* Brocade certifications are lucrative, according to a new salary survey
Last December, CertMag published its annual survey of certifications that command top pay, and Brocade was the only company with three certifications listed in the top 10 (see Brocade’s press release). I spoke to the networked storage company’s education boss about what it takes to be Brocade certified and why the company’s certifications appear to be lucrative for some IT pros.
Last December, CertMag published its annual survey of certifications that command top pay, and Brocade was the only company with three certifications listed in the top 10 (see Brocade’s press release). I spoke to the networked storage company’s education boss about what it takes to be Brocade certified and why the company’s certifications appear to be lucrative for some IT pros.
Brocade runs three certification programs, Brocade Certified Fabric Professional (BCFP), Brocade Certified SAN Designer (BCSD) and Brocade Certified SAN Manager (BCSM). There are some 6,700 Brocade certified professionals in the world with the majority of them (65%) holding the BCFP seal, said Linda Moss, senior director, worldwide education services. Around 60% of Brocade certified pros are from the reseller and OEM communities, says Moss, with the remainder being from the user community.
Each certification program is aimed at certain job roles. BCFP is applicable to IT pros in operations or administration and certified individuals have demonstrated an ability to install, configure, and troubleshoot various Brocade products and exhibit proficiency in the intricacies of Brocade SilkWorm Switches, according to Brocade’s certification Web site.
Some 20% of Brocade’s certified professionals hold the BCSD designation which is aimed at systems architects, professional services people, and storage-area network designers. BCSD pros have a detailed understanding of SAN design as well as expertise in implementing complete SAN systems.
The remaining 15% of Brocade certified folks are BCSMs, and are people who are responsible for data management, data optimization and best practices, says Moss. This certification indicates an advanced understanding of administering Brocade SilkWorm Switches and managing the overall SAN implementation, and is based on the BCFP Certification, according to Brocade.
Moss says the certification exams are “pretty tough,” with the pass rate at between 60% and 70%. Training for the exams are based on blended learning and prerequisites for the BCFP and BCSM certifications are Fibre Channel knowledge or 6 months experience in a SAN environment, says Moss.
Moss said there are a lot of variables involved in salary surveys and believes that one of the reasons for Brocade’s position in the CertMag survey is because of the premiums the market is prepared to pay for the few execs who hold certs that are not as widely held as other more common certifications.
The company this year is planning to introduce education and certification programs in the new file-area network field. A FAN integrates hardware, software and services to organize and route file data or unstructured, data stored within a file system into a central database (see “FANs to leave SANs for dead” for more).
