News
Poll: Most Agree With Decision on Certification Changes
Despite initial flood of negative comments, respondents to a poll on MCSA/MCSE program changes overwhelmingly positive.
There's often a pattern to the reaction from the Microsoft IT community
when Redmond changes the certification rules. First is anger, then resignation,
then acceptance and happiness. It happened when Redmond first announced
it was going to decertify all Windows NT 4.0 MCSEs at the end of 2001,
then rescinded its plans and went to versioning. And it’s happened again
with the upgrade to Windows .NET Server 2003 certification, if the
results
of a recent MCPmag.com poll are any indication.
As reported in the January issue, Microsoft originally decided to use
a mix-and-match path to MCSE and MCSA certification, allowing tests from
either Windows 2000 or .NET to count. Now Microsoft has backtracked and
says it will simply offer upgrade exams for those holding a Win2K MCSE
or MCSA.
On the MCPmag.com
Web site, following the story about the switch, hundreds of responses
were posted, most of them very negative toward the flip-flop. But a poll
shows that most respondents think it’s a good idea, even though the naysayers
are still well-represented.
Visitors to MCPmag.com were asked to say whether they thought the idea
of upgrade exams for .NET certification was positive or negative. Out
of 568 votes cast, about 60 percent thought it was a good idea, with slightly
more than 31 percent disagreeing. Approximately 8 percent couldn’t make
up their minds.
This comment from a Web visitor was fairly typical of those upset at
the change: “This is just great. We were told to get the Win2K certs because
Microsoft would not require us to take more classes and exams for .NET,
but now they’re changing their minds? This is wrong. It would be different
if Microsoft had told us back in the early Win2K days that this was going
to be the case. I guess now I might just look at someone else’s certs
and quit shelling out money to a company that changes the path on us every
six months. I am tired of testing to keep up to do what it takes for us
to stay current and employable.”
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Win2K MCSAs/MCSEs will need one or two more exams
to upgrade to .NET MCSA/MCSE. Is this a good idea? (Total votes:
568)
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Representing the opposite end of the spectrum was this comment: “Everyone
whining about this recent decision is simply looking for a free cert.
Who cares that the Win2K and .NET certs are going to be distinct now?
Frankly, I think this will benefit us since each certification—NT/2000/.NET—will
tell employers, recruiters and so on exactly what we are certified to
do.”
The poll results can be found at http://mcpmag.com/polls/PollResults.asp?PollsID=95.
Comments on the news from Microsoft can be found at http://mcpmag.com/news/article.asp?EditorialsID=535.
About the Author
Keith Ward is the editor in chief of Virtualization & Cloud Review. Follow him on Twitter @VirtReviewKeith.