I'm back! and in need of help...

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Hola amigos!

Its been a while since my last appearance on these forums (long enough to have missed a massive and awesome redesign) and I wish I was back with a better post to start off with but life doesn't always run smooth....

I've been with my current employer for just over 5 months and we're now in the process of ploughing into getting our exams up to date to ensure we maintain our nice shiny MS Gold Partner status. The entire tech team have been given the task of passing the three exams necessary to be MCITP:SA qualified before the end of May.

This is all well and good and gives a nice opportunity to gain some new skills, prove some of the ones I've already got and improve my CV. Unfortunately I'm running into 2 problems, the first is the massively truncated time span we've been given for these exams, we've had training materials for about a month and we've been booked in for and begun failing exams already.

The second and (at least in my eyes) larger issue is the training materials we've been handed. Things started well with the usual collection of MSPress books being passed around (unfortunately of course the current editions are missing a fair amount of R2 content but its still a starting point). Then some practice exams from uCertify appeared, not the greatest I've ever seen but fairly helpful.....

The problem is since then the 'training materials' have increased by means of PDFs which contain actual exam questions (some handed over on USB by the guy who runs the test centre!). I'm not using them, I took one quick look and saw questions from the exams I'd failed and quickly shut them.

So this is where the question comes in, do I shop both my employer and the guy at the test centre to MS knowing that the possible result would be loss of credentials for my colleagues, loss of partner status for the company and quite likely loss of employment for me when the MD shuts the whole thing down or do I keep quiet, pass the exams the right way and bail out at the first opportunity and never look back?

 

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Ooofff!

Naughty naughty. I'd personally report them for it, cos they're making a comlpete mockery out of the IT industry, and this completely enforces the story i read a while back about IT Pro's cheating on exams.

However, i'm not in the situation you're in - so i can see where you're coming from and i can't really offer advice on that

On another note - if you're looking for R2 material, i beleive this one is being released this month: http://www.amazon.co.uk/MCTS-Windows-Server-Complete-70-640/dp/0470948469

I've pre-ordered it, waiting on amazon to tell me it's arrived in stock

 

If your employers are offering services based upon fraudulent credentials then your company is going to miss out in the long run when the proper skillsets havent been developed, and they get sued for screwing things up.

I would first raise this as an issue with your management team via email, and CC yourself at a private email address, this is cheating and it is unfair to put yourself and your colleagues in this position.

At least then you will be covered, and do them for unfair dismissal if they get all fire-ey when you report them.

 

Wow dude, tough spot! (really tough)

They deserve to be reported, but that might leave you unemployed and unable to pay the bills. Its difficult to comment on with out having been in the situation..... are the other guys aware of were the matarial is from i.e. have they also failed exams and will be recognising questions like you? I would be looking for another job, secure your future then report the situation....
good luck mate

 

Yup, they are very definitely aware. There has been a fair amount of dicussion along the lines of 'did you get this question?' etc.

A lot of their reasoning comes down to self preservation, we need to pass these exams to keep our Gold status, if we lose that then the MD is very likely to re-evaluate whether he wants to keep the helpdesk (we've got a decent size development team who are bloody good at what they do). So some in the team are feeling forced into a position where they know the only way to pass the exams is with the braindumps.

Plenty of the technology in the exams is stuff we don't use on a daily basis.

 

I know its easy to say obviously not being in your position, but your MD or someone in management knew that this status would depend on having certified staff, and there means and methods of getting you all to cheat to keep a ststus is deplorable.

Your company and MD should have pre planned for this months ago and got you guys the proper training, although this sounds suspiciously like a cost cutting exercise, either in getting rid of people who dont have the certs, or not paying for proper training or allowing.

I would say speak to someone in the CAB about this, because if you get the sack, then you could have a case for constructive dismissal, but lets focus on the initial issue, I would tell them your not comfortable cheating, and show them the T&C stating if anyone is caught cheating then they will be decertified and banned for life, and in the current climate are not willing to risk your career just because your management didnt plan ahead.

 

Unfortunately you're in a difficult spot because if you do keep quiet and it's discovered you also run the risk of being tainted by this, even though you didn't cheat.

Ultimately you only have your own career to think about, is the risk of the company being caught and everyone being chucked out of the MCP program worth it to you or do you actually cherish the hardwork you're putting into your certifications?

Personally speaking I would stop talking to your company now and be talking directly to Microsoft and Prometric, the more you talk to your company the more likely it is that you 'could' be identified as the whistle blower. Obviously the choice is yours.

 

Well that's more or less confirmed my thoughts on things, my next question then is where do I report them? I've seen an ms email address before but I can't find the damn thing again....

And is there a contact at Prometric that can deal with the exam admin handing out dodgy material?

 

Good luck bud

 

What they are doing, is wrong. What others said, follow my sentiments. You need to report this as it's discrediting the industry.

 

Ouch... This is a tough spot to be in! Good luck! I hope that you get everything figured out.