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.
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