301 Moved Permanently

nginx
301 Moved Permanently

301 Moved Permanently

nginx

Newsletter #22 - May 29 2000
Back to archive

WELCOME:
Welcome to our 22nd edition.

A WORD FROM OUR SPONSOR:
How would FREE Windows 2000 MCSE Questions sound? Sign up today to get FREE questions for the following exams: Windows 2000 Professional (70-210) - http://70210.listbot.com Accelerated Exam (70-240) - http://70240.listbot.com More on the way soon!!!

WHAT�S NEW:
We have upgraded all of the exams with our new test engine as was mentioned in the last newsletter. Our practice exams can be found at http://www.mcmcse.com/study/exams.shtml.

Added a new "Site FAQ" to help answer some of the most common questions that we receive at http://www.mcmcse.com/feedback/faq.shtml.

SURVEY RESULTS:
Our most recent survey asked, "If you currently work in the computer industry, what is your salary in US dollars?". Here were the results:

29% - Less than $30,000
36% - $30,000 - $45,000
18% - $45,000 - $60,000
9% - $60,000 - $75,000
8% - Over $75,000

COMMENTARY ON RETIRING MCSE:
Following is an email that we received from one of our visitors that we would like to pass on to you.

"I'm getting more than a little tired of watching my Network Engineer certifications retire. It's in my opinion that if Microsoft is going to retire my NT 4 MCSE then they shouldn't be able to collect fees of the licenses anymore either. This pattern of pumping out the latest and greatest operating system, when it's not ready just to satisfy stockholders is bad enough. To bite the hand that feeds you is even worse. Network Administrators and IT Directors are the number one reason that these software and hardware companies can brag about their genius at all. Instead of furthering their certification secondary market by retiring the cert in favor of the latest and greatest thing, (Which by the way, after service pack 600 I just got my last operating systems under control and am not that eager to begin debugging the next one.) they should focus on keeping their customers happy--"Network Admins and Engineers" and allow the market to retire the certifications, not the marketing department. And I know Microsoft states that by retiring the NT 4 MCSE's will strengthen the Windows2000 certification, but I say by boycotting Windows2000 Server will strengthen the retired NT 4 certification.

And it's not only Microsoft. Cisco is equally as guilty.

Cisco Systems places value on its certifications as being the most difficult in the industry. Yes this is true, but not as you would think. The difficulty in these tests is not in technical knowledge, but is instead the cheap little trick questions with the play on words. After passing one of these tests you feel almost ripped off. And of course, I've failed one too and the feelings are the same.

I've helped and encouraged a great number of people to get certified in the past few years. In doing so, they have not only increased their knowledge but also their income. I've stayed in touch with most of them, and they've all asked me the same thing: "Are you going to up your MCSE to 2000?" The answer is No. This is not because I think it lacks value. I just don't see any value in it yet. I'm not sure but, I think that there are still a huge number of 3.51 servers still out there with service pack 20 on them. In addition, I don't see anyone knocking the warehouse doors down at Microsoft for Win2000. If retiring our cert is an effort to promote the purchase of their new product, then I'm not going to do it. As I stated earlier, who wants to start BETA testing another operating system when we've just barely got NT 4 down. And now, they intend to retire our MCSE before the first service pack is released. I think this should be the Software Law:
  1. No certification test should be retired while the software company is still making money on the sale of the software for which certification applies.
  2. No certification on older software should be retired until service pack
  3. is released on the upgraded software.
  4. No program will be fixed by simply rebooting the computer. (Hmmm, OK maybe not this one. If not for this, we'd have no conversation with the end user at all.)
There should be in my opinion a network engineer's certification that isn't dictated by the marketing departments of the largest most profitable companies in the world. Instead, certification testing should be performed by a neutral third-party with the concern of network and computer professionals in mind and how it may affect our careers. I mean, how difficult would it really be? A few grants from some of the computer companies that are only the fourth and fifth largest in the world, not the first and second, a phone call to Prometric, and a bucket of mad bees. Oh, wait a minute, the bees were for an idea I had about clearing out an entire accounting department in just under thirty-seconds".

THANKS:
We would like to thank all of you that have made our websites some of the most popular IT sites on the web. Without YOU, there is no US. Good luck in all that you do.

Jason Sprague
MC MCSE
http://www.mcmcse.com

301 Moved Permanently

301 Moved Permanently

nginx
301 Moved Permanently

301 Moved Permanently

nginx