I sometimes think that the biggest problem with using titles is that it
gives the impression, to those who know no better, that the title holder is
in someway connected to Microsoft. 99.99% of the time that would be a very
incorrect assumption, although why someone might make the assumption is very
understandable. For those who don't know, all those titles are obtained by
passing Microsoft approved tests (many cost around $100 a go, pass or fail).
That's all the certificates indicate, that proficiency in a very specialized
range of knowledge that a cert represents was demonstrated by passing one or
more tests.
But take a person with fresh certs right out of a trade school and put them
in a service environment. Say, networking. If the system is working properly
then that tech isn't going to have a problem if the scope of the networking
classes was really understood. But that same person is probably going to be
lost if the system is infected, lost because the expertise required simply
is not currently provided in trade training classes with a cert that will
show that proficiency exists in the manner needed in a real world service
environment. Instead, the flabbergasted tech knows only that it by golly the
procedures trained in are indeed supposed to work on a properly operating
system, so the only avenue left for the floundering tech is to wipe the HDD
and install everything from scratch. Yes, the procedures will then work -
but the customer is not a happy camper and will never be back because much
effort, and possibly unrecoverable expense, when into the "look and feel" of
a system that no longer exists.
The point I'm making is that certs are valuable and represent considerable
personal financial and determination investments. They each attest to a
demonstrated proficiency, and that is something to be highly respected. But
they are specialized, and they are related to properly operating systems -
not malfunctioning ones and especially not infected ones. Here is where
experience is not replaceable and can not be, in practice, represented by a
cert. Service is an art.
So why do people advertise their certs in such places as newsgroups? Because
they have some expertise that probably helps give a better vantage point for
diagnostic purposes than the average computer owner or a tech fresh out of a
trade school. That doesn't mean a cert holder is of much value outside of
the specialized range of knowledge that a cert represents, but it does mean
that the range of knowledge represented by a cert is being represented by a
professional who has taken the steps to prove it by getting the indicated
certification.
I'm saying, respect the certs for what they are but don't expect more than
what they really represent. Everyone in this forum, advertising certs or
not, is trying to help others in this forum that are asking for help.
Sometimes there are multiple causes for a problem, sometimes the given
solutions are incorrect but often the solution is correct. No one knows it
all, but the good ones know how to find possible answers to what they don't
know and then the good ones at least try to provide or point to a possible
solution based upon experience and/or certs as the case may be. They
appreciate a thank you, but it's pretty well understood that the
disappearance of a topic after a possible solution was given probably
indicates the solution worked and the sufferer is now thankful but very busy
getting the computer back to normal and doesn't have time to post a thank
you. To not reply to a thank you doesn't seem rude, since the intent to help
wasn't intended to be rude either. A thank you is nice but it is not
required, and the same goes for saying "thank you for thanking me".
