Security Basics mailing list archives

RE: Security Certs


From: "Chris Berry" <compjma () hotmail com>
Date: Thu, 02 Oct 2003 11:25:28 -0700

From: "David Gillett" <gillettdavid () fhda edu>
> ....  To me they represent a minimum level of knowledge about a
> subject, so that for example, if the person is an MCSE and I
> ask them an active directory question, they shouldn't say
> "active what?", though it's no guarantee they'll actually know
> the right answer.

  A few years back, I interviewed an MCSE for a network engineer
position.  Our environment was strictly 100-BaseT/Cat-5, so one
didn't absolutely *need* to know anything else, but he was coming
from working (as a civilian contractor, as I recall) on some Air
Force base where they had a mix of 10-Base2 (co-ax) and UTP at
10 and 100 Mbps.
  So between having apparently passed the Networking Fundamentals
requirement, and working daily with the mix, I figured he ought
to be able to name at least *one* characteristic difference between
10-Base2 co-ax and 10/100 Cat-5.  I would have taken almost any one.
  He couldn't, and that was one of two reasons he didn't get the
job.  (The other was that he considered himself too valuable as a
"network designer" to crawl under a desk to plug in a cable....)

David Gillett

LOL, yeah that can happen. I wouldn't hire someone based on their cert, but I prefer to interview people who have them (and have experience). I have an eight page verbal test I give candidates, and it consistently amazes me how many easy questions people miss. I have yet to speak to anyone who could tell me how the DHCP process works beyond just "it automatically assigns addresses". Not one of them has been able to give me DORA or ROSA, and this was for a position listed as Network Administrator.

Chris Berry
compjma () hotmail com
Systems Administrator
JM Associates

"We are successful when our bosses wonder what it is we do all day." -- Tim Mullen

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