Internetworkers: http://www.ibiblio.org/internetworkers/

[internetworkers AT lists.ibiblio.org (Bill Geschwind)]

Yes, you have hit the nail on the head, it IS a scam. These training
places fail to mention anywhere (for obvious reasons) that you do not
need to take any classes in order to be eligible to take these
certification exams - although without any sort of preparation your
chances to pass are not that great. Instead of paying in the order of
$10,000 or more for a set of classes to pass the MCSE exams, you can buy
a set of books for well under $1,000, read and study them, pass the same
exams, and your MCSE certification will be just as valid.

In addition, these places are doing serious damage to the concept of
certification by cranking out 'certified' technicians and admins without
any experience at all. The A+ certification, for example, is designed
for somebody with at least 6 months worth of experience in supporting PC
hardware, and the MCSE certification is designed for somebody with at
least 2 years worth of experience with Microsoft networking and server
products. In essence you are supposed to get the experience first and
THEN the certification, since the certification is supposed to certify
that you are experienced in the respective field and possess a certain
level of expertise in it. Getting people without any experience
certified is making a mockery out of this concept, almost to the point
where these certifications become meaningless. In fact it's gotten so
bad that I have actually seen MCSE being referred to as Microsoft Clown
School Educated.

- Bill

-----Original Message-----
From: internetworkers-admin AT lists.ibiblio.org
[mailto:internetworkers-admin AT lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of Thomas
Beckett
Sent: Wednesday, February 05, 2003 3:14 PM
To: internetworkers AT lists.ibiblio.org
Subject: Re: [internetworkers] radio spam

Maria stated:
> The worst part in my opinion, however, is  that many
> of those companies finance the classes. So you end up with people
> who can't really afford it owing several thousands of dollars only
> to find  that employers are less impressed with a certification than
> they are with  experience (and more education).

And /that's/ the racket.  The real business here is the loan
financing.  The classes are simply a vehicle to create a
receivable.  The schools have direct relationships with the lenders
and simply serve as funnels for the creation of new debt.  The
school gets cash from the lenders who originate the loan.  The
lenders turn around and resell the loans to bigger institutions or
Sallie Mae and pocket their cash.  The students who get (usually
piss-poor) training have no recourse when they can't pass the
certification exams or can't get a job later.

It's not about training people for new careers.  It's about
taking their money.  It's a scam.

TaB



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