Did anyone ever go to India for training and certification?

[Frank]

It might be a bit off-topic but the certification newsgroup is sort of
spam-ridden. Anyway.. recently I stumbled upon some company named
Koenig in India that offers one-stop bootcamp style certification.

Searching about them left me with mixed ideas if its a good place to
do some training and get certified.
Did anyone ever go there or can poke me to somewhere where I might get
more info about the place?

Thanks
Frank

 

[Gregory A. Beamer]

It might be a bit off-topic but the certification newsgroup is sort of
spam-ridden. Anyway.. recently I stumbled upon some company named
Koenig in India that offers one-stop bootcamp style certification.

Searching about them left me with mixed ideas if its a good place to
do some training and get certified.
Did anyone ever go there or can poke me to somewhere where I might get
more info about the place?

I have no input in the bootcamp in India. You will have to research them
and see if they work for you. If you go that route and can get a nice
vacation out of the trip, as well, then you got a deal. I am not fond of
certs over pratical experience, however.

If you want to do this because you are also interested in vacationing in
India, knock yourself out. If you are trying to further your career, I
would do some freelance (even if the emphasis is on "free") and get some
experience behind you. You can take that advise however you desire. it
is your career.

In general, there are two types of "boot camps". Some are focused solely
on certing and offer little else. You will end up with an MCSA, or
similar, but will have no real skill to back it up. I personally think
these are worthless. There are also bootcamps that really teach you
..NET, but also focus on how the tests are structured. There is value in
these bootcamps, as you end up with more than just theory and test
passing information.


--
Gregory A. Beamer
MVP; MCP: +I, SE, SD, DBA

Twitter: @gbworld
Blog: http://gregorybeamer.spaces.live.com

*******************************************
| Think outside the box! |
*******************************************

 

[mosi]

I am not fond of

certs over pratical experience, however.

If you want to do this because you are also interested in vacationing in
India, knock yourself out. If you are trying to further your career, I
would do some freelance (even if the emphasis is on "free") and get some
experience behind you. You can take that advise however you desire. it
is your career.

In general, there are two types of "boot camps". Some are focused solely
on certing and offer little else. You will end up with an MCSA, or
similar, but will have no real skill to back it up. I personally think
these are worthless. There are also bootcamps that really teach you
.NET, but also focus on how the tests are structured. There is value in
these bootcamps, as you end up with more than just theory and test
passing information.

Yes I agree, being a "paper MC**" isn't really any good. I'm doing
full-time work with .Net since ver. 1.1 so experience isn't that much
of a problem. There are always areas that aren't covered very much in
my day job of course.

Your concerns about those boot camps are pretty much similar to mine.
While the goal is to go home with a spiffy certificate I'd also like
to take some valuable experience back and put that to good use. Its
not really about doing a vacation, during the time there I possibly
wouldn't be getting out much anyway.
I guess I'll need to do some more research on those guys

 

[Gregory A. Beamer]

I sit in on quite a lot of interviews for technical people and,
whenever I come across a CV proudly displaying MCPs, I always ask the
candidate why they have wasted their time (and money) on these
worthless "certifications" which prove nothing more than they are
capable of retaining a load of minutiae for a few hours...

I haven't interviewed with you, have I?

When asked this type of question, I generally tell them I was up for a
position that required certification and I had a number of free test
certificates from Microsoft (both of which are true). I went in one
afternoon and got my MCSD by completing 3 tests (already had SQL for
MCDBA, which was also free for me).

In my case, it was a waste of about 25-30 minute s(or less) per test and
Nashville was really big on certs at the time. i have not upgraded.

As a general rule, any prospective candidate who has more than five
MCPs goes straight in the "reject" pile.

MCSE, MCSD, MCDBA, MCP + I, MCP - guess I would be trashed then. ;-)

Okay, four are "big" certs and the other is for passing a single test,
so I probably cheated a bit here. ;-)


--
Gregory A. Beamer
MVP; MCP: +I, SE, SD, DBA

Twitter: @gbworld
Blog: http://gregorybeamer.spaces.live.com

*******************************************
| Think outside the box! |
*******************************************

 

[Gregory A. Beamer]

If they're no longer current, why do you keep them in your sig? Not a
criticism per se - I'm genuinely curious...

I guess I had never thought much about removing them. they also add some
symmetry to the signature, but I guess Microsoft MVP might level things out
over just MVP.

in addition, they can add some validity to posts in groups like this, but
my answers should show I know at least some of what I am talking about. ;-)


--
Gregory A. Beamer
MVP; MCP: +I, SE, SD, DBA

Twitter: @gbworld
Blog: http://gregorybeamer.spaces.live.com

*******************************************
| Think outside the box! |
*******************************************