This time around we’re going to focus on a topic= that isn’t particularly technical, yet is a potential source of problems f= or beginning certification students. One of the most debated topics on certification related discussion forums is the “paper” MCSE, CC= NA, etc. That is, the person who passes the exams and obtains the certificate, = but doesn’t have any real world experience. While I don’t seek to t= ake up the argument in this column, I do plan to show one of the biggest fallac= ies behind obtaining certifications without experience and how impacts you in t= he real world. In the process, we’ll also look at some exam taking strategies that should help improve your scores on certification exams.
One of the common questions asked by someone pursuing certification for the first time is regarding what they should expect on the exam. Often that refers to content, but a lot of times the person really doesn’t know what they are getting into. Practice exams can help a pe= rson get a feel for the structure and content of the real exams, but they can be detrimental if used incorrectly. One of the most important things to note a= bout certification exams is that with the exception of the CompTIA exams (A+, Network+, Linux+, Server+, etc.), the exams you take are most likely going = to vendor specific. For the person with no experience that can be problematic.=
Why can that be a problem? Well, primarily because sin= ce the exams are vendor specific, scenarios or case studies you have to solve are based entirely around that particular vendor’s solutions. However, mo= re often than not you won’t find a single vendor’s solution workin= g in all cases. I’ve personally worked with and observed certified individ= uals who knew nothing outside of the framework of the vendor certification they = had, which caused them to sometimes recommend solutions that were not in the bes= t interests of the customer or company, whichever the ca= se may be. If a customer has a mixed NetWare and Windows 2000 environment, an MCSE with limited experience might recommend implementing Active Directory becau= se it is all that they know, when NDS might be a be= tter solution for a directory service. I’ve also seen MCSEs with limited experience recommend replacing a Unix infrastructure of database servers wi= th NT and SQL Server because they knew Microsoft technologies and didn’t know (or want to know) how to work with Unix.
That’s not to bash MCSEs or suggest that only Microsoft has this problem with its certification program. I’ve seen CCNAs and CCNPs who barely acknowledge that vendors other than make routers= and switches. Likewise, I’ve seen CNEs who always recommended Novell solutions even when they weren’t the most appropriate for the environment. One example was a CNE analyzing a Windows NT 4.0 network that = was looking to migrate from Lotus cc:Mail to some ot= her email platform in the wake of Y2K, and recommending a Novell GroupWise solu= tion since it was what he knew rather than Exchange Server, which would have made more sense given the environment and that many of the employees were already using Microsoft Outlook anyway for calendaring and managing task lists.
The bigger picture is that exam answers and real world answers do not always jive. If you’re taking a Microsoft exam, for example, the scenarios are sometimes unrealistic because of their insistenc= e on implementing Microsoft products at all costs. They do that though because t= hey are testing your ability to work with their products, not because of some “evil Empire” intention of taking over the world. Microsoft has come a long way with the Win2K exams by at least requiring that you make th= eir products coexist and interact with stuff like Unix, but the exams are still primarily Microsoft-centric (as well they should be= ). Other vendors are similar in this regard with their certification exams.
That brings us to one of the key exam taking strategie= s that is overlooked by beginners. Understanding that you are dealing with a vendor certification and not a real world scenario, you can increase your score by focusing only on the solutions that involve that vendor. For example, maybe= you get a case study on a Windows 2000 design exam that involves Windows 2000 D= NS and an existing, older Unix DNS infrastructure that doesn’t support n= ewer DNS features like SRV records that are required for Active Directory. The Microsoft answer would be to replace the Unix DNS servers with Windows 2000 DNS. The real world answer may not be so cut and dried, in fact it may be to upgrade to the latest version of BIND on the Unix DNS servers, which does support the functionality required for AD. Depending on the environment, the Microsoft answer may be right anyway, but the point is that dealing with ex= am scenarios and real world scenarios often requires two different mindsets. So, when answering an exam question, after looking at the scenario first decide if a= ny of the potential answers are solutions that wouldn’t be very appealin= g to the vendor that is testing you (such as using a competitor’s product instead or using a third party solution when a built-in solution, albeit no= t as full-featured, exists). If that is the case, you can eliminate those answers immediately. From there you can focus on the vendor-specific solutions and = you should be able to answer the question correctly.
The proceeding is one of the big disadvantages to gett= ing a premium vendor certification like an MCSE, CNE, or CCNP without real world experience to back it up, because the certification process doesn’t prepare you for actually dealing with the scenarios you’ll come acros= s in the real world. At worst it can skew your judgment and cause you to make recommendations that are actually harmful to a company’s network. Bec= ause of this, experienced people usually recommend a certification that includes= the non-vendor specific A+ and Network+ to get started with before moving into vendor-specific certifications. Even then, we recommend getting an MCP, CCN= A, or CAN and then stopping before achieving the higher end certifications in = the respective tracks (MCSE, CCNP, CNE) until you have some experience to go wi= th the book knowledge. You should also expose yourself to a lot of different technologies starting out rather than focusing on a single vendor and a long certification path. By balancing your book knowledge, experience, and expos= ure to different technologies, you are better able to make recommendations base= d on what is best for a customer or your company and not just recommend the only thing you know. Book knowledge can fail in the real world because exams oft= en test you on technologies that are built-in to a product, but may not be a v= ery good solution in the real world. For example, the 70-215 Windows 2000 Server exam expects you to know Microsoft Backup inside and out for backup and disaster recovery of your server data. However, no one except the smallest = of companies actually uses Microsoft Backup because it doesn’t have the functionality required by most. Third party products are almost exclusively used rather than MS Backup. In essence the exam tests you on scenarios involving the Microsoft product, but has little relation to what you would actually do in the real world.
The point is to understand that the exam world and the= real world are often very different, and that how you deal with one at times has= no relation to the other. Understand vendor-specific solutions for what they a= re, their strengths and weaknesses, and how you should use that information to answer questions on exams. Also understand that in the real world you are l= ess likely to work in a homogenous environment where on a single vendor’s products are in use. If you remember these tips, you’ll not only score better on your certification exams, but you will also find your ability to recommend and implement the best solution for a given situation much better= in the real world than it would be if the exams were your only perspective.
Questions or comments?
Will can be reached at WWillis@Transcender.com