Certification Success Exam Cram with Cdrom
Authors: Ed Tittel
Venue:  (1998)

From the Book: Introduction Introduction Welcome to Certification Success Exam Cram! This book is aimed squarely at people who are curious about the computer certifications that are popping up in todays marketplace. If youre intrigued by the occasional bits of alphabet soup you see in the magazines or in the classified ads for "Engineering/Technical" jobs, youve come to the right place. By the time you finish this book, youll know the difference between an MCSE and a CCIE. In fact, you should even be able to understand what it takes to start stringing some of these initials behind your own nameespecially how much work and expense are involved and what steps you need to take along the way. In short, this book is intended to explain some of the most popular, if not most important, computer certifications available. As you read this book, you should also get a good idea about whats involved in obtaining such certifications, and how well these certifications might match your computing interests. The Certification Game Although the details vary widely from program to program, all certification programs have certain elements in common. These common elements are discussed in Chapter 1. The rest of this book takes these common elements and explains how certification programs sponsored by the six leading organizations fit this model. Most of the certification programs covered in this book, in keeping with the current state of the computing industry, are vendor-sponsored programs. In other words, companies such as Microsoft, Novell, Oracle, Cisco, and Sun Microsystems create complex products or technologies. To make sure that they can sell these products or technologies to their customers, among other things, they must be able to guarantee a supply of knowledgeable, competent individuals who can use these products to get things done. In the simplest of terms, this explains why certification is important to vendors in particularits an important part of the overall delivery system thats necessary to introduce complex products and technologies to the marketplace. Some certification programsin particular Computing Technology Industry Associations (CompTIAs) A+ and its planned Network+ credentialsare created by groups of industry players for everyones benefit. These types of certifications are usually called vendor-neutral, to indicate that they stress general knowledge as opposed to detailed knowledge of some particular vendors proprietary products or technologies. Given that certification is good for vendors and employers alike, you might ask, "Whats in it for me?" Answering this question requires separating hype from reality. The vendors will tell you that their certifications are the keys to career success, if not liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Employers like certification credentials because they define measurable steps up job ladders, and because certifications make it easy for them to separate motivated, trained employees or job applicants from others. But, the marketplace decides what a certification is really worth. If you dont see the initials for some certification program anywhere in the classifieds, or if youve never even heard of that program, that might mean its not a very valuable credential. On the other hand, some of these seemingly innocuous strings of letters can be a ticket to a distinct improvement in your financial circumstances. However, certification is not cheap, easy, or free. This book should help you understand the details of the specific programs I cover, examine and evaluate other certification programs, and decide which ones are worthwhileand which ones to ignore. Interesting Certification Stats Today, technical training and certification is becoming an industry niche of its own. Like other such niches, it has its share of focused publications, including magazines like Inside Technology Training, Microsoft Certified Professional Magazine, The NetWare Connection, and numerous others. Industry analystslike the Gartner Group, IDC, and the Meta Group, among othersemploy analysts to track this market niche, just as they track other niches to look for trends, seek out revenue opportunities, and advise companies whether or not they should jump onto the training and certification bandwagon. Based on the reports from these various sources, the answer to "Is training and certification a worthwhile business activity?" appears to be a resounding "Yes!" Without trying to edit or analyze some of the reporting I uncovered when researching this topic, here are some interesting facts about certification programs that you might find surprising:  The total population of computer-certified individuals in the United States today numbers less than 2 million. By the year 2000, that number is expected to jump to over 5 million; by the year 2010, to over 20 million. These are the kinds of numbers that not only attract interest, but spur serious investment.  Many large companieslike Microsoft, Novell, Oracle, Cisco, and othersmake serious money from their training and certification programs. For the larger companies, Im talking hundreds of millions of dollars a year; for smaller companies, tens of millions of dollars annually. Not enough to dominate the bottom line, but more than enough to constitute a worthwhile investment.  Reports about the value of certificationespecially those from vendors (and if you poke around the vendor Web sites I mention, you can find plenty of these for yourself)stress ROI, or "Return on Investment," for certified employees. In English, this means theyre more productive, fix problems faster, and dont need to wait on hold as often for technical support because they can fix many problems themselves.  For individuals, certification can mean an increase in salary, or a better job elsewhere. The vendor Web sites for certification programs invariably include profiles of certification overachievers, called "Success Stories." Although its wise to take some of the claims (and dollar figures) with a grain of salt, theres no denying that certification can boost your bottom line, too. Most salary surveys show that certified technical staff earn at least 15 to 20 percent more than their uncertified counterparts. The only caveat Id add to this observation is that certification may get you in the door, but its what you know that will keep you on the job. Be sure to learn how to use what you know, or you wont be able to stay on the job very long. This means hands-on experience, which takes extra time and effort. I could go on with these amazing and wonderful statistics for quite some time, but hopefully, you get the idea: Certification is a growing market, and is creating opportunities for both certifiers and certificants. The devil is in the details, though, and thats what this book is supposed to help you with. So please, read on! About This Book This book consists of seven chapters, followed by an afterword and glossary. Chapter 1 covers certification programs in a bit more detail, and gives an overview of the six specific organizations I cover in Chapters 2 through 7. Starting with Microsofts various and sundry certifications, this book proceeds to explore Novells programs, followed by Oracles, then Ciscos, then CompTIAs, and concludes with a discussion of Suns Java certification programs. The afterword mentions some certification programs that you might find interesting but are not covered in this book. It also provides a question and answer section to help you gauge which of the programs I do cover might best fit your technical interests and experiences. The glossary contains definitions of the terms youll be introduced to throughout this book. Finally, the companion CD-ROM is a useful tool to use. Each chapter in this book follows a regular structure and offers graphical cues about especially important or useful material. In fact, its modeled on Certification Insider Presss popular Exam Cram series, which helps individuals prepare for most, if not all, of the certification exams mentioned in this book. Heres the structurewhich I follow slavishlyof the chapters:  Opening hot lists Each chapter begins with lists of the terms, tools, and techniques that you must learn and understand before you can be fully conversant with the chapters subject matter. I follow the hot lists with one or two introductory paragraphs to set the stage for the rest of the chapter. Here, youll find a brief description of the certification programs youre about to dive into, to help you get oriented.  Topical coverage After the opening hot lists, each chapter covers the various certification programs and exams that are the focus of that chapter. This includes an overview of the programs, including the number of tests, their costs, how much time youre allotted to take them, and so on. Then it covers each program individually. This includes overviews of the topics that are likely to appear in the qualifying exams, and comments on the format and contents of these exams.  Visual elements Within each chapter, I use visual elements to highlight particularly important or useful information about certification programs and exams. For instance, the Study Alert icon flags items of information that are particularly germane to the test-taking experience. This is what a Study Alert looks like. In a regular Exam Cram, a Study Alert stresses concepts, terms, software, or activities that will most likely appear in one or more certification test questions. In this book, however, they flag items that are particularly important to note or act upon relating to one or more certification tests. On the other hand, the Tip icon flags useful or helpful information that may or may not be test-related, but that is certainly worth noting, because it can save you time, money, or effort. This is what a Tip looks like. In a regular Exam Cram, a Tip points out a shortcut, a time-saving technique, or some other fact that will save you time or effort. In this book, the Tip flags information that might help make your certification experience cheaper, faster, or easier. Even if material isnt flagged as a Study Alert or a Tip, all the contents of this book are associated, at least tangentially, to something certification-related. This book is lean so that it can focus on explaining only the essential elements of these certification programs; youll find that what appears in the meat of each chapter is critical knowledge.  Details and resources Every chapter ends with a section titled "Need To Know More?". These sections provide direct pointers to the vendors or organizations certification program data, as well as pointers to third-party resources that offer further details on the certification program or programs covered in a chapter. In addition, this section tries to rate the quality and thoroughness of the topics coverage by each resource. If you find a resource you like in this collection, use it, but dont feel compelled to use all the resources. On the other hand, I recommend only resources I use on a regular basis, so none of my recommendations should waste your time or your money. The Roadmap To Certification Success CD-ROM This books companion CD-ROM, titled "The Roadmap To Certification Success," is a useful tool for any would be certificant. Narrated by me, Ed Tittel, this interactive CD-ROM explains the intricate details of certification programs in general and highlights most of the programs discussed in this book. It also explains Certification Insider Presss concept of Learn It!, Pass It!, Do It! by introducing its three seriesExam Prep, Exam Cram, and On Site. It also has sample test questions to show you what you can expect when you finally take a certification test. Spend some time with this CD-ROM to familiarize yourself with the numerous certification programs and their intricacies. How To Use This Book If youre interested in certification in general, and dont have a specific area of technical expertise or experience, you might want to read this book from cover to cover. Some of the material that I present, to do proper justice to the certification programs I cover, gets pretty technical. If you find yourself mystified by the terminology or concepts that I use to describe a certification program, chances are that youll find the technical material necessary to obtain that certification downright opaque. For that reason, you should feel free to skip any material that doesnt make sense to you. If you really want to get to the bottom of anything, though, you can always visit the vendors or organizations Web site to look for basic tutorials or to find information about introductory classes for a particular technology, product, or subject area. If you really want to learn any of this stuff, you can do it! Given all the books elements and its specialized focus, Ive tried to create a tool to help you review the various certification programs I cover, and to perform meaningful comparisons between these programs (thats one reason why Ive tried to make each chapter as consistent with the others as possible). I hope you can use it to help satisfy your curiosity about these programs, and to guide your progress into one or more of these certification areas. But I know I cant please everyone, nor can I represent all this information completely or perfectly in such a short book. Therefore, please share your feedback on the book with me, especially if you have ideas about how I can improve it for future readers. Ill consider everything you say carefully, and Ill respond to all suggestions. You can reach me via email at etittel@lanw.com. Please remember to include the title of this book in your message; otherwise, Ill be forced to guess which book youre making a suggestion about. Its also a good idea to list a page number that relates to your questions or comments. I dont like to guess. I want to KNOW what youre thinking! You should also visit Certification Insider Presss Web site at www. certificationinsider.com. I also maintain an Exam Cram Web site at www. lanw.com/examcram/. Thanks, and enjoy the book!