Novell Revamps Certification Program To Meet Industry Needs

by Anne Martinez

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The certification arena is clearly a much more crowded place than it was just a few years ago. Currently there are close to 500 IT certification options, offered by more than 100 certifying organizations. Certification vendors that have been in the game for several years often offer a dizzying array of titles and tracks. Although many IT professionals may appreciate the option to specialize to the nth degree, for hiring managers the explosion of titles and tracks is downright bewildering. And if managers have trouble pinning specific meaning to a certification, they give it less consideration when making hiring decisions. That can seriously dilute the worth of certification.

"We determined that it's not the certified professional, or the certifying organization, that places a value on a certification," explains Jim Greene, Director of Business Development for Novell Education, "the value of a certification is assigned by hiring managers." Since Novell wants its certifications be as valuable as possible, the logical next step was to ask hiring managers what they want from certification, and find a way to give it to them. The result is a streamlined certification program devoid of potentially confusing tracks or electives.

Take the Master Certified Novell Engineer (MCNE) as an example. Before the revision, earning an Master CNE required a candidate to first achieve CNE certification (which could be in NetWare or GroupWise or intraNetWare), then add a TCP/IP exam, and choose three elective exams. Elective options included such topics as integrating Netware and Windows NT, Internet Security Management with BorderManager, or Managing Netscape Enterprise Server for Netware. Thus the final Master CNE could represent any of several skill sets.

So Novell asked hiring managers what they want and expect from someone with a Master CNE title. The answer: a person who can take a leadership role in projects and architecture. More specifically: someone who has skills in network administration, advanced networking protocols and security, and who also has project management ability. "This is the first time that soft skills like project management have been mentioned" notes Greene. The revised Master CNE program covers all those bases, with no possible digressions.

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