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by Barb Cole-Gomolski and Kim S. Nash

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(IDG) -- Larry Davis, 24, studied political science in college, but he's well on his way to becoming a Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer (MCSE). With little hands-on experience with the products, Davis -- who forked over $5,000 for a two-week "boot camp" -- passed four of the six required tests.

"Just about anyone can pass if they have a home computer and are a quick study," said Davis, who used his credentials to land a PC/LAN support position at a major computer maker.

Hiring managers in the labor-strapped information technology field welcome career-changers and newcomers such as Davis. But they're also increasingly skeptical about vendor-run software certification programs, which are churning out certified professionals at fever pitch.

Not ready for prime time

"I've seen a number of people come out of vendor certification programs who don't really know their stuff," said Vic Janulaitis, CEO of Positive Support Review Inc., a management consulting and technical recruiting firm in Santa Monica, Calif.

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One individual, who held a certificate from a leading database provider, couldn't import a flat file, Janulaitis said.

"Another person was certified as a Web programmer and wanted a salary of $90,000," Janulaitis recalled, "but he only knew one [development] tool."

Just about all the major players sponsor certification programs. Among them are Microsoft Corp., Novell Inc., Cisco Systems Inc., Lotus Development Corp. and Oracle Corp.

In the early 1990s, Novell's Certified NetWare Engineer (CNE) diploma was so devalued that Novell had to toughen up the program in April 1995 to regain some respect.

But critics say IT certifications are still too easy to get. Indeed, a few minutes on the Web unearths a plethora of boot camps, books and other study aids designed to prepare students for exams.

"Become an MCSE in just two weeks!" says one come-on. And the NT School in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., pledges that students will get an MCSE after attending its two-week boot camp; if not, they can attend another boot camp for free.

Then there are the so-called "brain dumps": Web sites where people who have already taken the exams describe what you need to know to pass the tests.

"I took the CPA exam many years ago, but that doesn't mean that today I would be able to go off and be an accountant," said Terri Kemmerer, manager of worldwide IT human resources at Cargill Inc. in Minnetonka, Minn. Kemmerer said she's interested in "knowledge applied, not knowledge acquired."

Some recruiters said the certification industry is pumping out more graduates than they can handle. There are currently more than 500,000 Microsoft-certified professionals, including about 142,000 MCSEs.

A.J. Tavares, a recruiter at RHI Consulting Inc. in Irvine, Calif., said he's inundated with resumes from folks he calls "paper MCSEs" and "paper CNEs" -- applicants who are certified but don't have job experience.

"It used to be that people who got certified had worked with the products," Tavares said. "But now I see resumes from bricklayers and auto mechanics who have gone to tech schools and are going after certifications."

Critics said vendor-specific certification focuses on implementing features of the vendor's products -- information that can be memorized.

Thinking skills

"It's cookbooking," said Ian Hayes, president of Clarity Consulting Inc. in Hamilton, Mass. He said what's missing are the critical thinking skills needed to make the products work in a business setting.

Although some certification holders claim that those credentials have become a requirement today, there's a continuing debate about the value of the certificates. Some hiring managers said they are the ticket to getting an interview, but others said they aren't required.

Certificates don't matter much if the job candidate doesn't have real-world experience, said Ryland Harrelson, vice president of human resources for IT at Total Systems Services Inc., a credit-card processor in Columbus, Ga.

He said he has encountered people whose resumes list several certificates, "but if they don't speak to how they benefited the business, then we're not interested."

Michele Krebs, an information systems recruiter at Rite Aid Corp. in Harrisburg, Pa., noted that certified professionals have "a somewhat inflated view as to what kinds of salaries they will get."

Without experience, Krebs said, she views certified professionals merely as entry-level workers.

Defenders said vendor certifications get a bad rap because they tend to get lumped into a single category, yet there are actually varying degrees of difficulty.

For instance, Microsoft has the Microsoft Certified Professional diploma, which is much easier to attain than the MCSE.

Cisco's certification programs for internetworking were singled out by many as more meaningful than most similar diplomas because of the hands-on nature of the tests.

Defenders also dispute the notion that people can cram their way into a certification. "You just can't pick up a book and study over the weekend," said Jim Cogliano, chief operating officer at Sullivan & Cogliano, an IT staffing firm in Waltham, Mass.

AnneMarie McSweeney, certification development program manager at Microsoft, said her company constantly works to make the certification test better reflect the real world.

"People who have the job in the real world write the tests," she said. Plus, the company has added simulation and, in the case of the Microsoft Certified System Developer, case studies to the tests.

Exam secrets

The latest Microsoft effort to protect the value of its certifications is to make it harder for people to find out about exam contents.

Since February, it has required test-takers to sign nondisclosure agreements. And it's now using "adaptive testing," in which the way you answer questions determines which questions you get next.

Though hiring managers continue to debate the value of vendor certifications, the applicants themselves see the high-tech acronyms as a way to get noticed.

"Experience is better [than certification] alone, but I used it to get my foot in the door," said Davis, the boot-camp graduate. "If I hadn't had that certification, they wouldn't have looked at my resume."