why? Because he does not have a cert that says he has passed a exam on the standards for his trade. And standards are what seperate the skilled from the unskilled. You better hope that he's getting he tourqe specs from the manual and not off the top of his head. And it's the samething with IT Techs. Your not expected to know everything but your are expected to know how to get things fixed to standard. And when you work at getting certified you have to know how to do research. My last point. If For every exam you study for and passed, you increased your knowledge base by just 2-3%, and you took an exam every 10-12 weeks, how much more would you know in a year? In two?
My background? I do help desk support for MS Windows NT Server 4.0 and talk with Admins and consultants from all over the world and they don't know everything but they know enough to know who to call for support. And yeah, I got the certs and I'm still working at getting the certs because if I stop and say I'm good to go, I just set myself for failure. |
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