How IT pros cheat on certification exams

Discussion in 'News' started by nugget, Feb 18, 2011.

  1. nugget
    Honorary Member

    nugget Junior toady

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    How IT pros cheat on certification exams



    Incidents of cheating on IT certifications are on the rise, a trend that experts say is an outward sign of the desperation felt by out-of-work and under-employed IT professionals.
    Training organizations are responding by intensifying their efforts to catch cheaters through cutting-edge defenses, such as biometric identification of test-takers and custom, computer-generated exams.

    Read more here

    Courtesy of invierno for the find
     
    Certifications: A+ | Network+ | Security+ | MCP (270,271,272,290,620) | MCDST | MCTS:Vista
    WIP: MCSA, 70-622,680,685
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Comments

    1. ThomasMc
      ThomasMc
      Don't think your life would ever depend on it and if it means that much to your employer then they should make time for you to do it during normally working hours. Don't become a long term loser, never cheat!
    2. greenbrucelee
      greenbrucelee
      I dont think MS are agressive enough in finding cheaters either.

      I remember when I did one of my MCDST exams I got the same question worded differently three times and I assume that was to test wether I really did know the objective related to that question. Whilst that may be a way for MS to see if your just remembering what has been seen on a braindump or wether you really know the subject could be a good thing maybe they should have trained personnel in body language at the test centers so they can watch your responses to the questions you get.

      People trained in body language can tell the difference between people remembering subject matter to people remmbering what they have memorized on a braindump PDF.

      I have seen a few braindumps before (the two collegues at work) and I couldn't believe how easy it would be to memorize the questions/answers and that anyone would ever have the balls to use one of those things.
      Last edited: Feb 25, 2011
    3. BosonMichael
      BosonMichael
      No, "almost everybody" wouldn't cheat. All those excuses are crutches and false justifications for you to do something you ultimately want to do anyway. If you want to cheat, you'll "find a reason" to cheat. However, there actually ARE people who have the integrity and the moral fortitude to do what is right despite adverse situations. Many of us have been in the situations you've described, and despite the allure of a better job or higher pay or simply staying employed, we didn't cheat.

      Do what you will, Mariusz. Just don't try to make yourself feel better by justifying to yourself that "everyone else would have done the same thing". That is not the truth.
    4. NZ Kris
      NZ Kris
      i hate the time wasted on the commute, so i got a kindle, that gives me an hour and half reading each week day right there :biggrin, were there is a will there is a way, i think most people can find time to learn somehow.

      I think you would look an idiot turning up to an interview or work claiming knowledge based on your certs but when they ask you technical questions or your boss asks you to do something that you should know you have no idea.
      Surely it comes back to bite you in the arse!!!
    5. Mariusz
      Mariusz
      so far I didn't have to, because I know its like cheating myself. What I meant to say is that there are some situations in life that force you to do so.

      I do what I want and I learn i.s.o. cheating, as I know these skills that I'll learn will help me in the future. what I wrote were kind of extreme situations where lot of people (not all) would be prone to cheat. If you say everybody is so honest, then why jails are full of criminals? why the survey we talk about had some statistics about cheating? was this article written without reason?

      everybody has a point where is able to cross some moral rules.
      Last edited: Feb 25, 2011
    6. BosonMichael
      BosonMichael
      You're not "forced" to do anything. You choose what you want to do. Those choices may indeed come with consequences... but you still make your own choices. You control you.

      Sorry; there's no justification for cheating.

      I don't think "everybody is so honest." In fact, I think there are a LOT of dishonest people out there... just as there are a LOT of cheaters out there. However, I disagree that "almost everyone" (your phrasing) would cheat under difficult circumstances. Some will, yes. But many will not. Those who are prone to cheat anyway will find some excuse that rationalizes their cheating (I don't have the time, I don't have the money to take it twice, I need a better job, I can't lose my current job), and people who have moral integrity will find ways to resist the temptation.
    7. Mariusz
      Mariusz
      the truth is somewhere in between
      I still think that most people would cheat at some circumstances, just everybody has different morality, and somebody will do it only because is lazy, and somebody will do it because his future depends on it and has no other choice. some people will never do it and will have to bare consequences.
    8. BosonMichael
      BosonMichael
      See, that's the difference between us.
      You think there "is no other choice", and that those who "never do it" will "have to [bear] consequences."
      I think that that there is ALWAYS a choice, and that those who DO cheat will have to bear the consequences - of not fully understanding the material, of not being qualified to hold the certification, and of potentially being decertified for life.
    9. Mariusz
      Mariusz
      you may say that there is always choice. yes there is always choice, but If you had to choose between keeping the job or loosing it in situation where unemployment reaches 40% (I come from region where in 90s 40% and above was a fact and people were looking for job for years and couldn't find it. (Thats why so many of us left abroad, If we didn't the unemployment in Poland would be still about 25%, and it still is above 20% in some regions, although the country average is 13%) what would you do? (It's just an example of extreme situation) because I would cheat to keep it. of course I would do everything to act fair, but If it was above my possibilities I would cheat.
      what would you say for your kids? "you are hungry because daddy is honest"?
      Last edited: Feb 25, 2011
    10. greenbrucelee
      greenbrucelee
      In all honesty I would get a job flipping burgers rather than cheat but thats just me.
    11. Mariusz
      Mariusz
      I know you would :-)
      I read your post about some interview/test that you had to do at home. :-)
    12. JonnyMX
      JonnyMX
      Well, if I was working somewhere where they forced me to cheat in order to keep my job, I may start considering a career change anyway.

      Nah. Give me 'you're well fed today because daddy is a liar. Let's just hope he doesn't get found out, or you'll be hungry tomorrow.' Way more prophetic.

      :biggrin
    13. BosonMichael
      BosonMichael
      If I had to choose between being dishonest to keep a job or being honest and losing it, I would find other employment.

      My children will never go hungry because Daddy is honest. But even if they were hungry, my children will have a good role-model who they can look up to... so they can also become fine, young men of good character who won't compromise their moral integrity. If I cheat, how can I expect them to not? I'd rather they go hungry than learn bad moral choices.

      But... that's not gonna happen. Daddy will work two jobs and starve himself before he lets his two sons go hungry.
      Last edited: Feb 25, 2011
    14. Mariusz
      Mariusz
      looks like we have different points of view :-)

      few words about me, because I might look like complete **** for you :-)

      I never stole anything. I had lots of contacts with thefts, was listening to their stories, but never stole anything.
      I was always telling the truth, and could admit to mistakes at work i.s.o. pushing the blame on others.
      When I came to UK I was working up to 80 hrs a week to keep family (I always have 2 jobs, full time+part time as bartender which is rather hobby), and I never claimed benefits even if I could, and never stole anything. And last few months I was working as dishwasher, what wasn't job of my dreams as I hated the company (but it was nice to work with the people in) but preferred it than claiming money that somebody else needed more. I was looking for another job, and I found it.
      And I try to live honest and give good example. but still would cheat If I had to,and as I wrote before, different people have the point when they will cheat on different levels, I think mine is quite high, but I know it is. And family is the most important for me, more than moral rules.

      and the situations I mentioned about were situations where there were no option of another job, especially first half of 90s was very difficult.
      In western countries when unemployment reaches 8-9% (where half of them prefers to live of benefits anyway) everybody says it is tragedy and in fact there still is a job, depends how "low" you can get. I am writing about situation where there is no option for another job (is there at 40% of unemployment?). We were raised in different realities that's why we have different points of view

      I'm off to work, bye guys :-)
      Last edited: Feb 25, 2011
    15. BosonMichael
      BosonMichael
      I guess if I were raised that it was OK to cheat, perhaps I'd have a similar point of view.

      At the point where civilization breaks down is where you find out a man's true character. I know what my true character is. Obviously, you know yours as well.
    16. Mariusz
      Mariusz
      my parents raised me to be honest man.my father never stole anything, he was working over if he had to, and there was a time when I can say we were poor people, in 80s I didn't have fashionable clothes, and I was eating sweets only on X-Mas, but I was never hungry and never dirty what was the most important. and what you wrote sounds like an insult. What I think is rather a result of my life observations not the way my parents raised me. I am almost 32, and so far I was living my life honest. Hopefully it will be like that till I die.

      Yes, I know my character as well, rest is written above (and I didn't write there that I am cheating on exams, or that you are cheating on exams, I mentioned situations where many people would cheat, and it makes difference). Hope you understood what I really mean. I wrote what I think, you wrote what you think, and lets finish it in this point, we don;t have to repeat it all over and over again :-)
      Have a nice weekend guys :-)
      Last edited: Feb 26, 2011
    17. BosonMichael
      BosonMichael
      Take my comment however you want. But it was you who said we were raised in different realities. And I agreed. If I were raised as you were, perhaps I would believe similarly to you. But I wasn't. I was raised to believe that it's not OK to compromise your morals. If you were raised that way as well, then your original assessment that we were raised in different realities is incorrect.

      On this, we also agree. :)
    18. Consultant
      Consultant
      I think people worry wayyyyyy too much about this stuff, none of the companies I've worked for, or recruited people for generally hire on Certs alone. All of them also use a combination of references, previous experience, personality, technical interview, technical tests, face2face interviews with different team members, increasingly on linkedin recommendations and any number of other things, my current position I had no relevant certs, but as a result was interviewed with, no less than seven separate interviews, all of them asked me searching questions that, had I lied on my CV/Resume, would have found me to have done so. But I know my stuff, so it didn't phase me.

      Any company that hires someone on the strength of certs alone deserves everything they get. This is no different to someone telling lies on their CV, it's another part of the filtering process that works towards finding the right person.

      Heck, I mean the world's full of academic's with degrees that aren't worth diddley-squat in the real world, yet lots of people still attach huge significance to them.

      Most of the people on here that I've seen so far, seem to study properly, learn their subject well, and carry that knowledge with them.

      The world will always be full of brain dumpers; queue jumpers; people that park where they shouldn't; people that lie and cheat their way through life, but all liars and cheats get caught out eventually when it comes getting hired and they meet real people, or they do a crappy job and that employer refuses to give a good reference when asked by the next one.

      Karma bites people like that in the rear, 95% of the time. As Michael says, CCNA ain't an entry level exam; So when someone comes along with a CCNA but can't show any practical experience of networking, alarm bells will ring, and you'll dig deeper.

      Hopefully this doesn't sound like a rant, it wasn't intended as such :)

      Cheers

      T.
    19. Modey
      Modey
      Very well put Consultant, repped!

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