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Emerging IT skills, trends and certifications for 2010
Linda Leung

November 2009

"When it comes to developing new certification paths, Cisco is guided by technologies that are established enough to be a part of a network pro's job function, and the findings from a June 2008 Forrester survey titled "Closing the IT Network Skills Gap." Of the IT managers surveyed, 65% indicated that within the next five years, technical certification would be somewhat or absolutely critical in determining whether an individual should be assigned responsibilities in network operations or central data center roles.

The result is two new Cisco data center certifications whose exams will be available in December. Fred Weiller, director of marketing for Learning@Cisco says the prerequisites for Cisco Data Unified Computing Design Specialist and Data Center Unified Computing Support Specialist Data Center Unified Computing Specialist signal the first time that a Cisco certification requires the passing of a non-Cisco exam. Candidates must hold the VMware VCP certification, among other prerequisites. Weiller says Cisco is in talks with other virtualization vendors to include their certifications.

In January, Cisco is expected to select the first group of individuals who will go through the Cisco Certified Architect accreditation process. Applications for the process will open in December. This new certification was announced in June and sits above the already tough CCIE program. Candidates are required to hold the CCIE sister certification, Cisco Certified Design Expert (CCDE), which is still in its infancy. Since the pool of candidates is small (currently, only about 20 people hold the CCDE), Weiller says the number of individuals selected will be in the single digits. Cisco likens the certification to a PhD because it's an advanced designation and because candidates are required to define and defend a network blueprint to a panel of experts, similar to how Ph.D. candidates defend their thesis. Candidates are not judged on their knowledge of Cisco technologies but how well their network blueprints address business objectives, and their ability to communicate this at the face-to-face interview with the judges."

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