MCNE candidates now require CompTIA certification

For the first time that I can remember, getting a Novell certification might require you to take an exam on non-Novell material, devised by a group other than Novell education employees.

The new requirements for the Master Certified Novell Engineer (MCNE – required for those wishing to be resellers of Novell technologies) stipulate that you must also acquire the Computing Technology Industry Association’s (CompTIA https://www.comptia.com/) IT Project+ certification.

IT Project+ is, in essence, a certification for project managers that CompTIA claims is vendor neutral. Technology vendor neutral, certainly since technology isn’t part of the curriculum.

It would seem that good project management skills were important for someone who will be consulting with you about the implementation of your network and its services. Whether or not this particular test is the best way to prove the consultant’s skills, though, remains up in the air. The test itself is only available in English at the present time and, I’m told, its very “American idiomatic” in tone. Even those fluent in British, Australian or South African English might have trouble understanding the questions.

I may be a bit biased in my assessment because I don’t believe certification testing is the best way to judge someone’s technical ability and even less so as a way to judge someone’s management ability. While I may have a good theoretical understanding of project management as well as a grasp of the workings of NetWare, it’s my reaction to a server crash or to a glitch in the project that should be of most interest to a potential employer or client.

You should also note that beginning this June the CompTIA Network+ certificate will be a requirement for CNE, CAN and CNI certification from Novell (currently it’s optional as a substitute for the Novell Networking Technologies exam). I suppose I should say “Bravo!” that Novell is moving away from proprietary skills to more generally accepted practices, but it does give the appearance of a slippery slope towards no more Novell certifications.

Nevertheless, I know that certification is with us to stay, at least for the foreseeable future. I know that in the current economy the more certs you have the better your chances for employment. But I would remind potential employers and consulting clients that the only real thing a certification tells you about the certificate holder is that they could successfully take a test. Devise other means of discovering whether or not the certificate holder actually knows the subject you’re talking about.