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Understanding IT Certification

In the information technology workplace, it's not at all unusual to come across professionals who appear to delight in stringing multiple sets of acronyms after their names, such as MCSE, CCNP, OCP DBA, and so forth. In most cases, such designations are intended to identify their holders as possessing certain basic knowledge, skills, and competence in working in or around various kinds of tools, technologies, or activities that can range from the extremely specific (a certain type of printer, for example) to the general (assuring competence in a broad field such as information security, for instance).
My most recent comprehensive survey of IT certifications (conducted in mid-2003) turned up over 720 such credentials, across a bewildering array of topics, tools, and technologies. For nearly every conceivable IT job role and for many products or platforms, you can be fairly sure that some related IT certification is likely to exist.
When it comes to understanding why such credentials exist, for now you can simply assume that they satisfy some need for IT professionals, employers, and some third parties to document and warrant individual skills, knowledge, and abilities related to IT job roles or activities, or to specific IT tools, platforms, or technologies. Later in this Guide, we devote an entire section to this very topic.

Types of IT Certifications
Given the hundreds of certification credentials available in today's marketplace, it should come as no surprise that IT certifications come in various forms. For this discussion, we consider two different ways of describing IT certification programs:

• By origin, in terms of who stands behind a certification program. Please note that any single certification program may itself include one or more specific certification credentials; for example, Microsoft's certification program includes numerous individual certifications, such as the Microsoft Certified Professional (MCP), Microsoft Certified Systems Administrator (MCSA), and the Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer (MCSE), among several others.

• Three types of organizations typically back certification programs: vendors that sell specific platforms or applications, training companies that support specific programs of study or methodologies, and nonprofit or user organizations that likewise support specific programs of study or methodologies. Just to make things interesting, such offerings can overlap!

• By testing method, in which the kinds of interaction with prospective candidates for certification help to describe a program. Certifications invariably include exams (and some also include detailed application forms, projects, essays, reports, and even background checks) as part of the qualification process.

In the various headings that follow, you will learn about vendor-neutral versus vendor-specific certification (a distinction that derives from the axis of origin); and also about content-, simulation-, and performance-based certifications (a distinction that derives from the testing methods used).

Vendor-Neutral Certifications
When considering a certification program of any kind, it's important to understand who's behind that program. Vendor-neutral certifications earn this designation when they cover a subject or technology without focusing on any single specific implementation. That's why vendor-neutral certifications can be valuable to those seeking to demonstrate a broad knowledge of big subjects, such as PC repair, networking, or information security. This broad focus also explains why most vendor-neutral certifications focus on entry-level or intermediate professionals in specific fields—because these are the levels of knowledge at which broad conceptual coverage is most likely to be useful. Also, most certified professional populations include more entry- and intermediate-level professionals than advanced professionals, in a typical “pyramid” model for a variety of reasons.
Vendor-neutral certifications most often originate from training companies, or user or industry groups that don't have particular product or platform allegiances to worry about.

Vendor-Specific Certifications
As the designation indicates, vendor-specific certifications focus on specific products or platforms. In this realm, there's often a distinction between "official" certifications—such as those in the Microsoft Certified Professional program for Windows —and "unofficial" certifications, such as those available for Windows, SQL Server, and other Microsoft products and platforms from various training companies (Global Knowledge or Learning Tree, for example).

Content-Based Testing
Some credentials rely on examinations that seek to assess a certification candidate's knowledge (in whole or in part) of concepts, tools, technologies, and platforms by asking substantive concept- or activity-based questions about such things. An example is a hot spot question, in which the test-taker is asked to correctly identify an item by clicking an area of a graphic or displayed diagram. Another example is the case in which a candidate must apply her knowledge to construct an appropriate TCP/IP subnet mask or CIDR address range. Such tests rely on reading and comprehension skills as much as they rely on knowledge of the underlying subject matter to test the candidate's skills and knowledge. Nearly all certifications include at least some content-based components, even if they also use other testing models such as simulation or performance-based testing.

Simulation-Based Testing
Some credentials rely on examinations that seek to assess a certification candidate's knowledge (in whole or in part) of concepts, tools, technologies, and platforms by requiring candidates to run a simulator that looks and acts like the "real systems" it imitates to solve problems, answer questions, or demonstrate specific proficiencies. Such tests rely on hands-on knowledge, skills, and experience in operating the various tools, utilities, consoles, and so forth that practitioners must use on the job. A growing minority of certifications include some simulation-based components along with content-based testing. Microsoft and Cisco's certifications increasingly fall into this domain, for example.

Performance-Based Testing
A small but growing number of credentials rely on examinations that model or are based on real-world experience, skills, and knowledge. All of these programs also include one or more conventional exams as part of their testing strategy, along with a so-called "practicum" or "laboratory exam." In this latter component, candidates must install and configure systems and equipment to meet specific needs or troubleshoot real installations of some kind; that's what makes such credentials performance-based (at least in part). Other such programs rely on the observation and analysis of a candidate's activities in the workplace to verify real-world skills and abilities.
All of these types of certifications and testing approaches are tied together next as you learn more about typical IT certification programs.

Typical Certification Programs
A typical certification program normally includes two or more of the following standard elements:

• One or more named credentials that recognize specific knowledge, skills, or competencies and that are subject to well-documented sets of rules and requirements. Most such programs have web pages to communicate the necessary details to prospective candidates.

• One or more examinations that relate directly to the knowledge, skills, or competencies for each credential (these exams may be content-, simulation-, and/or performance-based exams).

• A canon of behavior or ethics that certification holders must promise to adhere to.

• Application forms for certification candidates to provide background information, document relevant work experience, or obtain recommendations from current certification holders to meet qualification requirements.

• Continuing education or recertification requirements (or some kind of regular replacements for aging credentials) to identify certified individuals with relatively up-to-date knowledge, skills, or competencies.

• Logos, artwork, and other methods that current certification holders may use to advertise their status.

• "Members-only" access to web sites, information, demo software, or other restricted resources (such as publications, training, beta exam invitations, and so forth).

About Certification Ladders
Many certification programs include multiple credentials that are deliberately structured to make it easy for candidates to achieve entry-level credentials and then to move on to intermediate- and senior-level credentials by taking more exams; meeting additional experience, educational, or background requirements; and so forth.
Within individual certification programs—for example, the Microsoft Certified Professional (MCP) program—various progressions in credentials are easy to recognize. Thus, the single-exam MCP credential can lead to an intermediate Microsoft Certified System Administrator (MCSA) credential that requires four exams. From there, individuals can progress next to the senior-level Microsoft Certified System Engineer (MCSE), which requires seven exams in total.
Almost every Microsoft exam qualifies candidates for the MCP credential, and a more limited set of exams is offered for those who seek MCSA and MCSE credentials. But nearly every exam that counts toward the MCSA also counts toward the MCSE, so progress in finishing the intermediate credential also meets requirements for the more senior credential. This arrangement is sometimes called a certification ladder because meeting requirements for a junior-level credential helps candidates make progress toward senior credentials, thereby encouraging them to keep climbing from one rung in the ladder to the next.
Even across multiple certification programs, it's possible to build ladders so that entry-level, general, vendor-neutral certifications (such as CompTIA's A+ PC Technician and its Network+ general networking credentials) are deemed useful to help prepare candidates for networking credentials of many kinds from Microsoft to Cisco to Hewlett-Packard, and so forth.