Re: IBM Certification Testing

["Mike Shaw" <mshaw@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Bradley,

Agreed...However, I am hoping that via this forum, we may be able to change
this and get some credibility into the process.  In concept, certification
is a good thing for the reasons I cited earlier.

Mike Shaw
-----Original Message-----
From: Stone, Brad V (TC OASIS) <bvstone@taylorcorp.com>
To: 'MIDRANGE-L@midrange.com' <MIDRANGE-L@midrange.com>
Date: Wednesday, June 30, 1999 11:10 AM
Subject: RE: IBM Certification Testing


>Preaching to the choir, Mike.  IBM's Certification process is the "biggest
>hoax since 90 minute martinizing" - Kramer
>
>Just another money maker for them.  Hopefully most of us feel confident
>enough in our applied skills that we don't need a piece of paper from big
>brother telling use we're ok.
>
>Bradley V. Stone
>BVS/Tools
>http://www.bvstools.com
>
>
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Mike Shaw [mailto:mshaw@ncal.verio.com]
>Sent: Wednesday, June 30, 1999 9:46 AM
>To: MIDRANGE-L Listserv
>Cc: dheller@us.ibm.com; alucas@us.ibm.com
>Subject: IBM Certification Testing
>Importance: High
>
>
>Hi All,
>
>Last week I attended the AS/400 Technical Conference in Las Vegas.  One of
>the reasons I chose to attend the conference was to take the Professional
>Systems Administrator certification exam.  The good news for me is that I
>did take it and  passed the exam.  The bad news is that the exam is a hoax!
>
>I do support the concept and process of certification to demonstrate a
level
>of competency.  It is a valuable tool to assess skills that you may need to
>bring in or to measure yourself against your peers.
>
>SoapBoxMode(*ON)
>
>I was very disappointed in the process.  The exam did not test my ability
to
>manage an AS/400(s) in a large environment, it tested my ability to know
>when I needed to call a marketing person to buy more hardware!!!!  Is that
>what we are being certified to do???  I think not, knowing when you need
>more is a very small part.  Knowing how to manage what you have and get the
>most from it day-in and day-out is the bigger challenge and the exam does
>not test you in the accepted practices to do that.
>
>The other complaint that I have is that someone breathing good ol' pure air
>does not think in the terms the certification exam is written in.  Not only
>did the exam *fail* to test my skill level from 20 years experience in the
>IBM midrange arena, they managed to find every a-- backward way there way
>known to man to ask a simple question.  Make me sweat bullets over knowing
>the AS/400, not in asking simple questions with trickery.
>
>Preparation material to take the exam is non-existent for the Professional
>System Administrator certification.  Outside of a web page with bullet
>points of broad areas that you need to know, there is nothing!  There is
not
>even a pre-test that you can take to assess where you are and what you need
>to persue to improve.  I was told by an IBM'er in the Certification Lab to
>take the Associate System Administrator exam, it was representative....I
>took the pre-test in 21 minutes and scored a passing grade...Tell me  that
>is representative!!!!!!!!!!!!!
>
>To get an idea of what the Professional System Administrator exam was like,
>I took it at a $75.00 cost just to see what I was getting into and how to
>improve.  I missed a passing grade by 2 percent, taking it cold turkey.
You
>should not have to do that.  There should be a representative pre-test
>available for you to take and assess where you are in the learning process.
>
>I hope that someone in IBM sees this and chooses to do something about it.
>Where we are now in the certification process for a Professional System
>Administrator is poor at best.  I have a much higher expectation (and I
hope
>that all of you do too) for a product that has IBM's name on it.
>
>SoapBoxMode(*OFF)
>
>Regards,
>
>Mike Shaw
>Senior AS/400 Tech Support
>IBM Certified Professional System Administrator (I know when to call a
>marketing rep)
>Santa Rosa, CA
>
>
>
>
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