An Integrated Certification Plan

Are certifications a dying breed? They appear to be out of touch because of the problems with the current state of IT certification and the overwhelming confusion in the training and certification market. After more than 15 years in IT, Warren Wyrostek addresses the problem with his program called the Master of Integrated Networking. He discusses why this program could breathe new life into the certification market and satisfy a lot of the current problems and shortfalls in the current strategy.

This is the third in a series of articles that takes a look at the current state of IT certification. The first article, "The Top 10 Problems with IT Certification in 2007/2008," looked at the following problems:

• Certifications are vendor-centric.
• A certification’s life cycle is short!
• Certifications are not real-world oriented.
• Certifications have been devalued as a result of brain dumps and the like.
• No oversight body is monitoring certifications.
• The debate—degree vs. certification vs. experience—continues with no clear answer.
• HR people are not in touch with the real world—just look at what they ask for!
• Budget cuts are killing training and motivation to be certified.
• There is a glut of certified people.
• No one knows which certs matter.

In the second article of the series, "Now What? First Steps into IT, 2008 Edition," I postulated that despite the problems with IT certification, some are still by choice or need pursuing certification.

That being the case, I discussed the best first steps into IT by means of certification.

This final article is my plan, solution, and design for breathing life and vitality back into IT certification.

Because of the 10 problems that I cited in the first article and the overwhelming confusion in the training and certification market, certifications appear to be out of touch and (in a sense) a dying breed.

So after more than 15 years in IT and too many certifications to count, I opted to address the problem. The program that I have developed, and am proposing and promoting, is called the Master of Integrated Networking.

Depending on who buys in, it can be a Master’s degree on a university level, a certificate on an Associates or Bachelor’s level or from a for-profit training center, or a full-blown certification if the major vendors (Novell, Microsoft, Red Hat, Cisco, and CompTIA) buy in.

Can you picture a certification that was supported and backed by five major networking vendors??? Think of this: a program that addresses a void in the real world market in which all five major vendors co-exist. Nothing currently exists like this program. Why? Because certifications are vendor- and product oriented, not real-world oriented!!!

I have published the outline for the program on my website for close to a year. It was reviewed in Redmond Magazine online in August 2007 and got favorable reviews. I have proposed it to several universities, publishers, and IT instructors, including a few of the major vendors. All are considering it. Now it is your turn.

As readers of InformIT.com, I propose this certification solution to you in order to garner your feedback for what could potentially breathe new life back into the certification market and satisfy a lot of the current problems and shortfalls in the current strategy.

Genesis

I have based this program on the current market as well as my experiences in IT, and certification and training. I am the guinea pig. What I am recommending is based on the skills I have acquired because of the strategies I have followed. This program is developed around integrated networking, but it could also be applied to other interrelated disciplines as well.

So the issue for me became this: How could we use the best of all the certifications in the market, address the issues that HR folks generate when they post a job with a laundry list of skills and certifications that they have no idea about, and confidently credential folks for a real world internetworking environment so that they have the necessary skills to contribute from day one?

How do we ensure that these candidates are not just book smart but also have the complex skills needed to contribute to an enterprise environment? No enterprise environment is made up of a single vendor’s solutions, so no one vendor’s certification(s) adequately prepares a candidate for the real world.

So what credential would offer potential employers a degree of certitude that a candidate could do the job if they have that one credential?

Additionally, what credential would have enough flexibility to prepare candidates for working in an environment that is migrating to the latest and greatest multivendor solutions, or for working in an environment that has no intention of leaving their 10–15-year-old solutions that are not broke?

The key concept behind this certification plan is this: How do we use what we have, make it better, and make it more appealing and relevant? What I am not in favor of is reinventing the wheel, or (to use one of my own colloquialisms) I don’t want to have to renovate the kitchen in order to cook a simple dinner.

So here is the problem or the need as I see it in IT: We need a flexible, real world, multivendor credential that ensures not just book knowledge but skills in an environment made up of a quagmire of solutions, while leveraging the current vendor certifications without pushing potential candidates away.

My solution is the Master of Integrated Networking. This can be, as I said, a degree, a certificate, or a certification—depending upon who buys into the program.

As a degree, academic centers of learning will benefit. Most academic centers have shied away from vendor certifications in favor of the MIS, the CIS, or similar degrees.

Many students, when leaving school with just these degrees, have found themselves to be at a disadvantage. They have found that those with a degree and a certification or two fare better in the market.

With the Master of Integrated Networking degree, students would not only have a degree but also several vendor certifications, and will have passed a rigorous hands-on practical capstone course, ensuring their skill level.

Offering vendor certifications and a degree makes an academic setting more attractive to those who are seeking to change careers or to advance their skill levels.

As a certification or certificate, for-profit training centers could offer a multivendor training solution that meets the needs of the industry in their geographic area. Centers would have to focus on the real-world needs of their clients, not just one vendor’s solutions for those needs.

Many clients, like me, do not want to be vendor dependent. Centers that offer a multivendor solution will be more attractive to those with internetworking needs.

Audience

The proposed audience for this program is any network administrator, network engineer, systems engineer, career changer, or degree candidate who wants to actively be engaged in an integrated enterprise network environment. It is designed to validate not only a student’s cognitive understanding of such an environment but also to affirm their skills through hands-on high-order tasks.

Students who complete this program successfully will be able to validate to employers and HR folks their competence to skillfully manage an integrated production network through the Master of Integrated Networking certificate/degree. Those who successfully complete this program and course will definitely be a step above those who are labeled vendor-based "paper certs."

Students who enroll in the final course as part of the degree program will, upon successful completion, not only earn their degree but also several major vendor certifications and the Master of Integrated Networking certificate.

Program Prerequisites

Prior to being admitted to this program, students will be required to meet two prerequisites:

• CompTIA’s A+ Certificate or equivalent knowledge
• CompTIA’s Network+ Certificate or equivalent knowledge

Equivalent knowledge can be tested either through a face-to-face question and answer examination or through a computer-based cognitive exam that will test cognitive knowledge of a published set of objectives. This test will be offered by the educational or training provider.

The Program

The program leading to the Master of Integrated Networking designation will include the following:

Course	Assessment
Introduction to Directory Services Covers eDirectory, NDS, ADS, LDAP, X.500, and more	Computer-based cognitive exam
Novell OES Administration	Novell CNA Exam
Microsoft—Managing and Maintaining a Windows Server 2003 Environment (or the appropriate Microsoft Server exam for your area)	Microsoft MCP
Microsoft—TS: Microsoft Windows Vista, Configuring (or the equivalent Microsoft Client exam for your area)	Microsoft MCTS
Linux Server Administration	LPI Level 1
Introduction to Cisco Routing and Switching	Cisco CCNA
Introduction to E-Mail Systems (Exchange, GroupWise, Notes, Sendmail, Postfix, or whatever the industry in your geographic area is using in the enterprise)	Vendor exam or equivalent
Introduction to Enterprise Services—Apache, IIS, DNS, DHCP, NAT, and Virtualization	Project: On a single virtual server, install, configure and deploy and populate a Web Server; and deploy a DNS, DHCP, and NAT solution.
Security 101—Firewalls, Packet Filtering, Access Control Lists, Directory Service Security, File System Security	Either CompTIA’s Security+, SCNP certification or a security certification from Microsoft or Cisco, depending on geographic demand
SQL 101	Either the MS TS toward SQL 2005 or the MySQL CMA certification
Wireless 101—optional	CWNA certification
Final Project/Capstone Course—Master of Integrated Networking 4-credit/60-hour Master’s course	Design, install, configure, administer, secure, use, troubleshoot and evaluate an Enterprise environment using geographically relevant platforms and skills

Final Course/Certificate Program

This course is the final leg in the Master of Integrated Networking certificate program. Students will have met all prerequisite skills and certifications before sitting in this class.

This is a rigorous 60-hour, 4 credit, demonstration of students’ ability to design, install, configure, administer, secure, use, troubleshoot, and evaluate a complex, integrated test network, as they would encounter in a production environment.

This is not an introduction to any of the included technologies. Instead it is a full-blown implementation of the most-observed networking technologies currently used in production environments.

The course will consist of 5–10 hours of lecture and discussion; the remainder consists of hands-on tasks. Each student will create a fully functional integrated network consisting of at least one client platform, two LAN platforms—one of which will be installed as a virtual guest, one WAN platform, two directory services, one database solution, one e-mail solution, one Web server, one DNS-DHCP solution, one NAT solution, and one Firewall solution.

Students will be evaluated at the end of the course, based on the network platform’s ability to interoperate and provide the services needed in an enterprise.

Students who cannot complete all tasks during the course will not receive the Master of Integrated Networking credential. Those who do satisfactorily complete all tasks will receive the Master of Integrated Networking credential.

The models for this course and method of evaluation are the practicum assessments used by Novell for the CDE, CLP, and CLE certifications, and the lab practicum used by Cisco for the CCIE.

This is designed to be an intensive examination of a candidate’s knowledge and skills. It is not an introductory course or project. It is not a paper-and-pencil evaluation that can be addressed by brain dumps or practice exams. It is a final project or capstone.

According to Bloom’s Taxonomy, it will test the high-order skills possessed by only the most determined and skilled. Successful candidates will be an elite group of IT professionals.

Candidates can use whatever resources they can avail themselves of to emulate a real-world scenario. And in the real world, resources are available in an integrated enterprise. In the real world, the key to integrated networking in a production environment is knowing what questions to ask and where the resources are to address those questions.

The prerequisites for being admitted to this course are the following (based on geographic need):

• CompTIA A+ and Net+
• Novell CNA
• Microsoft MCP
• Microsoft MCTS-Vista
• LPI-I
• Cisco CCNA
• Vendor exam score for Exchange, GroupWise, Notes, or equivalent
• CompTIA Security+ or equivalent
• Microsoft MCTS—SQL 2005/8 or MySQL CMA

The final goal is to graduate with the Master of Integrated Networking credential along with these vendor certifications.

Program Benefits

Those who have been in IT for awhile and have looked at this program and course have shared with me their impressions. Included in those impressions were the benefits of the program and the final course. Here are some of the benefits of the Master of Integrated Networking program and Capstone Course:

• This program addresses many of the top 10 problems with IT certification defined in the first article in this series.
• It is scalable. Based on the amount of equipment available, this program can be scaled up or down depending on need.
• It is flexible. It is geographically flexible to address industry needs. Those in the U.S. Midwest won’t to be the same as those in the UK.
• This can be a cost-effective program when Virtualization (i.e., VMWare, Virtual PC, or XEN) is used in a manner that emulates a production setting.
• This is a real world-oriented scenario. Integrated, not vendor dependent.
• It is designed to be a hands-on, skills-oriented program; not one that pushes out paper certs.
• A degree or certificate with vendor certifications is more appealing to potential employers when a candidate is looking for a good position.
• It has a limitless lifecycle and is adaptable. This is my favorite benefit. It can be adapted to an environment that is cutting edge or one that is comfortable with older technologies that still work. The key focus of this credential is not to generate profit for a vendor's product, but to validate a candidate's skills within an integrated environment.
• Universities have broader appeal and attract multivendor students with a degree and certificate.
• Current and former certifications could easily be repurposed/repackaged for this type of certification. An MCP with NT 3.51 would be just as welcome as someone with the 2003 MCP.
  
  A Novell 3.12 CNA would be just as welcome as an OES CNA. If someone has an expired CCNA from 2004, s/he would be just as welcome as someone with the current CCNA. This is not a race to spend money on the latest and greatest, but an evaluation of one’s skills.
• It would test in the final course (the capstone course—Master’s Project) a higher level of understanding and skill based on Blooms Taxonomy—higher-order knowledge and the application of that knowledge.
• Students would not be accused of being a paper cert with the Master of Integrated Networking under their belts.
• Colleges and universities would be the oversight folks requiring their instructors to be fully versed in all applicable technologies.
• Vendors such as Microsoft, Novell, CompTIA, and Cisco (if they buy in)) could make this the program that transforms IT certification worldwide, giving credence and oversight to further development.
• The workplace and HR folks have already requested this type of credentialing. Now they would have it.

Program Weaknesses

Just as there are strengths to this program there are also some obvious weaknesses that I see:

• Professors have to teach toward vendor certifications (until now, most have not been required to do so).
• Professors have to be more adaptable to the real world and not the isolation of academia. This is also a sticking point for vendor-based trainers who are book smart but not field smart. All trainers would have to be really in touch with the real world.
• Trainers and professors would have to adapt pedagogical techniques that are attractive to students who want to get a good job.
• There could be some equipment costs if a center or school wants to encourage students to use Cisco equipment. But other than that, with the use of virtualization this should be a minor point.
• Major vendors would have to buy in somewhere along the line for this to not only grow legs but run!
• HR folks and schools would have to be educated to its value (as I am doing now through this proposal).

What Happens Now?

1. Since this is my baby, I am actively promoting it with as many people who will listen as I can. In response, I am listening to everyone’s feedback and suggestions, hoping to make this program the best IT credentialing program on the planet.
2. I am also in touch with several publishers and senior universities and working toward getting the final course published with a company that has an excellent marketing strategy and will buy in with the same enthusiasm that I have. I just want it to meet the needs of the IT community and those who work in that growing and changing community.
3. Then I will watch it happen. Work with training centers and educational centers to generate enthusiasm and spread the word. Adapt it based on the suggestions of those who will seriously consider it.

What Do I Want from You, the Reader?

Feedback. Honest and open feedback. I don’t want the ranting and raving that sometimes occurs in reaction to an IT column or article. Instead, I want your opinions about whether you would buy in, or not buy in (why or why not).

Based on your comments, updates as the program grows will be posted on http://www.3wscertification.com.

Feel free to share your comments with me at wyrostekw@msn.com. Thanks very much for considering this new innovative IT integrated certification Plan.