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Microsoft's 10-year-old Certified Professional
idigjazz writes "Meet Arfa, a promising young software programmer from Faisalabad, Pakistan, who is believed to be the youngest Microsoft Certified Professional in the world. She received the certification when she was 9. During a recent meeting with Bill Gates, she presented him with a poem she wrote that celebrated his life story."
IIRC (its been years since I've done Windows certifications), an MCP has completed a single OS exam, most likely a workstation one. I think a lot of 9 year old kids could do this.
The answers to all MS exams are on the net...BrainDump and all that...perhaps the site is hosted in Delhi?
Actually MCSE is no walk in the park. You have to know pretty arcane stuff about Windows and (broken) MS applications. Now some of it is totally no-brainer stuff, but on the other hand the exams ask for a lot of 'MS approved super l33t way of doing this and that', and unless you have read the MS propaganda and the 'official' solutions, you don't know about them. Naturally the 'common sense' solution is not a valid answer - even if in the real world you actually do it like common sense dictates.
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Example: In some Windows server exams, you are asked about rolling out installations to large organizations with gazillion additional programs and custom bits. In the Real World this is commonly done by imaging the disk and just dropping disk images to the desktops. The Microsoft Way(tm) is obiviously to use an installation server, unattended installation scripts and other arcane junk, and then pray that the installation works like it should
Same goes for lots of firewall/networking related things where everyone in the real world uses non-MS solutions. But in the MS world of the MS exams, you are supposed to use ICS and other 'great' solutions - and actually know how they work
Now having said that, the MCP that this article refers to is a big joke. You can get MCP certified on just about anything, and the easiest ones are to the tune of "here's how you start up a windows PC and use mouse". Over here we call 'MCP' a 'Minesweeper certified professional'. Lots of MCPs are certified in something like Word and Excel, and the exams for using those are completely braindead easy.
Before the flood of jokes start, I'd like to ask those of you who are MSCP (I know you're out there) how difficult is it to get that certification? Is this really a child prodigy, or are the questions ultra simple?
As a whole, they're pretty easy - someone half-way bright could cram for them.
The summary does her down, BTW; it says she's MCP, which means passed any one exam, including some piss-takingly simple ones on the administration tracks, whereas she's actually got MCAD which means she's passed a number of developer exams. Yes, some of those are just cram windows features but one of those, the architecture one, actually needs some experience and thought. Or at least it did back in my day when the exam was new - maybe there's "here's all the answers" books for that too now.
-- a VC++ 6 MCSD.
Not quite, but you can bet that elementary school teachers are going to parade this article around to their students. They have now found their poster-child 10 year old girl who actually gives a shit about technology.
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Its all about the big push from the top to get us some damn chicks in these tech schools of ours.
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From this article ( http://www.telegraphindia.com/1040216/asp/bengal/s tory_2900904.asp ) on Feb 16 2004 report that an 8 year old boy is the youngest. I'm not a math wiz. But last time i checked on elementairy school. 10 > 8.
What's going on here?
"Now having said that, the MCP that this article refers to is a big joke."
Microsoft Certified Application Developer is what she got according to TFA.
While its no MCSD (which she does plan on doing) or MCSE , there was plenty of C# dev in it.
East Coast Brewers
I think she just handed him a copy of Howl. It's not her fault that the press makes her look like the author.
Yes, some of those are just cram windows features but one of those, the architecture one, actually needs some experience and thought.
D'oh, showing my ignorance of these new-fangled exam tracks.
Actually, the that exam isn't needed for MCAD, just MCSD.
So yeah, the ones she has are pretty much cram-for exams.
The industry where clueless managers steer the boat!
Now having said that, the MCP that this article refers to is a big joke.
From the article The certification she received was as a Microsoft Certified Application Developer.
That's 3 development exams
An experienced developer would need to study for these.
Help me take back Slashdot. When did 'News for Nerds' become 'FUD and Conspiracy Theories for Extremist Nutjobs'?
If you read the article on the Indian boy, he is supposedly an MCSE, while the Pakistani girl is supposedly an MCP. So, she may very well be the youngest MCP.
An 8 yr old MCSE - either he is one bright kid, or MCSE isn't soo tough, or everything you read on the internet isn't true. Pick one.
Kevin Horton
i was skeptical as well..MCSE's are not particularly well regarded. However, the MCP exam she passed seems much more in depth than just getting certified in excel: "She has created basic Windows applications, such as a calculator and a sorting program, primarily in the C# programming language. The certification she received was as a Microsoft Certified Application Developer. She says she plans to pursue a more advanced certification, as a Microsoft Certified Solution Developer, which involves building programs into a broader system for a business." Thats C#, not VB! I'm not an MS expert, but I say thats pretty damn good for a nine year old!
once you go slack, you never go back
... either that or she will blow herself up in some european subway.
Predominately suicide bombers have been rather unsuccessful, under-achiving young men.
I think we are safe from young Arfa, who doesn't appear to fit that description.
As a Microsoft employee who has been forced to pass them for 8 years as a review bullet point I'll say "no value".
The article also mentions that she passed another special exam from Microsoft. In other words, MS Pakistan heard about her, thought she probably just memorized braindumps, came up with a new unique test and she passed it. Therefore she probably does know what she is doing.
Actually, I got my MCSD back when I was 14. I did the Desktop & Distributed VB exams, the required Solutions exam, and the Desktop VC++ exam. I barely passed the last exam.
What did getting my MCSD do? Nothing really, though it scored me an interview with ATI, which I bombed majorly because of the coding questions. 2 years later in uni, I could go back to that interview and answer those questions with no problem.
I was 14, and naive. These computer certifications mean absolutely nothing. I was a paper cert, I had no real marketable skills. Now, 2 years of EE, and I'm a much better programmer, engineer, and designer than I ever was. Which means, that the validity of the MCSD is... well, it just plain isn't.
The girls family is probaly pretty well off thanks to their father. There is huge competetion to get on the UN peacekeepinjg force as the pay starts at about 1K$ a month which is a small fortune in Pakistan
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