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Question of the week
Follow up to last week's CertAdvisor
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Share your cert-experience
How CertAdvisor answers questions


Question of the week

Q1) I am a Network Engineer with more than two years of experience. I have just passed Windows 2000. A lot of MCSEs I know are planning to prepare for CCNA certification as next step. Is it a good thing to do? What is a good option for me if I decide to continue with my certification training? (From Barry Galvin)

ANS) Your option should be determined by your job function and aptitude.

If your job function requires you to work with routers/switches or if you have a strong aptitude for WAN, going for CCNA after Windows 2000 certification is a good idea.

If you have no immediate use for the skills and technologies related to Cisco products or do not even have an opportunity to get good hands-on experience with them there are other possibilities you may like to consider:

You may take additional Windows 2000 exams, which you overlooked on your way to your certification. Though you are already certified, passing additional exams will power you to round off your skills and establish an overall competence in the product. If you want to step out of Windows 2000 you may consider exploring certification programs of related Microsoft products.

If you want to step out of Microsoft products you may consider exploring certification programs that may help you to do your job better or are complementary to the skills you have already acquired. For example, if there is a strong database dimension to your job, then training for database certification programs would be useful.

Finding a good option really depends on how creatively you analyze your situation and there needs to be nothing typical in the path you choose. I have known people who returned to college education after their certification.

Follow up to last week’s Cert Advisor

Q2) I am a Senior Programmer with extensive experience with MS products. I am now planning to study for a certification program.  Though I was earlier considering MCSD, now I want to switch over to JCP. Besides adding to my skills, I can also start my preparation if I chose JCP. (I do not want to wait till .Net is released.)  What do you think about this? (Mary Stephens)

ANS) As mentioned last week Programmers who want to continue with Microsoft products will have to upgrade to .Net to stay current. . Net possibly represents a radical departure from existing Microsoft products and thus, getting certified in .Net languages would be a formal, disciplined way to master them.

On the other hand switching to JCP would add to your skills and brighten your prospects. .Net languages are comparable to Java as they also use an object-oriented approach for developing applications.

Promoted by Sun as a cross-platform, multi-vendor language, Java is already well accepted by the industry.

To ramp up support for Java and establish industry standards for certifying Java developers Sun launched a multi-vendor Initiative called ‘jCert’ recently. BEA Systems, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Oracle, Sun Microsystems, iPlanet E-Commerce Solutions and Sybase are some of the participating companies in the ‘jCert’ Initiative. Many of these vendors are offering their own Java-based popular certification programs. 

Java has already established itself now as a core skill for various job functions such as enterprise database administrators, network administrators, Web masters, technical consultants and so on.

Q3) I switched jobs last November. Though my new company is doing well, I am afraid it may also resort to layoffs if the going gets rough. As a new comer my position would be particularly vulnerable. Would getting a certification provide me with security of tenure? (George Johnson)

ANS) The Wall Street Journal recently reported that the present layoffs, unlike in the past, have ignored tenure by and large. According to it, many big companies are using sophisticated methods to evaluate employees and laying off those who are “deemed to be poor performers”.

Many independent studies have established that getting a certification enhances productivity of IT professionals. Certified employees almost universally have outperformed their non-certified colleagues. There is also higher recognition for the certified employees from the employers both in terms higher pay and in assigning critical projects.

So, I would conclude that getting a good certification would contribute to your security of tenure.

Q4) I am a Release 1 OCP? Which exams in Oracle Certified Application Developer track for Developer/2000 Release 1 are being retired? How will this affect me? (Sujoy Ghosh)

ANS) On July 31st, following core exams will retire:

• Exam 1Z0-111 Developer/2000 Forms 4.5 I
• Exam 1Z0-112 Developer/2000 Forms 4.5 II
• Exam 1Z0-113 Developer/2000 Reports 2.5

The two SQL and PL/SQL exams will continue to be available:

• Exam 1Z0-001 Introduction to Oracle: SQL and PL/SQL
• Exam 1Z0-101 Develop PL/SQL Program Units

Candidates who want to receive OCP Application Developer certification for Release 1 must pass all 3-core exams (1Z0-111, 1Z0-112 and 1Z0-113) by July 31, 2001.

All OCPs already certified in Release 1 will retain their credential even after the track is retired, and will continue to receive all OCP benefits and recognition. However, Oracle has stated it will ‘encourage’ Release 1 OCPs to upgrade their credential to the latest technology by taking exam 1z0-130 Oracle Forms Developer Rel. 1 to Rel. 6/6i New Features. (For Release 1 certified candidates working on Release 2, an alternate path to Rel. 6/6i certification is to pass exam: 1z0-120 Developer Rel. 2 New Features, which includes an automatic upgrade to Rel. 6/6i.)
 
For more details please visit:
http://www.oracle.com/education/certification/

Share your cert-experience

This week our member ‘Frank_J’ comments on choosing VB or VC++ paths for MCSD.

“Though I opted for VB, I learnt VC++ as well later on. From my experience I would say that the key to this issue is how familiar a candidate is with object-oriented programming.

If a candidate is new to object oriented programming, he or she should start with C++ and move on to VC++. This will help a beginner to master object-oriented programming methodically. If a candidate is good in object oriented programming, he or she should start with VB. This will help them to learn to develop projects very fast.

Eventually programmers should learn to work in both VC++ and VB.”

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