Time for Cisco to take Certifications tests in house Mr. Chambers,
Dear John,
I have come up with a solution that will fix the whole Cisco Certification issues and put everything to rest. As we all know the whole Cisco Certification pool is become so diluted that everyone has a certification now. The problem is that people can go take a test and pass without even knowing the equipment or software in the solution. They do this by studying exam crams or sample test as people call them; these are no more than a collection of test questions that people have submitted. To make my point I took my friends daughter who is in her first years of college, I pointed her only exam crams and test questions I found on line. She took two weeks and studied only these then went and took a CCNA test. She passed in the 900's which is a good score for a girl who has never been on a router or switch.
My solution to fix this problem is to have Cisco bring all test back in house, I really mean back in house. Cisco should use each local office or the big ones as test centers; they can provide a written test and an hands on test. They could use the Cisco WLAN Camera solution to watch people who take the test and to make sure they don't cheat. Cisco may need to go to extremes as far as telling people they are not allowed anything in the test center with metal on it. Rumors of people using small cameras and microphones with recorders to get all of the test questions have been floating around for some time. A metal wand like the ones used at airports will need to be used.
After the written test of which should have a test pool of let's say 2000 questions, they have to pass the written test before moving onto the hands on lab. The hands on lab would be taken in front of a CCIE at the testing center. It would be something like the CCIE lab but not as hard. I think that an 80% should be needed for both the written and the hands on test. If you are thinking to yourself wow this will be hard, yes it will and it should be. Cisco has not really taken the problems or the ramifications of the dilution of certifications seriously, but they need to now. Thinking of the problems that this will fix, it is really a no brainer for Cisco.
What problems will it fix for Cisco?
1. Stop Partners from just having people take tests to keep Gold or Silver Certifications
a. Yes I know of more than a few gold partners who do this
2. Stop engineers from just taking tests to get a better job
3. The certifications will really mean something now and people will work harder to get them
4. Maybe this will allow Cisco to delete many certification or test and combine them
5. Bringing the tests in house will allow Cisco to make money and pay for its self
Sincerly,
Larry
ps. If you need help call me, I would be more than happy to help out.
We would like to hear your opinion on this issue, please feel free to post.
Larry Chaffin is the CEO/chairman and founder of Pluto Networks, a consulting company specializing in VoIP, WLAN and security. Pluto is a channel partner for Cisco, Qualys, Riverbed, Guardianedge, TriGeo and Linksys.
Larry is an accomplished author; co-authoring Managing Cisco Secure Networks, Skype Me, Practical VOIP Security, Configuring Check Point NGX VPN-1/Firewall-1, Configuring Juniper Networks NetScreen & SSG Firewalls, Essential Computer Security: Everyone's Guide to Email, Internet, and Wireless Security, How to Cheat at Microsoft Vista Administration, Microsoft Vista for IT Security Professionals, Asterisk Hacking, 2008 VoIP and Video Conferencing, Infosecurity 2008 Threat Analysis and author of Building a VOIP Network with Nortel's MS5100, along with co-authoring/ghost writing eleven other technology books for VIOP, WLAN, security and optical technologies.
Larry has more than 29 vendor certifications from companies such as Nortel, Cisco Avaya, Juniper, PMI, isc2, Microsoft, IBM, VMware and HP. Larry has been a principal architect around the world in 22 countries for many Fortune 100 companies designing VoIP, security, wireless and optical networks. Larry is currently working on a follow up to Building a VoIP network with Nortel's MCS 5100 Book as well as new books on Cisco Telepresence Networks, Practical VoIP case studies and WAN Acceleration with Riverbed.
|
|
A Difficult Problem
I do agree that the prestige of the CCNA has worn down. Most engineers I know view the CCNA as an entry-level cert and rely more on the professional level certs to show that a job candidate has the knowledge required to work in networking (CCNP in particular). However, people have to start somewhere. I think there needs to be an entry-level Cisco cert that is attainable for people with little experience with routers and switches that are looking to break into the field. For now, it seems the CCNA is filling that role, but in the future, if Cisco beefs up the CCNA requirements further and the CCENT gains more ground in the marketplace, the CCENT might be able to take that role.
I think hands-on exams are always a great idea, but I doubt Cisco will be willing to pay the money or candidates will be willing to eat the cost of making all exams have a written and lab component. Think of what the average CCNA candidate makes for a living versus the CCIE that would be supervising them. I agree it's a great idea, but I doubt the economics of it will work out.
I like the direction Cisco has been heading with their exams. I think their tiered system is better than a lot of vendors and their requirement to re-certify certainly helps. I think stricter enforcement of the NDA and perhaps random retesting of those certified might help as well as adding even more Sims to exams and a larger question base. I just don't think it's practical or economically feasible to turn each exam at each level into a mini-CCIE.
Re: Time for Cisco to take certifications in house
Hi There
I would almost completely agree. Infact I posted almost exactly this in response to a post on Wendell Odom's blog a week or so ago. See http://www.networkworld.com/community/node/28374?page=1
(second post on page)
IMHO all exams from the Associate level to the expert level should be over two parts. A written theory exam and a hands on practical exam, with the successful completion of the theory exam a prerequsite for sitting the lab exam. 85% pass mark required on each exam and duration of 90-120 minutes for the theory (maybe longer for professional level exams) and 2-4 hours for the lab. 2 hours for Associate level labs and 4 hours for Professional level exams.
Also the theory exam should NOT be made up of the usual multiple choice/drag and drop type questions used on so many certification exams, as this type of question is easy to brain dump. The theory questions should require written answers of a paragraph or more, to show understanding of the technology/concept being tested.
Lab exams should be proctored, just like the CCIE exam, with students given access to the IOS help function and the Doc CD web site. They should be encouraged to use these tools from the off.
I think that this type of approach would render the use of brian dumps as a method of studying for Cisco certifications absolutely useless.
I realise that this would take a little longer to grade and be a little more expensive, but I think that the benefits to Cisco would be huge. Certified individuals who really know their stuff and who would be sought after in the industry would only reflect well on Cisco.
However I do think that Associate and Professional level exams could still be administered by Pearson VUE in local countrys. I do not think that people seeking certification at this level should have to travel to one of a handful of test centers around the glbe for exams like the IE's/DE's do. I think that this would be a step too far. I do however agree that IE's/DE's should be a requirement for test center proctors.
Just my 2 cents worth.
Best Regards,
Michael