IT Certification – Who Needs It?

All the major IT Technology vendors offer certification schemes to provide a recognised level of skill for individuals. Why is certification so popular and who does it benefit?

Vendor Benefits

The Vendors benefit from introducing certification schemes.

• By encouraging certification the vendor is encouraging individuals to get trained, study and become expert in their products and technologies.

• By encouraging certification the vendor is striving to ensure that their products and technologies will be implemented correctly and efficiently to  promote optimum performance and satisfaction.

Many Vendors insist that their business partners have a minimum number of qualified, certified staff in order to demonstrate their commitment and expertise.

You Benefit

Employers have a difficult task of identifying the right person for the job. They will receive applications from many hopeful candidates for a single job and will be looking for a quick and easy way of spotting the most suitable candidates.

Many companies employ the services of contract staff. How can these companies be sure they have selected the right consultant for the job?

By becoming certified in your chosen field you will demonstrate a commitment and achieved skill  level to your employer or customer. They will have a measure of your capabilities, which can distinguish you from others.

By becoming certified you will have an understanding of your own capabilities and will have pushed yourself to study and become more expert in your chosen field.

The Employer

The employer benefits from staff certification as they can measure the development of their staff and ensure that they have the required levels of expertise to implement solutions and maintain them successfully.

The employer benefits from certification as they can demonstrate to their suppliers and customers the level of expertise held by their staff and maintain their reputation in the market place.

Which Certification Track?

There are many IT Certification Tracks available to IT staff today, but are they relevant and beneficial to us?

In some cases it may be easy to identify relevant certification tracks, simply by the nature of your job or your company’s business. For example, if you are a Network Administrator or Architect implementing Cisco equipment the Cisco Certification track would be most relevant.

To identify the relevant certification track for you ask yourself the following questions:

• Is the certification for me?

  • Do I wish to develop my skill set to make myself more attractive in the job market?

• Is the certification for my employer?

  • Is it part of a vendor accreditation?

  • Is it to demonstrate levels of expertise within the company?

• Is the certification for one of my employees?

  • Do they need to work with specific vendor hardware or software?

  • Do they need to develop generic technology skills in a way that can be measured?

As an individual in today’s world of fast-moving and fast-evolving technologies it is often difficult to identify which of these technologies we should specialise in. Even when we have identified which technology to go with there are often many choices of vendors and products which follow.

As a business the certification track is often driven by vendor requirements or the nature of the business.

What Certification Tracks Are There?

• Operating System

  • UNIX

    • Linux

      • RHCE (RedHat)

      • CompTIA Linux+

      • LPI

    • Solaris (Oracle)

    • AIX

    • HP-UX

• Microsoft Server Platforms (Windows, SQL Server, Business Intelligence, Data Management, Data Analytics, Exchange, Cloud, Office 365, Dynamics, Programming, Web Applications, Mobility, Productivity)

  • MTA

  • MCSA

  • MCSE

  • MCSD

• Microsoft Office

  • MOS

• Other Products and Platforms

  • Cisco

  • Citrix

  • RSA

  • Novell

  • Oracle

  • MySQL

  • SalesForce

• Programming Language

  • Java

  • C

  • C++

  • C#

  • Visual Basic

• Technology

  • CompTIA Network+

  • CompTIA Server+

  • EDCL

  • ITIL

• Internet

  • CIW

The list goes on, but we have probably identified some of the most common certification tracks available.

Some of these certification tracks map to specific vendors, but there others such as the CompTIA and EDCL certifications that have been put together as a more generic certification demonstrating a person’s general computing and networking skills.

We will take a look at some of these certification tracks in more detail.

Operating System Certification

We will look at the Solaris, AIX, HP-UX, Linux and Microsoft certification options.

Sun Solaris

Sun offer two levels of certification for Solaris 8:

• Sun Certified System Administrator for the Solaris Operating Environment

  • Part1 Exam

  • Part 2 Exam

• Sun Certified Network Administrator for the Solaris Operating Environment

  • Must have obtained  Sun Certified Administrator status

  • Only 1 exam

The topics addresses by the exams are outlined in the document called “Sun Solaris 8 Certification Exams”.

IBM AIX

IBM offers a wide range of certifications for AIX. Following is a list of the pSeries AIX certifications available:

• IBM Certified AIX User

  • Exam: Test 160

• IBM Certified Specialist pSeries AIX System Administration

  • Exam: Test 191

• IBM Certified Specialist pSeries AIX System Support

  • Exam: Test 199

• IBM Certified Systems Expert pSeries HACMP for AIX

  • Must have passed Test 191 or Test 199

  • Exam: Test 187

IBM also offer a range of RS/6000 AIX Certifications, for example:

• IBM Certified Advanced Technical Expert RS/6000 AIX

  • Must have passed Test 191 or Test 199

  • Exams: Any three out of Tests 183, 184, 185, 186, 187 or 188

IBM also offers Linux Certification:

• IBM Certified Systems Expert xSeries Linux

  • Must have obtained one of the following certifications:

    • Linux Professional Institute (LPI) Level 1

    • Sair Linux and GNU Certified Administrator (LCA)

    • Red Hat Certified Engineer (RHCE)

  • Must have obtained IBM Server Certified Speacialist xSeries

  • Exam: Test 476

HP HP-UX

Linux

There are three main Certifications available for the Linux Operating System:

• Red Hat Certification

• Linux Professional Institute Certification

• SAIR Linux & GNU Certification

Red Hat Certification consists of the following options:

• Red Hat Certified Engineer (RHCE)

  • Exam: RH-302 RHCE Lab Test

Linux Professional Institute Certification consists of the following options:

• LPIC Level 1

  • Exam 101: General Linux I

  • Exam 102: General Linux II

• LPIC Level 2

  • Must have obtained LPIC Level 1

  • Exam 201: Advanced Administration

  • Exam 202: Linux Networking Administration

• LPIC Level 3 (Undergoing research)

  • Exams: Any two from:

    • Exam 321: Windows Integration

    • Exam 322: Internet Server

    • Exam 323: Database Server

    • Exam 324: Security, Firewalls, Encryption

    • Exam 325: Kernel Internals & Device drivers

    • Exam 32x: Additional Elective exams

SAIR Linux & GNU Certification consists of the following options:

• Linux Certified Professional (LCP)

  • Exam: One of the following:

    • Exam 3X0-101: Installation & Configuration

    • Exam 3X0-102: System Administration

• Linux Certified Administrator (LCA)

  • Exams: All of the following:

    • Exam 3X0-101: Installation & Configuration

    • Exam 3X0-102: System Administration

    • Exam 3X0-103: Networking

    • Exam 3X0-104: Security

• Linux Certified Engineer (LCE)

  • Must have obtained LCA status

  • Exams: All of the following:

    • Exam 3X0-201: Core Concepts & Practices

    • Exam 3X0-202: Apache

    • Exam 3X0-203: SAMBA

    • Exam 3X0-204: Mail Systems

• Master Linux Certified Engineer (MLCE) – Under development in 2002

Microsoft

There are a number of certification tracks available for the Microsoft environment. The most common are:

• MCP

  • One specialist topic exam required

• MCSA

  • MCSA candidates are required to pass three core MCP exams and one elective MCP exam.

• MCSE

  • Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer (MCSE) candidates on the Microsoft Windows® 2000 track are required to pass seven exams or the equivalent that include the following:

§Core Exams (5 Exams Required)

• Four operating system exams. Candidates must pass one exam from each set of operating system exams—client operating system and networking system. Candidates can complete the core operating system exams requirement by passing either four Windows 2000 or four Windows XP Professional/.NET Enterprise Server exams—or a combination of both.

• One design exam. Candidates must pass one exam that provides proof of expertise for design skills for specific Microsoft server technologies.

§Elective Exams (2 Exams Required)

• The elective exams provide a valid and reliable measure of technical proficiency and expertise in solution design and implementation.

See the Microsoft Certification Web Site for full details of certification tracks and exams available: http://www.microsoft.com/traincert/default.asp

Products

Citrix

Citrix offer two main certifications:

• CCA (Certified Citrix Administrator)

  • One exam is required to achieve this certification. Take and pass one of the following exams:

  • Exam 220 — Citrix MetaFrame XP 1.0 for Windows

  • Exam 218 — Citrix MetaFrame 1.8 for Windows

  • Exam 310 — Citrix MetaFrame 1.0 or 1.1 for UNIX Operating Systems

• CCEA (Certified Citrix Enterprise Administrator)

  • Take and pass four of the 10 qualifying exams

  • Exam 911: Citrix Resource Manager

  • Exam 921: Citrix Installation Manager

  • Exam 910: Citrix Resource Management Services Exam

  • Exam 920: Citrix Installation Management Services Exam

  • Exam 930: SecureICA™ and Security Exam

  • Exam 940: Load Balancing Services/Citrix ProgramNeighborhood® Exam

  • Exam 941: Citrix Load Management and Citrix Program Neighborhood

  • Exam 961: Citrix NFuse Classic Administration Exam

  • Exam 931: Citrix Secure Gateway

  • Exam 991: Citrix MetaFrame XP Advanced Administration

Programming Languages

Java

Sun offer three levels of certification for Java Programmers:

• Sun Certified Programmer for Java 2 Platform

  • Exam 310-025

• Sun Certified Developer for Java 2 Platform

  • Must have passed Exam 310-025

  • Exam  310-250 – Programming Assignment

  • Exam 310-027 – Essay Exam

• Sun Certified Enterprise Architect for J2EE Platform

  • Exam 310-051 – Multiple Choice

  • Exam CX 310-300A – Assignment Exam

  • Exam 310-061 – Essay Exam

• Sun Certified Web Component Developer For J2EE Platform

  • Exam 310-080

The topics addressed by these exams are outlined in the documents called

 “Sun Certified Web Component Developer For J2EE”.