I can clearly remember the golden days when I entered the world of Windows NT and the Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer (MCSE). Microsoft had recently delivered a powerful new suite of products called BackOffice. Companies had started to realize NT's promise as a keystone of their IS departments. And a new generation of IS professionals--MCSEs--emerged to implement solutions based on those products.
In the "old" days--a mere 3 years ago--mastery of Microsoft products meant being knowledgeable in the arcane lore of MS-DOS, Windows for Workgroups (WFW), and Microsoft Mail. Such mastery also meant being knowledgeable in the new technologies of NT and the BackOffice products, such as SQL Server, SNA Server, and Systems Management Server (SMS).
I used both classroom and self-study methods to prepare for my original MCSE exams. I remember being amazed at the utter confusion that existed not only for students, but also for teachers and authors of MCSE preparation guides. NT was a young product, and its ways were still a mystery to most. The MCSE program was obviously a young discipline in the throes of major change and growth.
Obvious, too, was that Microsoft was positioning the MCSE as a keystone of its overall NT and BackOffice deployment plan. Without a strong presence of certified technicians to back up products in the field, a new network operating system is all but doomed to failure.
Having experienced the thoroughness of Microsoft's earlier courses, study guides, and exams, I was confident that Microsoft planned to rely on the quality, rather than the quantity, of MCSEs to succeed. Certainly, I thought, Microsoft will avoid the mistakes made by its nemesis, Novell.
Novell had legions of Certified Network Engineers (CNEs) whose education, in many cases, was questionable. Those CNEs often attended one of the many CNE mills--training centers geared toward passing CNE exams rather than providing hands-on experience with the product. Because the CNE exams accommodated this study method, you could become a CNE with just book knowledge and little or no practical experience. I can still remember a colleague, who had just received his CNE after attending a mill, marveling aloud at how unbelievable it was that he aced all the exams without ever touching a NetWare server console. Within the industry, this type of certification was affectionately referred to as the Paper CNE.
Wildfire Growth
As time went on, Microsoft's one-two punch of NT and BackOffice, combined with its aggressive and efficient marketing campaign, increased Microsoft's market penetration. The increase in market share, in turn, increased the demand for MCSEs.
The growth was phenomenal. In late 1994, I called Microsoft to find out the total number of MCSEs worldwide. About 2600 people had become MCSEs. I called again 6 months and learned that more than 6000 people had earned this certification. When I realized that the number of MCSEs had more than doubled in 6 months, I concluded that the certification train couldn't be stopped and might even derail somewhere down the line. After all, satisfying high consumer demand and maintaining high quality is a challenge for any organization, whether it's producing widgets or qualified engineers.
How do the MCSE numbers stack up today? According to the September/October 1997 issue of Microsoft Certified Professional Magazine, there were 25,756 MCSEs worldwide. The growth of the MCSE program in 1997 represented a 132 percent increase over the growth during 1996, and this percentage of growth has been projected to increase even further in 1998. The magazine also reported that 106,933 people had become Microsoft Certified Professionals (MCPs).
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