THE DAYS OF WHINE AND ROUTERS

There was a romantic glittery patina to the future, sort of like the glow of a promising new day, when the sun is just so and the world is just so. Yes, there was a day, a day way back when a young human arose from the primordial soup, the bubbling stew, a cauldron of DNA that spawned the likes of Einstein, Tesla, and Meucci from the maw of human kind. That maw had barely spewed forth the child when he began his pursuit of CCIE certification. Little time had passed before that same mother, that Mother of Invention that had ushered into this world Computers, the Internet, IT certifications, and CCIE Boot Camps, before we arrived to this very day; today. Yes, the new dawn included training from the industry’s best; trainers certified by Cisco who were part of the scientific movement behind the growth of the internet as a productivity tool around the world. Like these diligent hard working Greek god like heroes, a whole new generation of aspiring certification seekers sought to find purchase on the cliffs, the dizzying heights, of fame they find through expert proficiency.

Oh yeah, and again, the world turned

Darkness fell upon the minions in information of technology. Darkness born of greed, the greed of those driven by a desire to short cut the lanes of wisdom for the highway of expediency, cause many of us to shudder. A swift circuit to certification sans the desire to achieve goodness, a short circuit that has cast a cloud upon a borderless nation where being a CCIE was more important than being a good network engineer. This maligned circuit itself the child born of the mother of greed has incubated the greed of dumping and the like-minded filth of plagiarism. The call of a true passion for teaching and mentoring for some has been defiled by greed. Plagiarized training options that degrade the calling of the true authors to nothing more than a steady whine from a witless instructor heedless of the yawns from the dupes enticed to give up their hard earned money cannot be allowed to thrive. It is because of the ne’er-do-well industry that we all yawn now when certain decrepit organizations take credit for certification cheaters announced as if a hard-won accomplishment has been earned. Better simply to state that an expert community has been intruded upon once again by a cheat.

Earn your digits; don’t carry the shame in your resume by referring to “training” at one of the known sources of counterfeit clones and purveyors of plagiarized materials as an accomplishment. That stain alone has eliminated many from consideration for submission to my clients. It’s real, you cheat you lose, your moral compass is compromised when you lie, even worse when you lie to yourself!

Let’s open the door to the days when we can all be true too our calling.

What can you do about it? Well if you are a CCIE or hiring manager, and you are handed a resume of a candidate, highlight those who claim to have been taught by these dumpers and plagiarist thieves. Point out the lack of moral fiber this alone illustrates about the candidate. Red-Flag the candidate to those who do not know, make a statement; make them less proud to wave the banner of these institutions and promoting them!