Certification Satisfaction

In early September 2000, PANUG received an email message that was broadcast on a NUI list that had to do with dissatisfaction with Novell's NetWare 5 certification testing. We'd like to hear your opinions about this specific issue and vendor certifications in general. Send your comments to info@panug.org. We'll post your comments here.

Here's the original article:

On the 18th I took the NetWare 4 to 5 update test. After studying Novell's own CBT curriculum and its accompanying book, a 3rd-party CBT, and acing an extensive 3rd-party practice exam, I thought the test should be a breeze. I passed, but it was no walk in the park.

It's been almost two weeks now since I took the exam, so I can't provide more than a detail or two about it. First of all, mine was adaptive, so I got only one chance to get things right. This makes the exam short, which is good, but if you get more than 15 questions, you are likely in trouble.

I remember only two questions specifically (probably because they irked me the most even though I got them both right). The first had to do with the type of FastTrack indexing and the other with the ZENWorks remote control. I'm being intentionally vague because I'm not sure how much I'm allowed to say about the specifics of the exam questions (I didn't read in any great detail the 10-screen agreement I had to click OK to prior to beginning the test).

I've taken an awful lot of Novell certification exams (I'm an MCNE) but I've never taken one so full of useless trivia and obfuscation (now there's a word) of both question and answer. I can't remember a single question on the exam that I would want to ask a prospective employee to check their NetWare knowledge. If this is the trend, then I count myself among those who question the value of a (Novell) certification.

Jay Elvove - UMNUG