Great Post comparing IT Training and the Olympics

Greg at Ethereal Mind has written a great post comparing IT Training and the Olympics. Get your manager to read it or if you are a manager then read it by clicking here.

Mike Down Leaves IPExpert

Mike Down for those of you who know who he is has left IPExpert. For those of you that do not know Mike was not a famous triple CCIE trainer, he was just what IPExpert call a Training Advisor. So someone who helps you choose what CCIE products you will buy from IPExpert. However Mike had a higher profile than other people in a similar postition as he launched his own blog which I have listed at the bottom of my page he also started contacting candidates about placing IPExpert logos on their blogs as well as doing a lot of other promotional work.

So Mike is the reason for the glut of blogs out there with IPExpert logo's on them. Hey he is even the reason that this site has an IPExpert logo on it even though I did not recieve any benefit for it. I enjoyed communicating with Mike and so I decided to place a banner on this site for IPExpert. The reasons Mike left are obviously confidential but there is a post on his blog thanking him. So I would like to say my own thanks and good luck Mike whatever you decide to do.

IPExpert did seem to need a bit of a pick up after Scott Morris left and Mike did seem to raise their profile in the CCIE community after Scott left. So lets hope that IPExpert can do it again and that neither of these events will prove to much of a distraction to them providing top quality CCIE training materials. We need competition in the CCIE training community as it helps improve the quality of the products and keep the prices down.

Finally does anyone have an opinion on the IPExpert Blended Learning Solution? I am thinking of purchasing it to get a different perspective to Internetwork Expert. I am mainly interested in people's opinion's on the CoD as I already have the first two workbooks. I have the Internetwork Expert Advanced Technologies CoD and their first two workbooks so maybe this is enough. Anyhow any opinions would be appreciated.

CCIE Wireless Beta Exam

I have just received the email below from Cisco. So for those of you who are interested in Wireless here is a new track to pursue. One track is enough for me so I will not be taking Cisco up on their kind offer :-)

GENERAL ANNOUNCEMENT:

Cisco is now soliciting beta candidates for Cisco's upcoming CCIE Wireless Written Exam. We are looking for an exclusive set of professional and expert level Wireless Networking Engineers who can dedicate 3 hours of their time to take the beta exam.

The CCIE Wireless certification, to be launched later this year, will validate that professionals have the expertise to design, manage and support mission and business critical wireless networks and the job skills and technical knowledge required of expert level network IT practitioners. This written exam is the first step in obtaining the CCIE Wireless certification. Successful candidates will have mastered broad theoretical knowledge of wireless networking and demonstrated a readiness for the CCIE Wireless lab examination. Be one of the first wireless professionals to get a peek at the new CCIE Wireless exam.

• Location: Pearson Vue Testing Centers, Worldwide
• Registration Date: October 7
• Last Test Date: November 14, 2008
• Cost: $US50
• Exam Number/Name: 351-050 CCIE Wireless Beta Written Exam

To learn more about the exam blueprint, job skills and reference material, please go to http://www.cisco.com/web/learning/le3/ccie/wireless/index.html

Exam Security

I was browsing the blog on Cisco's Learning Network site and came across several interesting posts on exam security. To summarise the things I thought were important or interesting are as below:
1. No cheat sheets are going to get you through the technical interview at a new job. In fact I used to be a lot harsher on people who had certifications than those who did not when I was involved in doing a technical interviews. My reasoning was that the people with certifications were claiming a level of knowledge and so I wanted to see if they had cheated their way to that level of knowledge. However I obviously was not that harsh as some of the interviewers mentioned in the blog post as made some job candidates cry in an interview, ouch you know you are out of your depth when you get so flustered you start crying.
2. There is a lawsuit to do with the Graduate Management Admissions Test (GMAT). Never heard of it myself but the important thing about the suit is that the publisher of the GMAT tests have shut down a website that sold GMAT questions and answers. However that is not the really juicy bit the juicy bit is that the publisher was given control of the offending websites domain, and they gained possession of the hard drive containing payment information of anyone who bought cheat sheets from the site. So now they might cancel people's GMAT scores and ban them from future GMAT tests. Cisco is apparently watching the case with interest.
3. Getting someone else to take your test is not as much of a minority sport as I thought it was in fact it seems to be quite a popular way of passing the exams in some parts of the world. Never worked for me though I have problems finding anyone ugly enough to impersonate me :-)
4. People will cheat at everything I mean who would have thought that people would use an automated script to book their CCIE lab seats. This is against Cisco rules for those of you who do not know. I could not quite believe this one myself I mean you have got so far why risk getting your self in trouble with Cisco just to book a lab seat.
5. Testking the biggest brain dump vendor grosses an estimated $10 million dollars annually. So now wonder they keep doing what they do, it is big business, in fact it is scary how big a business cheating is. I mean $10 million annually, means that a hell of a lot of people are cheating.

The good news is that it appears that Cisco are finally taking all this stuff seriously and implementing security measures that I believe will make a real difference to improving exam security. You can read more about this on the Cisco Learning Network site blog.

IE removes Locklizard

I have just seen that Internetwork Expert have decided to remove the Locklizard PDF protection system from their products. This is due to their legitimate customers having problems accessing their products. I had a few problems accessing my products at first which was a bit frustrating but once they were sorted out then it has been smooth sailing. However from a Mac and Linux point of view then this is great news because Locklizard only works on Windows. I must say this is a brave move from IE and I hope the community rewards them by buying legitimate copies of their training material. I mean going for the CCIE in the first place is not cheap and I understand that if you speak to any of the training companies and can convince them that you really are hard up they might do you a deal. Also I have seen plenty of giveaways or scholarship programs from virtually all the major vendors. So lets hope this show of faith in their customers by IE does not hurt them to badly. Anyhow for the full post head here.

Cisco Exam Security

I have just received the email pasted below. Basically it lays out Cisco's new exam security procedures and the most important point of the whole thing in my opinion is that your result is not final until 72 hours after you have done your exam. In this time Cisco (or probably a company they have outsourced it to) run forensics software against your exam to try and determine if they think you have legitimately passed the exam or used some sort of cheating method. Anyhow at least they are trying to do something about exam security and it looks like the measures they announced some time ago have finally been implemented.

Cisco and Pearson VUE Launch Global Test Delivery Exam Security Enhancements

Cisco and its global testing provider, Pearson VUE, a business of Pearson Inc. are pleased to announce a series of security enhancements that will reinforce the integrity and value of its Career certification program.

The advanced security enhancements include the use of digital photographs for candidate-identity verification and forensic analysis of testing data. The new measures, to be implemented beginning on Aug. 1, will include:

• Photo on Score Report and Web – On completion of a certification exam at the test center, candidates will receive preliminary score reports imprinted with their photos and unique authentication codes. The authentication code can be used to access a candidate’s official score online at Pearson VUE’s website usually within 72 hours of the examination. The online score report will also display the candidate’s photo. Candidates may share access to their online records with employers or other third parties.
  
  
• Forensic Analysis – Exam results and other testing data will be continuously analyzed by forensic software to detect aberrant testing behavior and to flag suspect exams for further investigation.
  
  
• Preliminary Score Report – All paper score reports will be preliminary, pending the results of forensic analysis, until official exam scores are posted to the Web usually within 72 hours of exam completion. Once the exam scores are official, candidates may use the authentication codes on their score reports to access the Pearson VUE website for score and photo verification.

These new exam security measures are part of Cisco’s overall strategy to protect the value and integrity of its certifications. Other measures include simulation-based testing, dynamically generated questions and emulations to help ensure that Cisco certified networking professionals continue to have the knowledge, skills, and credentials to perform well on the job.

To find out more about Cisco Career Certifications access the Cisco Learning Network at www.cisco.com/go/learnnetspace.

To sign up for a Cisco exam at a VUE testing center go to http://www.pearsonvue.com/cisco/online/

CCDE Practical Exam Beta

I just received the email below from Cisco. So for those of you that are close enough to Chicago and thinking that you can pass the CCDE then go for it. For me I still have a way to go to my CCIE so one step at a time.

Now Available! Cisco Certified Design Expert (CCDE) Practical Exam Beta

Cisco is now registering beta candidates for the Cisco Certified Design Expert (CCDE) Practical Exam. Cisco has finished development of the second exam needed to attain the CCDE certification, the practical exam, and is now soliciting candidates for the beta delivery.

The CCDE practical exam is a computer-based, performance assessment that evaluates a candidate’s ability to gather network requirements, perform design analyses, and implement complex networks.

Cisco will be offering this beta delivery of the exam on October 1, 2008, in Chicago, Illinois, at a Pearson professional testing center. Only candidates that have a passing score on the CCDE qualification exam can register and participate in this exam. Exam beta pricing is $980US and registration inquiries should be sent to ITPC@pearson.com, notifying us of your interest. You will be notified of your eligibility, instructions for registration, payment and logistics in a follow-up email.

Location: Chicago, Illinois USA
Date: October 1, 2008
Cost: $ 980 US

Prerequisite: Passing score of exam 352-001 on the CCDE qualification exam (ADVDESIGN)

For more information on the CCDE program and the CCDE practical exam visit: www.cisco.com/go/ccde or the Cisco Learning Network at www.cisco.com/go/learnnetspace