Professional certification (Computer technology)

A Professional certification in the Computer technology field is a designation earned by a person to assure that he/she is qualified to perform a job or task.

Certifications, generally, need to be renewed periodically, or may be valid for a specific period of time (e.g. the life-time of the product upon which the individual is certified). As a part of a complete renewal of an individual's certification, it is common for the individual to show evidence of continual learning — often termed continuing education — or earning continuing education units (CEU).

Certification is often used in the professions of software engineering and information technology.

The most successful certification programs are oriented toward specific technologies, and are managed by the vendors of these technologies. These certification programs are tailored to the institutions that would employ people who use these technologies. (Vendor Specific Certifications)

* Apple Inc. sponsors the Apple certification program [http://train.apple.com/certification/]
* Cisco Systems sponsors the Cisco Career Certifications program
* Citrix Systems sponsors the Citrix Certified Administrator program
* Hewlett-Packard sponsor the HP-CP certifications related to HP Technologies [http://www.hp.com/certification/]
* Dell sponsors the Dell Certified Systems Expert program with Associate and Master levels [http://dcse.dell.com]
* GIAC, security certifications. [http://www.giac.org/certifications/]
* IBM sponsors certifications [http://www.ibm.com/certify]
* Juniper Networks sponsors the Juniper Networks Technical Certification Program [http://www.juniper.net/training/certification/]
* LANDesk sponsors the Certified LANDesk Administrator and Certified LANDesk Engineer program
* Microsoft Corporation sponsors the Microsoft Certified Professional program
* MySQL sponsors a certification program [http://www.mysql.com/certification/]
* Nortel sponsors the Nortel Certifications program
* Novell sponsors a certification program
* Object Management Group sponsors the [http://www.omg.org/uml-certification/index.htm Certified Professional program] for the Unified Modeling Language
* Oracle Corporation sponsors the Oracle Certification Program
* Red Hat sponsors the Red Hat Certification Program
* Sun Microsystems sponsors the Sun Certified Professional program
* Sybase sponsors the Certified Sybase Professional program
* VMware sponsors certification programs (VCP & VCDX) [http://mylearn.vmware.com/portals/certification/]
* Zend Technologies sponsors the Zend Certified Engineer program

Third-party commercial organizations and vendor neutral interest groups that sponsor certifications include:
* [http://www.bsdcertification.org/ The BSD Certification Group Inc.] A non-profit organization committed to creating and maintaining a global certification standard for system administration on BSD based operating systems.
* [http://www.techfluency.org Basic Computer Literacy Certification]
* [http://www.xmlmaster.org/en/ XML Certification Program - XML Master]
* [http://www.ecertifications.com eCertifications]
* Certiport sponsors the Microsoft Office Specialist and IC3 certification (Internet and Computing Core).
* CompTIA (Computing Technology Industry Association) CompTIA offers 12 professional IT Certifications, validating foundation-level IT knowledge and skills.
* European Computer Driving License-Foundation sponsors the European Computer Driving License (also called International Computer Driving License) (ICDL)
* [http://www.expertrating.com ExpertRating]
* International ICT Council
* ISC2 sponsors the CISSP security certification
* Linux Professional Institute
* NACSE (National Association of Communication Systems Engineers) sponsors 36 Vendor Neutral, knowledge specific, Certifications covering the 5 major IT Disciplines which are: Data Networking, Telecomm, Web Design & Development, Programming & Business Skills for IT Professionals.
* Planet3 Wireless sponsors the Certified Wireless Network Administrator (CWNA) certification [http://www.cwnp.com/index.html]
* Prosoft Learning Corporation offers CIW, CCNT, CTP, AssessPrep certification tracks. [http://www.prosoftlearning.com/default.asp Prosoft Learning]
* SAGE (organization) sponsors the cSAGE program
* SANS Institute operates the Global Information Assurance Certification program
* Storage Networking Industry Association (SNIA) sponsors the SNIA Certification Program [http://www.snia.org]

General certification of software practitioners has struggled. The ACM had a professional certification program in the early 1980s, which was discontinued due to lack of interest. Today, the IEEE is certifying software professionals, but only about 500 people have passed the exam by March 2005.

* The IEEE Computer Society sponsors the Certified Software Development Professional as well as membership designations, "Senior" and "Fellow" which reflect experience and peer review qualification.
* The IET sponsors the Chartered Engineer and Incorporated Engineer, which can be ratified into the European EngineerFact|date=August 2007
* The BCS sponsors the Chartered IT Professional (CITP) programme.
* The Institute for the Certification of Computing Professionals sponsors the Certified Computing Professional (CCP) and Associate Computing Professional (ACP) certifications
* The BDPA IT Institute sponsors the BDPA IT Associate (BITA), the BDPA IT Professional (BITP), and the BDPA IT Master (BITM) certifications
* The Canadian Information Processing Society sponsors the Information Systems Professional certification in Canada.
* The American Institute of Certified Public Accountants sponsors the Certified Information Technology Professional program.

Information systems security

In an information systems environment that requires formal security accreditation, "Certification" refers to the comprehensive evaluation of the technical and non-technical security features of an information system.

Certification is formally defined by Krutz and Vines as:cquote
The comprehensive evaluation of the technical and non-technical security features of an information system and the other safeguards, which are created in support of the accreditation process to establish the extent to which a particular design and implementation meets the set of specified security requirements.

Criticisms

The current proliferation of IT certifications (both offered and attained)Fact|date=May 2007 has led some technologists to question their value. Proprietary content that has been distributed on the Internet allows some to gain credentials without the implied depth or breadth of expertise. Certifying agencies have responded in various ways: some now incorporate hands-on elements, anti-cheating methodologies or have expanded their content. Others have expired and restructured their certificate programs, and/or raised their fees to deter abuse.

See also

* Professional certification
* Certified Social Engineering Prevention Specialist
* OPSA
* OPST
* Organizational Systems Security Analyst (OSSA)