The Foreign Service Journal, May 2006

School of Applied Information Technology in Warrenton, Va., and at the National Foreign Affairs Training Center in Arlington, Va. — tends to emphasize the goal of “getting certi- fied” above all other objectives. During my two months of mid- level IRM training at SAIT in 2004, I observed the entry-level folks, as well as seasoned specialists, down- loading countless sample test ques- tions for the upcoming examinations. We all, myself included, insisted that we had to stay home every night and weekend to study our “test kings” and other commercial tools (as well as free ones) for certification — not our Windows XP course books. Some actually swore that if they paid for test questions, they would have a better result on the exam. Yes, we had all caught that dread disease known as “certification fever.” To be fair, there was basic instruc- tion, but it went at 100 miles per hour — and God help you if you held up the timeline. There were whole days when all we did was review test-preparation materials provided by SAIT. For days on end the instructors basically ran “study halls.” Did the students learn any- Some IRM professionals leave after one or two tours, having acquired their IT certifications and marketable work experience at U.S. government expense. 16 F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L / M A Y 2 0 0 6 S P E A K I N G O U T u