Wanting to prove my worth, I've wondered about taking one Microsoft
certification exam, so I can add those three magic letters, MCP, to my
resume. My reason for doing this is simply to prove that I can, that my
knowledge and experience are demonstrably adequate, at least adequate enough
to pass that exam, and by implication, others as well. This assumes that
these certifications have some value, but more on that in a moment.

This leads me to my question. Are there other relevant and readily available
certifications or other useful acronyms, that anyone is a single exam away
from claiming? Unfortunately, my previous employment had me dabbling in a
number of areas, without making a career out of any one of them. I am
reminded of Alexander Pope's verse about drinking deeply or not at all;
nevertheless, it was a living, until it was not. And dabbling does not, by
itself, seem to prove competence. Or maybe it's my resume writing skills
that are in question; I'm not sure at this point. So, what are the lowest
hanging fruits of certification?

Now, I've commented before about what I like to call "the Rainman effect",
idiot savants who can pass an exam without actually knowing which side of a
the CD is up. And we've heard about those who think that certification
exams, compact cars, and candy bars all cost "about a hundred dollars".
Certainly, certification has been useful for stimulating the courseware
industry, so that the students of the latter can pass tests of the former.
But I am not looking to start a debate on the usefulness or uselessness of
certifications, although I am interested in observations about which ones
are worth having.

Greg Stigers

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