PSI Browser and my first nervous breakdown

donpier

Yesterday I had my first nervous breakdown after more than 15 years of IT career, in which I really experienced a lot. But I can hardly put into words what I experienced yesterday. I had a really hard week, a few things happened privately that I won't describe in detail here, but I was really happy to start the weekend - and that's what I wanted last night with my booked CKA exam, which I'm already looking forward to the whole day because I was very well prepared.
So when I clicked "Start Exam" this infamous PSI Bridge "Secure" Browser, which I had read about before and figured it wouldn't be that bad, was loaded onto my Linux machine. The installation went smoothly and then it opened and I was connected to a Proctor. The check-in process took a little longer than I was used to from other providers, but it worked without any problems. However, I noticed that my QWERTZ keyboard was translated to QWERTY within the browser and there was no option to change it.
Anyway, the exam started, the timer started running right away during the introduction to this strange PSI environment and once I was through with the introduction, I first wanted to adjust my .bashrc file - and then I noticed that here my QWERTZ keyboard was translated to QWERTY also. So I switched the keyboard within the environment, but nothing changed. Only then did I understand that it was the PSI Browser and asked the Proctor for help. If the only difference was the Z and the Y, I wouldn't have cared, but not finding all the special characters =:;- etc. wasn't quite right given the time pressure. Anyway, the proctor didn't even understand what I wanted and after the timer had already expired 10 minutes and I hadn't even looked at the first task, he just paused the exam and told me to call the support number. That's what I did and I wasn't helped there either, so I decided to do the exam with this obstacle. I asked the proctor to continue the exam and he replied that I should restart the browser. I asked if that was really necessary, but he only answered ready-made answers that had nothing to do with it. So I restarted the browser annoyed and couldn't believe it when I had to check in again. This time it took even longer than the first time and when I was finally able to start the exam, the timer was almost an hour up! I texted the proctor to reset the timer as I hadn't even started and suddenly he paused the exam again and told me to call support. I did that again and the employee on the phone told me that he himself did not understand why the exam had just been paused and after a while my exam continued and I actually had 120 minutes to spare. So I finally wanted to adjust my .bashrc file and suddenly the screen said "Proctor paused the exam". I couldn't take it anymore and really freaked out. I had never experienced such anger in my entire life and having to experience it on a Linux Foundation exam was an absolute slap in the face.
So I called the support number again and couldn't pull myself together anymore, I yelled at the Indian guy on the phone, although he couldn't help it, and he threw me off the line. So I tried to calm down and called again and talked very slowly, counting on every word as the anger was seething inside me and I had to hold it back. It finally turned out that I was logged in with two sessions and one of them ended and the other resumed - and lo and behold, the timer was down to only 20 minutes and I hadn't even read a single task at all! So I closed the browser, got up and went outside, because if I had stayed there I would have originally thrown the computer out the window. I was completely on my nerves. That you have to experience something like this on an exam is a bottomless cheek.
I wouldn't wish such an experience on any other participant, no, I wouldn't wish such an experience on anyone in the world. I can only advise everyone to take all exams somewhere else if possible, as long as Linux Foundation does business with this absolutely incompetent PSI company.
I will have this attempt refunded and try again because I would very much like to have this certificate, but if it happens again like this, I will stop immediately. In any case, I will definitely not book any more exams that only run via PSI in the future.
I hope the Linux Foundation listens to their customers here.

fcioanca

Hi @donpier

We apologize for the problems you encountered during the exam. If you have not done so already, please open a ticket with the Linux Foundation Customer Support team at trainingsupport.linuxfoundation.org and they will assist you. Forums should be used for course-related questions only.

Kind regards,

Flavia

The Linux Foundation Training Team

oleksazhel

Thank you for sharing this @donpier . I feel sorry for you! Hope next time everyting will run smoothly.

deimagoston

@donpier said:
I hope the Linux Foundation listens to their customers here.

Didn't.
"Computer says NOOOO".