expired mcad and Brainbench observation.

[jc]

I was MCAD back in 2003 under asp.net,sql2000 and XML. Even if
expired, worth mentioning on my resume? I think so! I have all the
paper work and a nice pin. If I have a transcript number, is there
anywhere online I can prove that, even if it says EXPIRED?

BTW, part of the reason I did not bother keeping up the certification
was that I felt employers have lost faith in Certs due to all the
braindumps and cheaters. You would think with all the great MS
Engineering going on the test algorithm and question pool size for
Certs would somehow make it impossible for exact questions to
circulate. You would think they could make it so that the pool size of
unique questions would be around 5000 questons, far greater than any
one human could ever memorize. The idea being that the we could get a
very similar question, but the wording and entities in the question
would be different, the amounts would be different, the answers would
be different and options in different order. Also the pool of
incorrect answers per question would be greater and mixed around so
that an incorrect answer in one question might show up on anther
question for a new instance of the exam.

I was able to brainbench certify in sql 2005 and asp.net 2.0 this
past week while casually taking the exams (scored 84 and 89). Nice
system they've got and no apparent exams or cheats seem to be
available on the web. The only thing I think is the exams were
somewhat on the easy side and according to their site 40% of exam
taker pass which seems high.

 

[Mark Rae [MVP]]

I was MCAD back in 2003 under asp.net,sql2000 and XML. Even if
expired, worth mentioning on my resume?

No - completely pointless.

BTW, part of the reason I did not bother keeping up the certification
was that I felt employers have lost faith in Certs due to all the
braindumps and cheaters.

You're completely correct - an utter waste of time.

I'm often asked to sit in on technical interviews, and if I see MCPs on the
candidate's CV I always ask why they've wasted their time with them when
they could have been gaining valuable practical experience of development,
which is infinitely more valuable...

 

[Mike Poole]

Mark, I cannot find the the main thread of this conversation but note your comment about MCP quals. I've been doing ASP.NET v1.1 and SQL Server 2000 app development since 2003.

I found the ASP.NET exam for v1.1 rounded out my knowledge back in 2005. Recently I took the application development foundation for v2.0 in order help my transition to v2.0 (okay, so I'm a bit behind!).

My point is, I find the prep work for exams help build/fill out your knowledge for actual development scenarios.

Development experience is No.1 but it can be repetitive and you can get stuck in your ways. There are great blogs out there which can help, but studying a wide technical area is beneficial too.

If a MCP interviewee gave you that answer what would you say back?

EggHeadCafe - .NET Developer Portal of Choice
http://www.eggheadcafe.com

 

[Mark Rae [MVP]]

in message

If a MCP interviewee gave you that answer what would you say back?

I'd ask him/her why he/she thought there was any value in a "qualification"
for which the entire set of questions and their answers can be purchased
from any number of public websites for a few dollars... $14-$16 seems to be
the going rate for any individual MCP at the moment...

 

[jc]

for which the entire set of questions and their answers can be purchased

from any number of public websites for a few dollars... $14-$16 seems to be
the going rate for any individual MCP at the moment...

Microsoft should seriously address this. Even at the cost of making
future certifications less consistent and fair.

Much larger question banks.
More dynamic questions.

I can imagine a questioning system that could produce the same
question 20 different ways that could not be answered unless you
*really* understood the question and answer. Change the subject
matter, keywords in the answer.. etc.

And how about actually going after the scumbags that run thes sites
and traffic the material... certainly if somebody where selling stolen
entrance exams to Harvard the university with pursue and prosecute
right?

 

[Mark Rae [MVP]]

Microsoft should seriously address this.

They try: www.certguard.com