Vendor cert levels

Thu Sep 4 09:34:26 UTC 2014

We got a resume once where the guy listed "2-day workshop on personal grooming, Karachi, Pakistan" under his "education" section. I think that trumps the Kentrox certification.  :-)

                -Bill

> On Sep 4, 2014, at 0:58, "William Herrin" <bill at herrin.us> wrote:
> 
>> On Wed, Sep 3, 2014 at 5:00 AM, Isaac Adams <isaacnanog at gmail.com> wrote:
>> I am trying to work out a strategy for vendor certification in our company.
>> As a general rule, do you all fund employees certification and if so what
>> kind of levels do you try to maintain as good practice?
>> 
>> For example. NOC staff should be JNCIA and engineering JNCIP to JNCIE?
>> 
>> Clearly certification does not usually reflect ability but it does help
>> people feel valued and to maintain a basic level of competence.
> 
> Hi Isaac,
> 
> Personally, I use certifications as more of a weed-out factor. List
> lots of certifications on your resume? No interview for you.
> Particularly that guy who used what should have been valuable space on
> his resume to report having taken a 3-day certification course in
> configuring Kentrox CSU/DSUs. Yikes!
> 
> Seriously though, certs stink of a cogs-in-the-machine approach to
> business, which is the opposite of making folks feel individually
> valued. Gee, I can tell from talking to you that you're smarter than
> half our engineers but if you want to respond to the red lights in the
> NOC you'll have to go get a CCNA.
> 
> If you want them to feel valued, give them an education reimbursement
> program for any job-relevant training, college coursework, etc. Any
> who want to spend it on certs, so be it. Any who want to spend it
> professional conferences like NANOG, well, those are the ones you
> keep.
> 
> Regards,
> Bill Herrin
> 
> 
> -- 
> William Herrin ................ herrin at dirtside.com  bill at herrin.us
> Owner, Dirtside Systems ......... Web: <http://www.dirtside.com/>
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