Re: cert discussion

[macarnor@lsil.com (Norman Macaraeg)]

"Certified system engineers."  What exactly does this mean?  I've always
felt that anyone deserving of an "engineer" title must have gotten a
bachelor's degree in the engineering field.  I have a Bachelor's
degree in Industrial Technology with computer and electronics as
my emphasis.  But I would in NO way call myself an engineer.

This is what I believe a lot of us are afraid of with certification.
Being certified seems to be an easy way to getting an engineering
title.  I've interviewed Drake certified SUN system administrators
and they didn't even know how to mount a file system.  Or even
describe the process to propagate NIS maps.  There's a lot of
pretenders out there and I've already spoken to a lot of them.

I would be more inclined to hire someone with experience over some-
one that's certified.  And I would be more inclined to hire someone
with a degree than someone that's certified.  If that certified
someone has experience and a degree?  Then great.  More power to
them.  They're hired.

When you think about it, certification COULD lead to lower salaries
especially if there's an increase in certified SA's.  What do you
think every kid out of high school is going to want to do?  Four
year degree?  Or less than a year's worth of school to make what
a lot of us make today?  Hmmmm....

>>Dave England made the following keystrokes:
>> >
>> > > the Microsoft/Netware crowd seems to believe it increases salaries.
>> > > Are there any relevant facts?
>> >
>> >Checkout the February 98 issue of Microsoft Certified Professional
>> >Magazine.  They have a salary survey in there this month that is very
>> >relevant to this debate.  www.mcpmag.com/members/98feb/fea1main.asp
>> >
>> >I think many people will find it very enlightening. It says that
>> >salaries are dropping off in some areas due to an increase in
>> >the number of certified System Engineers. 
>> >
>> >dave
>> >
>>Dave,
>>A question you have to ask yourself in reading taht kind of statement is:
>>
>>What is really causing the supply/demand change?
>>Are there more ceritificates out there because the job market
>>required them, and now people are catching up? 
>>
>>Are there more people getting their badges now than before and flooding
>>the market?   Why? Is it because getting the cert is relatively easy?
>>
>>Are the better paying jobs still there, and the flood of low end jobs
>>causing the drop in averages?
>>
>>There are many ways of looking at the data their samples have produced.
>>If they can't get the data to say what they want it to, then they need
>>to get a better statistics person involved.
>>
>>--Gene
_______________________________________________________________________
Norman J. Macaraeg                  Tel: (408) 954-4836          _____
LSI Logic Corp.                     Pag: (888) 321-3987      LSI|LOGIC|
UNIX System Administration          Fax: (408) 433-7695         |     |
1551 Mc Carthy Blvd. M/S C-410      E-mail  : macarnor@lsil.com |_____|
Milpitas, CA 95035
_______________________________________________________________________