A Rant on the .NET Certification Guides. I thought Microsoft wanted more people to pass their MCSD .NET certification exams. Apparently not, when you look at their .NET certification guide books. [Sam Gentile’s Radio Weblog]

I have mixed feelings about “certification guides” like the ones talked about in the article above.  I strongly feel that certification should reflect experience with a technology; not just that you studied very hard and passed a test.

Back when I was teaching a Microsoft MFC class, I met a guy who took the certification test something like 6 times and finally passed it.  He then went to a customer to teach the class, and they threw him out on the first day for an obvious lack of experience. 

Certification should mean something…and something more than “hey, I bought the book, and I remember every page.”