[ale] RE: Linux Certifications/Training (was ANN: Linux Training Class, Atlanta, GA, 13-15 Oct.

[F. Grant Robertson]

The worst I've seen of this "microsoftization" would have to be in '99 at
Ameritrain. They had just announced that they were offering Cisco and, I was
considering signing up with them for the first class. I called, explained to
some sales rep that I was interested. She asked if I was an MCSE, I said no.
She asked what experience I had, I told her the truth, 7 years, Novell CNE,
tons of networking, heterogeneous environments, etc..  She became very
condescending to me, and told me I'd have to come in and be "pre-tested" to
get a spot in the class...

Set up an appointment, and it was obvious from the moment I got there that
she was only trying to show me that I wasn't qualified because I didn't have
an MCSE. I assured her that I didn't think any networking protocols test
they would give would be an issue, and in her last act of condescension, she
took me to the testing room, sat me in front of a PC and told me that "it
will probably take you a while, just do the best you can". I'm surprised she
didn't pat me on the head.

10 Minutes later, I was back at her office door. Only she wasn't there. So I
went to the office assistant, had her paged, and when she came back around
had her see how I did. As soon as she saw my results the condescension
dropped immediately. Within minutes we were in the office of some superior
of hers, where I informed them that there was no way in hell I was going to
pay a company that treated me the way they did to "train" me. "Maybe next
time you'll listen when someone tells you they're comfortable with the
skills they have, and don't feel the need to get a paper MCSE".

Sigh, it really pains me to be such a jackass sometimes but, every once in a
while it's called for.

-G




-----Original Message-----
From: ale-bounces at ale.org [mailto:ale-bounces at ale.org]On Behalf Of
Crawford Rainwater
Sent: Monday, September 22, 2003 9:39 PM
To: ale at ale.org
Subject: [ale] Linux Certifications/Training (was ANN: Linux Training
Class, Atlanta, GA, 13-15 Oct.

I have to totally agree with you on the "Microsoftization" of the
training community.  I come from the OS/2 realm before I got my hands
into Linux, however employers and headhunters had only the M$ schema to
go by (do you want to know how many times I was asked about having an
OS/2 Certification when there was none?!?).

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