certification (was: eBay is looking for network heavies...)

Sun Jun 7 16:50:11 UTC 2015

On Sun, Jun 7, 2015 at 11:28 AM, Randy Bush <randy at psg.com> wrote:

> i assume, but have zero actual knowledge/experience, that certification
> courses/programs actually cover all the corners and minutiae of a subject
> such as is-is.  so you come out knowing all the options and details, 42%
> of which you will use; or maybe 24% if you are parsimonious.
>
> while i no longer have spare room in my head for a lot of stuff i will
> not use, having some clue about what's outside my current practice zone
> would be useful.  if i was young and had spare brain cells and time, i
> might read through the course ware and do some playing in the lab.  but
> you can't move packets on pieces of paper.
>

Normally a lurker, I agree. I feel that most of us fall into some range
below.

- New Build-out / Startupish: All that cool stuff and proper tech is the go
forward until the money runs out.
- ENTERPRISE: PHB demands you use vendor X and solution Y for no technical
reason.
- Mom-Pop / Third World / NPO: Do what we can with what we have.
- Out Sourcing Vendor Manager: juggling so many vendors doing different
things.
- IXP: What ever can support the legacy and current tech in a safe way.
- Add your own.

Certificates are a fun topic. I think if a 17 year old wanted to prove
their technical knowledge a certificate would be a good method.
Certificates are also looked at as "structure" the same way a degree might
be by hiring managers (don't really know how I feel on this). I think Randy
touched on a good topic of how do the established people take time to pull
in some related knowledge that is not part of their normal roll at this
time. Learning ahead of time vs implementing on demand.

All in all, silly questions like "describe traceroute" show real world
knowledge and communication skill. The later may be more useful at times.

-- 
~ Andrew "lathama" Latham ~