Lack of 102 books

[Seung 'Steven' Hong]

There is a much larger underlying issue at stake here.
Namely, two main questions are:

1. Does the certification adequately measure a person's
capability to perform a given task? 
and 
2. Do the training, whether it's a book, online or other media prepare you for the task or certification test?

In some cases answer to both questions seem closer to
truth than others.  I recently took one of the SANS
courses and it was among the best learning experiences 
I've had.  Not surprisingly, I have kept the texts very
near to my desk and constantly reference it.  On the
other hand, certain other popular certification program
tests people only on the most obscure and unlikely 
scenarios.  Worse yet, the supplementary training 
materials does not adequately cover these cases and only
serve as a generic introduction.  Thus, the curriculum
neither prepares the student for real life nor the
certification exam.   

To be fair, there is a good reason to test people on
obscure topics.  In theory, if the person does NOT cram,
ability to answer the questions that are obscure and
wierd means that the person in question is likely to be
highly knowledgeable.  Unfortunately, people do cram.
Thus, people acquire knowledge to answer obscure quetions
without first obtaining the very basic dicipline and
experience that they should build their knowledge on.

While greatly saddened by the the demise of Corlios, in some ways it gives me a new found hope.  ExamCram series had
but one purpose.  To prepare you for the exam.  This in
turned created numerous certified professionals who could
pass the test but could not perform the task.  I further
believe that "Cram" oriented books will eventually be
overrun by "Cram" oriented sites that offer a more realistic
test scenarios and questions.  If my sole purpose was to
pass a test, I'd probably just find a brain dump site.  It's
easier, cheaper, and I'm not left with a useless book at
the end.
  
Thus, in my opinion, a book shoud concentrate more on
teaching people how to perform the task rather than 
how to pass a test.  That is not to say that it should 
not prepare you for the test, but rather, a do a lot 
more.  If this becomes a reality, I believe that you 
wouldn't have to worry about used book market, or people
tossing their book after the test.  This goes without
saying that the certification process themselves must
also constantly improve and challenge the people that
it attempts to validate.

Anyways, I've said way too much.  My apologies for the
babbling.

Steven:)

+++++++++++++++++++
Seung 'Steven' Hong
shong at ubiqtec.com
(202) 502-2383 (o)
(703) 597-8918 (c)
(703) 698-5581 (f)
 
CISSP, RHCE, CCNA, SCNA, SCJP, MCSE, MCSD, MCT



------------------------------------------------
On Tue, 25 Jun 2002 10:04:24 -0700, "Dee-Ann LeBlanc" <dee at renaissoft.com> wrote:

> As someone who's written cert books and been through the recent death
> of Coriolis books, a major cert book producer, I can verify that one
> reason there's a lack of 102 books, as Kara said, is the tech
> downturn. Another reason is that I think a lot of publishers are
> rethinking the cert book market after what happened to Coriolis, and
> that with the downturn there was a HEAVY downturn in the sales of
> Linux books.
> 
> A big issue is the used book market. If you do a cert book that's only
> good for studying for the exam, when the person's done with it it
> often ends up on someplace like Amazon in the used books section,
> which turns into a lost sale for publisher and author. I'm not sure
> anyone's really sure of the scale of what's happening there yet, but
> if it turns out to be significant, then there will be a shakedown in
> the market.
> 
> I'm not sure precisely what the changes would be. It's the cram books
> that suffer most, not the brand but the concept, because books like
> that are s only useful for studying for the exam. Perhaps another
> format is best economically. I'd love to hear folks' thoughts on this,
> either on the list or privately.
> 
> ---
> Dee-Ann LeBlanc
> Computer Writer, Linux Specialist
> LinuxPlanet Reporter
> http://www.Dee-AnnLeBlanc.com/
> 
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