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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
"Please elaborate."
...it could at least have essay questions that real people read. You can't bullshit a bullshitter.
THL phish sticks
But won't this weed out the non-English speaking, book-memorizing, cheap-working brown people that Corporate America loves so dearly?
exactly. Additionally, raising the bar beyond basic competence restricts the market, allowing labor to dictate their own terms (think medical and law licenses).
If the corps have their say, it won't happen, but if it does the corps will fund anyone who does not speak english and wants to file a lawsuit demanding proctors interview them in their own language.
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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?
Additionally, raising the bar beyond basic competence restricts the market, allowing labor to dictate their own terms (think medical and law licenses).
And makes things many times more expensive than they would be in a normal market (think medical and law expenses).
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
Additionally, raising the bar beyond basic competence restricts the market, allowing labor to dictate their own terms (think medical and law licenses).
And makes things many times more expensive than they would be in a normal market (think medical and law expenses).
No, it doesn't. If you want to know where the expenses for medicine come from, check the catalogues of pharma and medical supply companies and the premiums for malpractice insurance, all of which are inflated so far beyond reason as to be incomprehensible.
IT workers are often abused to the point of 80 hour work weeks, and can't even claim overtime thanks to huge corporate lobbyists. These same companies demand certs out the wazoo, all of which cost money and tons of time off the clock, and they should offer reasonable pay for them considering how critical IT is to their infrastructure.
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No, it doesn't. If you want to know where the expenses for medicine come from, check the catalogues of pharma and medical supply companies and the premiums for malpractice insurance, all of which are inflated so far beyond reason as to be incomprehensible.
Is that why doctors and lawyers, when they graduate make more than most other graduates? Due to insurance companies?
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).
They make more than other graduates because they put in more work, because they have to pass a rigorous certification process, and because they have to pay back considerable education costs.
If you lower doctor salaries to the 35 some-odd thousand a year per capita income of the US nobody would ever become a doctor.
I might add, though, that IT workers have to know as much as doctors (on different subjects) and in most cases work on more sensitive timescales and have lower job security.
They should make as much as doctors, and not be subjected to 80 hour/week abuse.
People need to be paid based on the value they provide to society. Doctors are currently paid commensurate with this (with the exception of cosmetic surgeons), while IT professionals and childcare providers are not.
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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.