Feedback on the online CLD experience

[Ozfarmboy]

A colleague of mine had a poor recent experience online:

We captured it here:

https://forums.ni.com/t5/Certification/Terrible-Online-Exam-Experience-with-PSI/m-p/4147604/highligh...

[MrMattPayne]

Wow, some real horror stories in that thread. I mean, it's bad enough that this system just seems to be garbage in general, but to present it to programmers is just that much worse. I do hope NI comes up with another solution for the online exam. I think it's a really valuable service to offer, if not an expectation in 2021 and not just because it's after a pandemic that forced us all apart, but because of the spread, decentralization, and democratization of tech itself. It's cool to be a nerd now, and I think you should be able to prove how good you are at it no matter where you are in the world or what resources you have at your disposal, especially in a world where an internet connection is almost as common as Coca Cola. I don't know what the demand is for LV certification, but whatever NI is paying Psi, it's hard to believe they can't do better with someone else.

I mean come on, not even a confirmation email that my test was submitted? As if the test wasn't stressful enough, I had to wait more than 2 weeks not knowing if I just wasted my time and money because the proctor didn't submit my exam or whatever automated magic was supposed to happen? The only confirmation I can get that I didn't dream the whole thing is "Test Schedule Completed"? What does that even mean? Again, to the average test taker it's bad, but to a programmer it's...sad. 

I am happy to report that my test did make it through and I did pass, but boy NI, please look for another exam provider. That can't be the standard. I'm sure it's a very difficult thing to execute both seamlessly and with integrity, but Psi seems like they're not even trying, at least with the "seamlessly" part.

[Mike_V]

Hi,

Let me share my 8 HOUR ordeal with PSI (NI CLD online)

For various reasons I am again recertifying for CLA, which means going the long route - CLAD, CLD, CLA since my CLA expired long ago.

Last week I took my CLAD online with PSI - it was quite bad, but survivable

It took more than 1h of Proctor/Support etc etc mind numbing discussions until I managed to get to the exam (which I passed in 15-20min without issues) so far so good...

Today - getting to the exam took precisely 4 HOURS! From beginning through multiple re-login requests, taking videos of the room 6 or 7 times, waiting at one point for 40min for someone to pay any attention to me. The problem being that the camera over my display shows them "blurry" image of my ID - not sure how is that possible as it is 720p camera and I have tested that the ID is readable even if I put it at the other end of the room.

Nevertheless - at some point I suggested that I take a picture with the inbuilt camera and switch back to the normal one.

Easy you'd say - not with PSI, you have to disconnect in order to switch cameras, then taking the ID pic is easy, the videos... not so much,

however after this acrobatics got resolved, I have to disconnect and re-connect in order to switch to the camera which shows my face (my laptop is on a dock so the inbuilt camera shows only side view of me, not the face).
Alright - I disconnect, and upon re-connection guess what, You need to AGAIN take ID picture and not surprisingly - "Your ID is blurry".... eeeergh, yes that's why we did the whole disconnect/connect exercise... No matter - now there is a new "proctor" on the other end of the line let's jump through the hoops again... and so on and so on

4 HOURS of Orwellian dystopia, when I finally loose my nerves properly and ask them that "OK - this is not working let's reschedule, I will build a new setup which will be easier for PSI to handle"  - all of a sudden we go ahead with the exam, no problem...

Yeah except I am dehydrated, annoyed, nervous and have a massive headache from the 4hour circus before that - great start...

I get a relatively easy task, shouldn't be a problem, except the hunger and massive headache resulting from the previous 4 hours are really not helping, so I start to run out of time - skipping functionality naturally and dropping comments in the code that this and that is not implemented due to lack of time (let's see how this turns out). Eventually without a single warning about time running out my connection is interrupted and that's that...

On my question - is this connection error message I am looking at something normal the reply is: "Yes" and "I will now mark your session as complete. Thank you for testing with PSI. Have a nice day!"
And that's how my 8 HOUR CLD ordeal ended today.

The only positive thing I can say is that there was no lag - that's it, CTRL+W (didn't work) but at least was giving a warning so I didn't disconnect by mistake.

The experience of dealing with NI certification through PSI twice in two weeks has left me feeling sick and I honestly hate the very Idea of going through this again CLA or no CLA.

I can say one thing for sure - I will never deal with NI certification through PSI again, if there is option to take the CLA on site in reasonable future I will, but online (or if it happens that I need to re-take the CLD because of todays shenanigans) - no way! 

The funniest part was that for the CLAD when I asked can I just make a enlarged copy of my ID - the answer was OK let's do that, and after that everything was OK. However the same suggestion today yielded a "sorry" cannot do this response (more than once).

In a nutshell - the experience is so bad, that I am seriously considering ending my re-certification at this point.
The CLD and CLA are hard and stressful enough as it is - the abysmal incompetence of PSI is making them practically impossible.

If someone from NI is interested in this and would take it seriously - I have the full log of the chat window with PSI.

Best regards,

Mike

P.S. If you are considering NI certification / re-certification online - DON'T!

[UliB]

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@Mike_V wrote:

For various reasons I am again recertifying for CLA, which means going the long route - CLAD, CLD, CLA since my CLA expired long ago.

---

Sorry to be too late, but just to let you know. CLAD is no longer a prerequiste for CLD: https://education.ni.com/badges/resources/1255 

CLD is still prerequiste for CLA.

[terickson]

I DO NOT RECOMMEND TAKING AN ONLINE EXAM VIA PSI.  EVER.

I am going through the recertification of my CLA.  The online multiple choice exam did not suite me so I decided to take the practical exam again.  I signed up in good faith to take the practical exam online via PSI.  I registered under my name, Tim.  My test was scheduled for 2/4/2022.  After connecting and going through the check in procedure, the proctor would not let me take the test.  They stated my id did not match the name I registered under.  Tim vs Timothy.  They would not budge and I was unable to take the exam.  Laster that day I reached out to NI Certification and a few days later they sent me an email back stating the problem had been corrected.  To verify, I called PSI on 2/11/2022.  The representative told me the issue was not corrected and that in fact I would have to pay for the exam again.  I asked to speak with a supervisor who finally admitted that Tim and Timothy are the same, made the necessary notes, and rescheduled my exam for 2/14/2022.  When I tried to take the exam on 2/14/2022, the proctor would not let me take the exam because of a name discrepancy.  I spent two hours chatting with tech support before finally calling PSI again.  I talked to tech support for an hour before they transferred me to customer service.  This individual stated that the issue had to be escalated internally at PSI and they would get back to me in 2 to 3 business days with a decision.  He would not confirm that I would not be asked to pay for the exam again.

YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!  TAKE THE EXAM IN PERSON IF YOU CAN!

[Andjelko]

I had the similar issue with my name, which is Anđelko and transliterated on English its Andjelko. After 1.5h I had to log off from the PSI, go to NI account and change my name to Andelko so they could let me in. Idiots couldn't note my name from my ID and send that to NI. Than I went again and wait for proctors and did checkups again and satisfy all their wishes to start the exam 2h late.

During exam I did not get notified about remaining time. I ask proctor how much time I have left, and get some predefined response that they cannot help me with exam related issues!?

System crashed with an error, maybe my time was up, I don't know. I tried to connect via PSI system again, spent more than 7 hours after that moment with various PSI Tech support agents who could not get me back to finish exam (see error screenshots) nor confirm that exam files are sent back to NI, or that my time was up. That ended up with PSI Tech Support agent who was on my system with AnyDesk for 1.5 hours, trying to see what was the problem and concluded that my system was all good, their system is all good, but that they cannot connect (me) to NI exam and that I should contact them and give the Ticket number.

I am waiting NI to get back to me.

LabVIEW environment was ok, LV2020, ctl+space, ctrl+E, ctrl+drag and drop worked.