Certifications Training-What Is Required |
||||||
| ||||||
|
Generally, most certifications follow a similar process, though they all differ in the details. Understand the details. Once a candidate has decided on a course of study, he or she must usually undertake some training in preparation for a certification exam. As we've already addressed, training is available in many forms and varieties, and at many different costs. On the low end, you can spend around $100 to $300 and obtain some kind of study kit, or maybe just a manual. On the high end, you can spend around $10,000 and attend a 6- to 12-month seminar consisting of lectures, labs, and plenty of hands-on experience. The in-between usually entails spending $500 to $5,000 for a collection of CBT, handbooks, and a testing CD. When the candidate has completed the training--or at least after passing, for example, a simulated test--he or she is ready to take the certification exam. Certification exams are offered all over the U.S. and the world. Today, one vendor, Sylvan Prometric (http://www.sylvanprometric.com), appears to have the great majority of the marketplace for facilitating your exam certification. Sylvan Prometric partners with all sorts of companies to support a large variety of technical-certification exams. Whether it's IBM, Microsoft, J.D. Edwards, CISCO, etc., Sylvan Prometric will provide you with a time and a place to take an exam. Sylvan Prometric makes the entire scheduling process as simple as point and click, or a phone call. The opening page of Sylvan's Internet site includes links to both a registration service and a test center locator. For example, if you're interested in taking an MCSE exam, you can simply use the Test Center Locator to find the closest testing place. Once located, you can even register online. If you would rather speak to someone, the site also lists the phone number of every testing center. The cost is usually around $100 per exam, though of course it depends on the exam and what is involved. You do have other certification exam options. Some vendors who offer training are also registered Sylvan Testing Centers. Others have passed the required testing center licensing requirements and also provide certification exams. Sylvan makes it easy, but you can always double-check with the vendor (e.g., Microsoft) requiring the certification. Some certifications require that you pass several exams. A good example is Microsoft's MCSE Certification. According to MCP Magazine, the MCSE Certification "requires [passing] six exams, four covering networking basics and operating systems such as Windows NT, Windows 95, and Windows 3.1, and two elective exams on Microsoft products and technologies such as Exchange, SQL Server, SMS, SNA, and Internet products and technologies such as IIS, Proxy Server, and TCP/IP." For the names of specific exams, log onto Microsoft's site (http://www.microsoft.com/Train%5fCert/mcp/certstep/mcse.htm). Acquiring a CCIE certification is similar to the MCSE process, with a few nuances of its own. According to the CISCO Web site (http://www.cisco.com): "A candidate for the CCIE certification must have a solid background in internetworking. The candidate must first pass a two-hour, written qualification exam administered by Sylvan Prometric. Then the candidate must pass a two-day, hands-on lab exam that pits the candidate against difficult build, break, and restore scenarios. Finally, to maintain an active CCIE status and to ensure that CCIEs are always equipped with the latest technical expertise, CCIEs must complete a recertification requirement every two years." And finally, about a year ago, Microsoft began offering an MCP + Internet certification. That certification, according to MCP Magazine, "requires [passing] a single operating system exam, Windows NT Server 4.0, and two Internet-related exams: TCP/IP on Windows NT 4.0, and either Internet Information Server 3.0 or Internet Information Server 4.0." | ||||||
| Last Updated ( Sunday, 08 March 2009 ) | ||||||
 |
|
|
|||||||
|
|
