Don't you love that?

When I worked in Medical Records at a hospital, this guy in IT was always like, "OH YEAH... I'm an MCSE.... let me look at that!" when a computer was down.

We had a Windows 98 machine that wasn't getting on the LAN, and he was fuming at how he couldn't figure it out. Now, mind you, I have a degree in Networking, and just couldn't find an IT gig (should have had his job, really), but I walked over and said, "What does winipcfg say your IP address is?" Thinking that would be something you'd immediately do after confirming your physical connections were good.

The resulting blank stare gave me pause. From then on, when he was around, and a system was down, I always thought, "OH YEAH... he's an MCSE.... let me look at that!"

heh heh.......

But let's not cast too much aspersion on the fine qualifications people have obtained for themselves, eh? Congratulations to everybody for doing so.

The simple thing is, having a Certified qualification isn't the be-all and end-all of it. There are some very necessary qualities that a Certification DOESN'T give you!

It does not mean that you are necessarily a good communicator. When people report a problem, their report is more often an expression of frustration than a helpful description of symptoms. To be really suited for providing assistance, you need to be able to effectively communicate with people from all walks of life, and in a wide range of 'emotional states', and also have the capacity to 'hone in' on what they're trying to say rather than what they are actually saying.

Having a Certification doesn't ensure that you are a person who has good skills with lateral thinking. Quite often, PC problems will manifest elsewhere from where they originate, and treating causes is always better than treating symptoms. Quite often, people will ask for assistance and advice based upon what they've been 'told' rather than what's best for their needs. If you aren't prepared and capable for giving advice directed at needs rather than specific requests, then you're not giving the best advice and assistance possible.


Gaining a Certification will help people to GAIN a job/position. But it's other qualities which will ensure they'll KEEP it


But most of all, if the 'expert' you're faced with is basically sitting back on the laurels of their 'MCSE' qualification, and proclaiming loudly that having one makes them 'better' than others, then they're most likely not! It's proven results and outcomes of putting it all into pratice that should be crowed about

I think certifications, as well as a degree to some point, will only give you book knowledge. You actually need to go out and DO to get the experience, and that's what jobs are looking for more than anything. Now myself, I'm sorry to say I hold no certifications I'm still in school going for my degree ... a B.S. in Computer Science with a minor in Business Computer Information Systems, which I'll hopefully be done with sometime soon. Personal matters have forced me to quit fulltime and only be taking 2 courses a semester.

Ya, gee, what a shame. When you go for an interview and they say "what certifications do you have" you'll have to say 'none'.

On the other hand you can say, "For several years I ran a premier programmer help forum with thousands of members; I wrote the scripts, maintained the machines, advertised on various sites, managed fee collection, managed a number of moderators, ..."

And we'll just have to keep quiet about the fact that ole Catweazle is unmanageable and incorrigible!

Must be great to be csgl, and for the certifications, thats what the money is paying for is the class right. DUH!

I have no certs am completely self taught and run my own company

I have the A+ certs, also a computer tech cert from high school and currently working on getting network+ and linux certs. I hate my high school, they only offer one computer programming class and 2 web page design classes. most of the classes they have are drama and retarted shakesperain classes.

I Have Certification For Testing And Quality Management From Tuv Corporation

for teens? im 16 and im doing A level computing at college here in the UK - wiki it its advanced stuff we do binary arithmatic, and program in c++ and assembler