Slashdot Mirror
Cisco Mulls Adding Verbal Interview To CCIE Exams
Julie188 writes "Here's a new idea to stop certification test-taking cheaters; Cisco is considering introducing a verbal interview portion to its CCIE lab exams across the world. Cisco confirmed that it is running a pilot in its exam lab in Beijing, China that involves candidates taking a 10-minute verbal interview as part of their lab exam. Cisco said that if the pilot is successful, the interview could be introduced as a requirement for CCIE Routing & Switching candidates worldwide. The company has been running the pilot since August."
I didn't know CCIE had issues with cheaters but maybe all cert exams are susceptible to it. I think if this works that maybe MS and other companies should take notice and think about using the idea for their own certs. Doing this could increase the value of the certs to companies and therefore to people who are thinking of taking them.
this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom. -- Lincoln, Gettysburg Address
I thought the lab had a verbal component, but apparently not. In any case, good idea.
To avoid bias against people who don't speak English as their mother tongue.
Nullius in verba
Something tells me that they're doing it wrong
But won't this weed out the non-English speaking, book-memorizing, cheap-working brown people that Corporate America loves so dearly?
I want to delete my account but Slashdot doesn't allow it.
"Please elaborate."
...it could at least have essay questions that real people read. You can't bullshit a bullshitter.
THL phish sticks
is why the hell they don't let you use a calculator. My conversation with my (now utterly uncertified) instructor went about like this:
"In real life you won't always have a calculator"
"BS, we're working ON COMPUTERS"
"Well what if the batteries die?"
"Solar power, spare batteries, or I could use one of MY computers"
"And what if the power is out then, smart guy?"
"Well I guess I won't have very much to do if that happens while I'm working dialed into a router then, will I?"
A bullet may have your name on it but splash damage is addressed "To whom it may concern."
When the network is broken, and you're paying a CCIE $200/hour to fix it, are you really going to stand around and ask them how their weekend was?
"Be honest; don't you feel that most of your potential clients are egg-sucking rubes, who, instead of questioning your judgment, should be kissing your feet for merely showing up?"
"Please elaborate."
Yes... although D-Link, SMC, and consumer Linksys/Cisco models are just fine for 90% of everyone's network needs. I say, YEAH! You must have a $500 Cisco 871 router for your DSL connection. Oh, you want redundancy...then you MUST buy a Cisco 1811 for $1000 and a yearly Smartnet contract. YEAH!
I think Cisco has every right to give oral to their testees.
Squirrel!
People cheat on the lab portion of the CCIE by sending in people to memorize the lab topology and various questions. Then afterward they report back to other with the topology, features etc... It's no different than memorizing the written questions except while there are hundreds of written questions that can be selected for your exam, there's probably only a dozen or so different lab exams.
I do like how VMWares forthcoming VCDX exam will have a verbal component. Similar to how one has to verbally defend their PhD thesis. I for one would like candidates to be able to explain why they made a certain decision or the benefits of going with one design over another. Rather than just seeing how quickly you can configure up the features or memorize test questions.
CCIE #20847
A ten minute verbal component, is just a very small factor for this exam. I'm not sure why it is even getting any press. I personally would have liked to seen it structured differently. Instead of the verbal component being one of the first things (as I understand it), I think it should be the last thing. It could be used to gauge the response of some predetermined questions. It could also be used to get a feel for why the candidate done activity x the way they did. It could even be used as the deciding factor for points on a particular topic if it is achieved in an unorthodox way. If you can pass the CCIE lab, the interview isn't going to be an obstacle. I am a CCIE Security Candidate and the Lab is the real obstacle. I'm not too concerned if they do implement an interview (formerly or informally for that matter).
City and Guilds has had an oral (not verbal,notice) on its advanced exams where you have to submit a project, where the examiner asks questions to find out if you actually did the work yourself. The higher your likely score, the harder the questions get. I really cannot think of an alternative way of verifying that the submitter actually did the work.
From scarped cliff or quarried stone she cries "A thousand types are gone, I care for nothing, no not one."
The real problem is that they don't change the questions often enough. Every exam I ever took when I was at school or university had past years questions available. It didn't matter, since this years were going to be different.
All Cisco need to do is change the questions more often. That's got to be cheaper than interviewing people in the exam.
While I agree with the sentiment, once you get more then about 5 employees in an office making a decent salary, that 1811 seems cheap compared to the possibility of down time that could be blamed on me.
Getting calls because you're crappy consumer or SOHO router crashed sucks. Especially when you're talking about VPN routers at branch offices. Cisco is overpriced and obnoxious to deal with, but I've never had a Cisco router crash or even look at me funny in 7 years.