Job Interview Stories

[davidP]

Certification is becoming all the rage these days. I've been a computer system tester for over 15 years now, the last 11 of which have been as a contractor. During this time I have worked continually for some of the biggest names in computers and have been regularly praised and never had any complaints about the standard of my work.

 

Recently however the British Computer Society (a self-appointed bunch of people who've spent too long at university reading theory books) has decided in their wisdom to introduce a certification scheme for testers and I'm now finding that I'm being ignored for vacancies because I don't have a certificate that proves I passed their test. The course you take before this test consists of 3 days in a classroom with no practical. You then take a multiple choice exam!!

This would cost me a minimum of £800 for the course, £150 to sit the exam, 4 days lost pay plus any transport & hotel costs if it's not local (many of them are residential only). And this is just the foundation course - there's another more extensive one just starting up that will cost at least 3 times as much! I'm at a complete loss to understand how anybody can think a 3 day course is a better qualification than 15 years actually doing the job!

I'm also finding the same now with some of the testing tools - if you haven't taken a £3000 course and got a certificate to prove it the companies won't even look at you.

 

It's all a conspiracy between the sotware vendors, the training companies (who strangely are often part of the same company as the recruitment agencies who advise clients) and self-appointed busy-bodies who can't stand the thought that people may actually be able to work without their idea of standards. It's ok for permanent employees who get their courses paid for, but for people like me actually at the coalface day in day out earning their living on the basis of their skills it's extremely irritating to say the least. I'm actually contemplating going permanent for a year or so just to milk some poor company of its training budget (and I won't be the first!).

[chesters1]

i agree david ,as mentioned in my earlier rant "doing it " isnt good enough but sit in a college for a few days get your cert and you can achieve anything ,i was passed up for a job in the computing section and although having "helped" their people many times with some of their problems ,my veiw (in the interveiw ) that a secure cupboard should hold the origanals of software packages and copies should be used for everyday use ,a couple of hard drives ,network cards ,floppy drives etc should be stored for use in emergencies ,they decided to award the post to a school leaver with NO experience but a IT certificate,they also found my cupboard idea a bit too radical :mad:

the school lever he lasted 3 weeks ,the job was divided up amoungst the other staff and added to their job description

if any machines break down the parts are ordered THEN ,the student waits untill they arrive and then waits for the now understaffed computer staff to fit them before he can carry on

radical maybe but who`s laughing now ?,NOT the students but the uni for saving a few quid on a staff member