Sat May 13 22:39:33 EST 2006
Microsoft Must Think MCSE's Are Stupid
Before I go off on my stupid little rant we first need some background. I'm
currently reading Upgrading Your Certification to Microsoft Windows Server
2003 from Microsoft Press in an attempt to, well, ummm...Upgrade my Certification. The entire
premise of this book is to just give you what you need to upgrade. In
other words, review old concepts and cover new ones. Take this excerpt from the
introduction for example:
What this tells me is that Microsoft itself apparently doesn't trust it's own experienced certified professionals to know what they are doing. Please, in an upgrade exam book give me what I need to know. Don't teach me what I learned in Intro to Computers 101. The worst part is that in the review the first question was, "What tasks should you complete before attempting to backup Active Directory data?" This shows that they consider this ultra-obvious section to be of significant importance to reinforce.
This training kit requires that students meet the following prerequisites:I've noticed quite a few things that really don't need to be repeated in the context of this book since I would take them as something that any MCSE who's been doing the MS thing for a year or more should just know. For example, how to add a snap-in to an MMC. However, I can see that these things can be included for the sake of completeness. I'm fine with this. But then I ran into this one when going over backing up AD in a section called Preliminary Backup Tasks.
- Twelve to eighteen months of experience administering Microsoft Windows technologies in a network environment
- Understanding of Active Directory directory services and related technologies, including Group Policy
- Existing Windows 2000 MCSA or MCSE certification
For example, if your backup method will involve using a removable media device such as a tape drive, you must ensure that:Great job Microsoft! You've created a titled section to tell me that I need to use a backup device that will work with Windows, that is turned on and connected, and that I have the correct tape in the drive. Thank you Dr. Obvious! You are targeting this at existing MCSE's with a year or more experience right?
- The backup device is listed on the Windows Server 2003 Hardware Compatibility List (HCL).
- The backup device is attached to a computer on the network (or the network itself) and is turned on. If you are backing up to a tape drive using the Windows Server 2003 Backup Utility, the drive must be attached to the system running the Backup Utility.
- The appropriate media is loaded into the device. For example, if you are using a tape drive, ensure that the correct tape is loaded.
What this tells me is that Microsoft itself apparently doesn't trust it's own experienced certified professionals to know what they are doing. Please, in an upgrade exam book give me what I need to know. Don't teach me what I learned in Intro to Computers 101. The worst part is that in the review the first question was, "What tasks should you complete before attempting to backup Active Directory data?" This shows that they consider this ultra-obvious section to be of significant importance to reinforce.