MCSE is back — but can you rely on it?

I’m 100 percent in favor of certification exams. I hold a triple-legacy MCSE (for Windows NT 4.0, 2000, and 2003), and I’m an MCITP for Exchange 2007 and 2010 and an MCTS for SharePoint 2010. I also hold A+, Network+, iNet+, CNA, CCNA, and other certifications. I’ve been riding the “get certified” train for 15 years. But I’ve also learned there’s an obvious disconnect between a person who can pass a test and one who can do the job in the field.

Certifications were created because employers needed some way to validate that a person knew enough about the technology to be considered for a six-figure salary or key contracting role. But as the market became bloated with more and more “paper MCSEs,” as they were affectionately termed, who could pass tests despite having no real-world know-how, the validation focus has shifted from certs back to experience.

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But certifications remain a very valid starting point when looking you’re looking to bring in new blood for your company’s IT. Salary surveys indicate that people who are both certified and have valid experience do better in the hunt for new employment.

So certs matter — even the MCSE cert, which after fading away due to the “paper MCSE” problem is coming back.

A new MCSE as the industry shifts to the cloud

I was pleased to hear that the MCSE certification was being brought back. Fifteen years ago, I fought through six exams to obtain my first-level MCSE with NT 4.0, and I’ve always believed it was a worthwhile certification to pursue. The more recent MCST (Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist) and MCITP (Microsoft Certified IT Professional) exams have been great for allowing people to prove some level of competency and understanding of specific tracks, such as Exchange, SharePoint, and SQL. But a base MCSE demands a solid grasp of networking, Windows Server, and Active Directory, so it should be a requirement before people can pursue the individual certs.

The old MCSE was for a Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer, but the new one is for a Microsoft Certified Solutions Expert. The change in the acronym’s makeup reflects a heavier focus on the cloud.

That’s a promising change, but there are still devils in the details to be worked out. For example, the new MCSE program’s specifics are a little fuzzy and not quite what I expected or hoped for. We’ll see what Microsoft comes up with soon enough, though. (If you already have a Microsoft cert, there will be a way to map current certifications to the new program, as well as transition and upgrade paths for those with MCTS, MCPD, and MCITP certs.)

Keep in mind that unless something changes radically in Microsoft’s certification tests, the new MCSE exams are still multiple-choice questions, perhaps with some interactive questions tossed in for good measure. As an employer, you need more proof of skill.

A variety of sources for certs

Of course, Microsoft isn’t the only game in town when it comes to technology certifications. There are many vendor-specific certs for their products, of course, from Cisco to VMware. Besides reviewing the specific knowledge areas for their covered products, such certs can help people new to a product understand the whys of the technology and how the various components come together as a solution set, says Greg Shields, a training consultant for CBT Nuggets. Preparing for these certs brings people through the progression from base understanding to more complex concepts and design/deployment scenarios.

There’s also CompTIA, which tries to stay vendor-neutral with its two exams: A+ and Network+. Both are worth pursuing if you’re a newbie. The A+ certification covers hardware, basic DOS, and Windows; Network+ covers the basics and underlying elements behind networking.

Employers need to go with the skills, not just the certs

More and more, a certification and some experience will get your foot in the door. But an employer looking to hire should consider in-house testing before handing out a contract or job offer. There are many ways to do so, such as by having systems set up in a lab for a prospective employee to use or having cloud-based virtual systems at the ready for testing a person’s skills.

Say you’re looking for someone proficient in Exchange, and a candidate has an Exchange-oriented cert. You have that person work with a few systems (virtual systems on a local box or in the cloud) and let them prove their knowledge. Ask them to create a domain, install an Exchange organization, round up a few mailboxes, configure quotas, and so on. Give the candidate adequate time to perform the tasks, and see how he or she does.

If you’re hiring for a design position, give the candidate a company profile and ask him or her to design the deployment for you. If you’re filling a hardware position, supply the pieces and tell the candidate to build the computer.

You get the point. As the employer, you should trust a certification only to a degree. Likewise, the résumé may not give you a full story, either. Let the candidates show you what they can do. It gives you a chance to see how they work, how they react under pressure, and possibly even how they interact with others.

Certification is one positive way to ensure the people you’re looking at have put a modicum of time into knowing the intricate elements of their professed skill set and have made the effort to prove it officially. But it’s just a starting point.

This article, “MCSE is back — but can you rely on it?,” was originally published at InfoWorld.com. Read more of J. Peter Bruzzese’s Enterprise Windows blog and follow the latest developments in Windows at InfoWorld.com. For the latest business technology news, follow InfoWorld.com on Twitter.