Turn About On Certification
On October 11th I was reading my email as usual when I opened
one which stated something so unbelievable that I had to read it
three times. I will admit the news was nothing compared to the
events going on in the rest of the world (the September 11th
terrorist attack and aftermath). However, it was very welcome
nonetheless.
Microsoft has changed their policy on retiring certifications.
If you will remember, over a year ago Microsoft had announced
that the Windows NT 4.0 certifications were being retired on
December 31st, 2001. This meant that everyone who had slaved for
months or even years to pass their exams had to rush to take the
new exams for the newest operating system (Windows 2000).
Needless to say, this announcement caused quite a stir in much
of the computer industry. There were hundreds of thousands of
MCSE's, and all of them were effected by this decision. What
made it even worse was the fact that most of us were not even
upgrading to Windows 2000 anytime in the near future. Thus, we
had to get certified yet we didn't really need to get certified
to do our jobs.
There were quite a few annoucements. The two regarding MCSE's
state exactly what I had suggested in a previous article
"Microsoft's ^@&^#&@ W2K MCSE Policy", so I was very happy
indeed.
http://www.internet-tips.net/Microsoft/W2KMCSEcertification.htm
...on Windows NT 4.0, which designates the related certification
as based on Windows NT 4.0. This designation applies to the
following certifications: MCP, MCSE, MCSE+I, MCP+I, and MCP+Site
Building. Thus, this MCSE would formally be called "MCSE on
Windows NT 4.0."
...on Microsoft Windows 2000, which designates the related
certification as based on Windows 2000, Windows XP Professional,
or Windows Server .NET. This designation applies to the
following certifications: MCP, MCSE, MCSA, and MCDBA (except for
the latter, it's called "MCDBA on SQL Server 2000" instead).
Here, this MCSE would formally be called "MCSE on Microsoft
Windows 2000."
The bottom line is simple. Those of us who have the MCSE
certification do not need to worry about losing it at the end of
the year. It also makes things much easier for me as an employer
- now I will be able to look at a certification and get a little
more information. Instead of just finding out someone is an
expert on Microsoft operating systems, I will now find out
exactly which operating system.
Microsoft also added a new certification, called MCSA, or
Microsoft Certified Systems Administrator. This certification is
great news, as it provides something between MCP and MCSE. Why
is this necessary? The new MCSE for Windows 2000 is a very tough
exam and it might take someone (especially those of us who work
for a living) quite some time to get it done.
The MCSA certification requires three core exams and one
elective. The certification is actually very well designed, and
should serve as a useful guide for employers.
Why the change? Well, I think there are a number of reasons. The
biggest reason? The terrorist attack and it's effect on the
economy. My peers and I have seen, in just a month, our budgets
disappear, especially for things like upgrades and
certifications. My boss put it very well to me last week, "if
you have the choice between upgrading and laying people off,
what are you going to do?" The answer is obvious. At my company,
we have postponed upgrading until next year at least, which
means we do not need to get certified.
Another big reason is that MCSE's have jobs, and I don't know
about you, but I have trouble finding time to take the classes
and tests to continue certification. It's hard enough just to
keep the wife happy, write some articles, and maintain the job.
So the certification, testing and learning will wait.
On top of that, Microsoft has been very unsuccessful in trying
to force the computer industry to upgrade to Windows 2000 and
beyond. Yes, my company did install Windows 2000 on all of our
laptops, but we've found Windows NT 4.0 works very well on our
other servers and workstations. We have no intention or need to
upgrade our hundreds of systems for the next several years,
unless their is a valid business reason.
Even more importantly, even though we may upgrade our systems to
Windows 2000, we have no intention of installing Active
Directory anytime soon. Why not? This is a huge change and we
simply don't want to support it at this time.
Finally, the industry backlash on Microsoft has been huge, and
the power of 400,000+ MCSE's and their supervisors should not be
underestimated.
Personally, I am happy that Microsoft has made this change. Now
I can concentrate on important issues like polishing our
disaster site, upgrading our security measures, ensuring our
backups work properly and making our systems work better for our
users.