Certifications and misunderstanding
OK, so perhaps I misunderstood Keith somewhat. He was quick to point out that:
I did not say all exams were pointless. I did not say certification was pointless. What I did say was that I felt those two Windows Architecture exams were pointless.
Fair enough. He also says:
Now, if it were the part about the backlash to the initials that he found condescending, no problem: I was merely pointing out that it's now a time-honored position to take. But my careful reading of his post tells me that he's either commenting on my French ("Plus ca change, plus ca mem chose"") or my critique of the WOSA exams ("Those exams were pretty pointless anyway.")
Actually, it was a combination of both the backlash to the initials and the comments about the exam. In the context of the posts Keith linked to, the overall impression sure seemed like he was being dismissive of certification in general. So I hope I can be forgiven for thinking that Keith was dissing certification. Clearly, given his response, that's not the case, which I'm glad to see. Just goes to show that computers don't necessarily always make for better communication. ;-)
Also, I mistakenly attributed the AngryCoder post Keith describes by Nathian Smith as having been written by Jonathan Goodyear. That was sloppy on my part. Perhaps I should've just gone to bed early tonight.