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Quite a few people who have done the MCSD.NET seem to be
disappointed that it has not tripled their salaries or
whatever. This leads to the question: "how much extra
value does this certification add to the daily work of an
individual holding the certification?"

I came across an example the other day where someone who
did not know about the four ways .NET and IIS provide for
authenticated pages in ASP.NET, set up his own
authentication scheme including his own encryption
routines like those used by Julius Caesar.

This individual has delivered quite a few bloopers over
time. You know the kind I am talking about, not so much
slapstick as slipslop.

The other problem is that the employers mostly don't
appreciate the difference certification can make. In fact
most are probably unaware that there is such a thing as an
MCSD.NET. They advertise for people with twelve months
proven commercial experience. I wonder just how many years
it will take for my friend above to learn the four ways of
doing Authentication.

Question: how can we market ourselves better to overcome
this problem?

Question: should we petition Microsoft to spend more money
promoting the value of .NET certification to those that
hire?

>I came across an example the other day where someone who
>did not know about the four ways .NET and IIS provide for
>authenticated pages in ASP.NET, set up his own
>authentication scheme including his own encryption
>routines like those used by Julius Caesar.
>
>This individual has delivered quite a few bloopers over
>time. You know the kind I am talking about, not so much
>slapstick as slipslop.

Yet companies continue tolerate it - mad.

>The other problem is that the employers mostly don't
>appreciate the difference certification can make. In fact
>most are probably unaware that there is such a thing as an
>MCSD.NET. They advertise for people with twelve months
>proven commercial experience. I wonder just how many years
>it will take for my friend above to learn the four ways of
>doing Authentication.

The problem is that Microsoft certification process has been
undermined over the past four or five years. People can buy the
questions and answers or just search the multitude of braindumps out
there. In a nutshell, the certifications do not prove the holder has
an in depth understanding of the topics let alone how to work with the
products int he real world. This is great shame to vast majority of
people who undertake the certification process, seeking to prove, as
well as, improve their own ability.

>Question: how can we market ourselves better to overcome
>this problem?

The attitude of business towards IT has changed a great deal over the
past four years. However, you would have thought more companies would
require more from their employees in terms of them being able to prove
themselves. Yet companies still choose the people with the lowest
salary expectation.

>Question: should we petition Microsoft to spend more money
>promoting the value of .NET certification to those that
>hire?

Would they listen or even care?

> The attitude of business towards IT has changed a great deal over the
> past four years. However, you would have thought more companies would
> require more from their employees in terms of them being able to prove
> themselves. Yet companies still choose the people with the lowest
> salary expectation.

I've noticed different kinds of employeers/expectations when searching
for a job a few months ago. This is one of them, but there are:

(1) Lowest bidder. Like you said. Usually attempts to exploit the
unemployed programmer. Looks to leverage the weak economy totally to
their advantage. Has short-term goals in mind, or has no company
vision.

(2) Wizard seeker. Seeks the proverbial know-it-all who is all wise
and powerful. Expects the candidate to be a master of every
acronym-touted technology known to man. The job ad gives it away when
5 paragraphs are dedicated to the job requirements.

(3) Certification worshipper. Believes certifications are the end all
solution to their HR hiring problems. Takes all the short cuts
necessary to hire the best candidates with the highest merits on
paper. A key givaway that departments and managers bullshit each other
for their own political gain. Image is everything. I even saw a job ad
once that required the seeker to show his MCSD card to the
receptionist.

I'll have to think of more, but those 3 stick out in my mind.

Braindump? Is that from the schwarzenegger movie "The 6th
Day"?

>Braindump? Is that from the schwarzenegger movie "The 6th
>Day"?

Don't you mean Total Recall? He, He.