I also think it’s important that people not “over certify.” On one of the mailing lists, we’ve been hearing from some young chap who certified R&S with zero years/months/days of industry experience. And he noted his extreme boredom during lab prep, which I think is telling as far as where his passion likely lies. Cisco and other vendors should protect their expert-level certifications with a “years in industry” requirement, IMHO. How can you possibly be an expert at something you’ve never done outside of a home lab environment? (And let’s face it, even the real lab barely mimics a live network with mission critical traffic flowing every which direction).

Hopefully this comment isn’t too OT, but I see these issues as being tightly interwoven…