This guy's got more than a 100 certs...

One of the authors of the 70-648 Syngress book has more than a 100 certs, the book claims...here's an excerpt.

Tariq Bin Azad is the principal consultant and founder of NetSoft Communications Inc., a consulting company located in Toronto, Canada. He is considered a top IT professional by his peers, coworkers, colleagues, and customers. He obtained this status by continuously learning and improving his knowledge and information in the field of information technology. Currently, he holds more than 100 certifi cations, including MCSA, MCSE, MCTS, MCITP (Vista, Mobile 5.0, Microsoft Communications Server 2007, Windows 2008, and Microsoft Exchange Server 2007), MCT, CIW-CI, CCA, CCSP, CCEA, CCI, VCP, CCNA, CCDA, CCNP, CCDP, CSE, and many more. Most recently, Tariq has been concentrating on Microsoft Windows 2000/2003/2008, Exchange 2000/2003/2007, Active Directory, and Citrix implementations.

Seriously, is this for real??

P.S. Please dont start a slugfest about the number of certs a person can hold versus the knowledge they have...Just posted some astonishing information.

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Comments

msteinhilber

If I were a publisher, I wouldn't publish that on my website or books if it wasn't verified and I wanted to maintain credibility of my authors. That being said, I'm sure it's probably for real - it probably counts each of the certifications such as MCSE and so forth as a certification for each exam passed I would suspect though.

If I were the author, I wouldn't really want that being published though. I would fear too many people would consider it bragging. It's a good accomplishment, but you have to question how many of those certifications are really beneficial to this individuals professional work. How much of the knowledge needed to pass over 100 certification exams is still very well remembered? A bit excessive if you ask me.

Essendon

Valid points there, msteinhilber.

Astonishing information nevertheless.

dynamik

That's only four per year over 25 years. I've done all mine in about 2.5 years. Slowly but surely I guess!

msteinhilber

dynamik wrote: »

That's only four per year over 25 years. I've done all mine in about 2.5 years. Slowly but surely I guess!

You'll probably reach 10,000 certs. You'll be so old you're filling your own pants because you couldn't scoot your walker to the restroom fast enough, but you'll get there

networker050184

I don't think I could find 100 certifications that would interest me enough to get them all.

skrpune

msteinhilber wrote: »

You'll probably reach 10,000 certs. You'll be so old you're filling your own pants because you couldn't scoot your walker to the restroom fast enough, but you'll get there

Bravo, sir. Bravo.

Solaris_UNIX

I would never want to get over a 100 certs just because of the burden of constantly re-certifying to keep them all current.

It's also strange that he doesn't have any Linux or Unix related certifications.... no RHCE, LPIC or SCSA / SCNA ?

Turgon

Essendon wrote: »

One of the authors of the 70-648 Syngress book has more than a 100 certs, the book claims...here's an excerpt.

Seriously, is this for real??

P.S. Please dont start a slugfest about the number of certs a person can hold versus the knowledge they have...Just posted some astonishing information.

It's not that uncommon. I recall looking over the credentials of some of the contributors to the first cerification books I bought in 1998 and it was like, WOW they had everything..MCSE MCNE MCSD CNX yada yada. In the author and trainer arenas you can find many heavily certified individuals. Often they get the cert before gearing up to offer training in the subject to clients. There is a lot of crossover between certifications and if you think about it, if you were teaching stuff 20 hours a week and inbetween preparing course material for classes or looking over the authorised training material vendors provided to instructors for their classes it's not a great leap of imagination to understand how they could rattle out a lot of certs in fairly short order. There is also the time when they are not teaching or preparing for classes. They get quite a bit of that and if they work for a training house there's plenty of encouragement to get certified in something else so that training offerings can be made to potential customers with certified trainers onboard. Sort of like a professional certification tester really. Contrast that with field work where your exposure to cisco command line really varies day by day, and often it can be mundane or obscure things that really don't get you up for any of the cisco tests.

To be honest, Im kind of relaxed about uber certified people. As a designer it can be very beneficial to have awareness of the mechanics of different things outside my area specialization. That's why once my CCIE is done and all the free time opens up, I will be embarking on a sprinkling of digestable certifications across the piece just to get a taste of some new things and some things I have wanted to certify in for years that I have real world exposure to. As a high level architect that can be most helpful. For the details beyond my area of specialisation there are low level designers and support specialists to fill in the gaps. I think the issue is when super qualified people try to pass themselves off as experts in everything they have paper in. Very few are because that's an impractical proposition really. I think that's unnecessary as well because design doesn't work like that. It's fundamentally a high level activity. If it wasn't we wouldn't have enough designers and those that we do have would all require psychological help.

UnixGuy

All his certs are entry to mid level...he doesn't have any "expert" level cert...

wastedtime

I wouldn't say they are all entry to mid level. His Microsoft knowledge seems to be up there. Plus he is a author of this book.

Solaris_UNIX

UnixGuy wrote: »

All his certs are entry to mid level...he doesn't have any "expert" level cert...

Interesting point. I was thinking the exact same thing, but then I noticed that he had an MCSE, which I guess would count as an "expert level" Microsoft cert, wouldn't it?

UnixGuy

solaris_unix wrote: »

interesting point. I was thinking the exact same thing, but then i noticed that he had an mcse, which i guess would count as an "expert level" microsoft cert, wouldn't it?

mca, mcm, mvp,...

mikedisd2

Never understood why people list MCSA when they have their MCSE. If you need to fill space on your resume, make the font bigger.

Claymoore

mikedisd2 wrote: »

Never understood why people list MCSA when they have their MCSE. If you need to fill space on your resume, make the font bigger.

My thoughts exactly. Microsoft used to post guidlines on how you could use their certs on buisness cards and such and they preferred you use the highest level cert because it implies the other certs. However HR robots were throwing out too many resumes because someone listed MCSE but the posting said it required at least an MCSA, so people started listing everything just to get past the filters.

100 exams is possible if you are in the training buisness. While he may know enough to cram for the exam, I'm not sure I want him managing my network while designing my Exchange organization. How much real-world experience can he really have?

dynamik

Well that's sort of the point I was trying to make. If you're in it long enough and keep updating things, you'll just keep accumulating more (i.e. MCSE NT4, MCSE 2000, MCSE 2003, MCITP: EA, etc.)

Paul Boz

mikedisd2 wrote: »

Never understood why people list MCSA when they have their MCSE. If you need to fill space on your resume, make the font bigger.

Probably for the same reason I list the CCNA and CCDA on my resume. I earned them and I want credit for them. Not everyone understands that they're pre-requisites to the CCDP and CCNP.

I can understand how someone would be able to get that many certs. If I didn't have to take four exams for every professional level cisco cert I have I'd have three times as many certs that I do now. Also, the guy's job is to know this stuff and I'm sure he's afforded plenty of time to pursue certs. Most of us have to put in 50+ a week THEN find time to certify.

Hyper-Me

UnixGuy wrote: »

mca, mcm, mvp,...

There are like 50 MCMs and like 12 MCA's.

I think its safe to consider the MCSE/MCITP EA a higher end cert. I really dont think id call them mid-range.

At least not until I myself had something like an MCM or MCA.

EDIT: MVP isnt a cert.

Forsaken_GA

mikedisd2 wrote: »

Never understood why people list MCSA when they have their MCSE. If you need to fill space on your resume, make the font bigger.

HR filters, mostly. I would never list lower tier certs on the same path on my business card (much like I don't on my profile here), but everything goes on the resume.

UnixGuy

Hyper-Me wrote: »

There are like 50 MCMs and like 12 MCA's.

I think its safe to consider the MCSE/MCITP EA a higher end cert. I really dont think id call them mid-range.

At least not until I myself had something like an MCM or MCA.

EDIT: MVP isnt a cert.

yeah I know about the MVP.

We can't make an exact judgment but from what I see in market, RHCE, MCSE, SCSA, CCNP , ..etc are considered Mid level by most employers...

Hyper-Me

UnixGuy wrote: »

yeah I know about the MVP.

We can't make an exact judgment but from what I see in market, RHCE, MCSE, SCSA, CCNP , ..etc are considered Mid level by most employers...

Around here i dont see employers asking for anything above those for the most well paying jobs in this area.

Ive never once seen MCM or MCA, but with only about 100 total in the world it would be ridiculous to ask for that anyway.

wastedtime

I would like to know how many employers hire people based solely on what they have in certifications. Why don't you take a look at his whole bio before you judge him on a very small part of it. Safari Books Online - 9781597492812 - Securing Citrix XenApp Server in the Enterprise

mikedisd2

Paul Boz wrote: »

Probably for the same reason I list the CCNA and CCDA on my resume. I earned them and I want credit for them. Not everyone understands that they're pre-requisites to the CCDP and CCNP.

True enough for the high-end certs. Listing CCENT seems kinda trivial though when CCNA is above it. It's like wanting credit for year 11 highschool when you have done year 12.

JDMurray

It's very odd that Tariq Bin Azad is not on LinkedIn.com. It's a great place for technical people to promote themselves.

mikedisd2 wrote: »

True enough for the high-end certs. Listing CCENT seems kinda trivial though when CCNA is above it. It's like wanting credit for year 11 highschool when you have done year 12.

CCENT is your 8th-grade diploma and the CCNA is your 12th-grade diploma. List the CCENT if you need to pad your resume.

kimanyd

FWIW, in all my recent interviews, no one had a clue what the CCENT is.

snadam

Paul Boz wrote: »

Probably for the same reason I list the CCNA and CCDA on my resume. I earned them and I want credit for them. Not everyone understands that they're pre-requisites to the CCDP and CCNP.

I can understand how someone would be able to get that many certs. If I didn't have to take four exams for every professional level cisco cert I have I'd have three times as many certs that I do now. Also, the guy's job is to know this stuff and I'm sure he's afforded plenty of time to pursue certs. Most of us have to put in 50+ a week THEN find time to certify.

Agreed, and you speak the truth. There is a distinct negative correlation between work hours rising and study hours dropping.

Starke

I disagree with you, MCSE and MCITP are mid level certifications. MCA/MCM are the "expert" level certifications for Microsoft. The number of people who have the MCM or MCA doesn't change this fact. FYI there are 350 MCMs total. I hold both MCSE and MCITP and I would never hold them to the same level as a CCIE.

http://www.microsoft.com/learning/en/us/certification/cert-overview.aspx#tab5

In the enterprise level market employers are starting to ask for MCM's much more because of their high level of expertise.

Hyper-Me wrote: »

Around here i dont see employers asking for anything above those for the most well paying jobs in this area.

Ive never once seen MCM or MCA, but with only about 100 total in the world it would be ridiculous to ask for that anyway.