IT in Tough Times: The Best Wireless Certifications

Today on TIP: Top 5 Wireless Certifications for IT Pros and CompTIA Creates Executive IT Certificate Program.

In his latest article for Tom's IT Pro, IT certification and training expert Ed Titttel reports on the top wireless certifications for IT pros. As Ed notes, if there’s one area in networking that bubbles to the top, it has to be wireless.

"Though networking of all kinds remains a white-hot IT concern and technology area, nothing could be hotter than wireless or mobile technologies for everything from local area networking with 802.11ac on the way in, to the widespread proliferation and adoption of fourth generation (4G) wireless wide area networking technologies like WiMAX and LTE," he writes.

This made it difficult for Ed to pick only five wireless networking certifications. So, as Ed explains, "the five that we cite in this story represent just a small sample of the large number of wireless IT certifications available in today’s marketplace, so be prepared to venture beyond our suggestions as your inclinations and proclivities may dictate!"

See here to get the full story.

Today, in the latest post to Ed's Tom's IT Pro Making It in IT training and certification blog, Ed addresses a news slate of certificates from CompTIA for executives.The Executive Certificate Program is for Cloud Computing, Healthcare IT, and other hot IT topics.

Ed says interested readers should point their execs to the training classes and certificate info linked in the topic list outlined in the article. "One of your execs might catch fire, and give you the chance to spearhead a foray into new lines of technical business activity," he explains.

Click here to check out the full article.

In another recent article, Ed comments on Global Knowledge (a large and well-recognized training and certification company) newsletter entitled “IT Roles Facing Extinction.”

He addresses points made in the newsletter regarding the future of IT in the modern workplace. As Ed notes, some IT roles face extinction while others are set to expand.

Ed also speaks to the key skills today and tomorrow's IT pros should posses and seek out, and outlines the kinds of IT jobs that are moving up or expanding as a result of the changing landscape. On the flipside, Ed presents the types of IT positions that are moving down or contracting as well.

See here to get the full story.

Previously, Ed presented the most sought-after Help Desk and Technical Support certifications. As Ed points out, Technical support and help desk positions are (and will remain) traditional entry points into IT for many people.

"When it comes to help desk positions, there are a small number of certificate and certification programs that focus more or less exclusively on the help desk function, and the various job roles it supports," Ed writes. "A greater number of credentials that style themselves as verifying technical support skills are also available, where most such credentials focus on particular sets of vendor platforms and products."

Ed lays out a mix of such credentials in his list of leading help desk certifications. Click here to get the full story.

Not too long ago, Ed also addressed the top certifications for Project Managers in an article for Tom's IT Pro. As Ed explains, "If there’s one set of soft skills that has remained high on the IT radar for the past five years and more, to the point where they’ve become almost as sought-after and every bit as valuable as other top-level credentials, that has to be project management."

A project management certification has become a very valuable “merit badge” credential for all types of  IT pros. Why? Because it enhances and expands on the value of just about any other type of technical credential

With the publication of Training Options for IT Pros, also by Ed, Tom’s IT Pro launched an important series of articles that tackle a subject close to the heart of information technology professionals, that of IT training and certification. Especially in the current economy, training and certification increase the marketability of IT pros, leading to greater job mobility and opportunities to do the most interesting work.

The article, which Ed updated for 2012, provides a comprehensive overview of what 35 IT training companies do and how well they do it. It includes several quick-read tables to assist busy IT pros looking to increase their knowledge and advance their careers. The tables grade and describe training providers that cover most subject areas as well as those that are vendor or niche specific, such as those that are focused on information security, forensics and more.

Another article in the series focuses on the growing importance of IT-related Cloud Computing certifications to IT professionals. After all, the Cloud has become a permanent fixture for companies and organizations around the world over the last five years. So it behooves the ambitious IT pro to, at the least, investigate the Cloud Computing credentials available to them.

There's also an article that presents some essential certification options for IT trainers. Certified trainers provide materials and instruction that guarantee successful results for IT pros. These certifications  fall under  “trainer training” or “training certification,” as  these credentials seek to identify those capable of instructing IT certification candidates in a real or virtual classroom setting.

Of late, Ed has also examined the Top 5 IT Certifications in Healthcare, Top Programming Certifications for IT Pros, Top Virtualization Certs for IT Pros and the Top 5 Computer Forensics Certifications, 

The first of these presents some essential certification options for health IT workers. As Ed explains, with the rising interest in Healthcare IT, there are numerous certifications targeted specifically at health IT workers. He adds, "it’s reasonable to expect this number to grow, both in terms of sponsoring organizations and in the number of credentials on offer, in the years ahead."

The last covers the often convoluted world of computer forensic and digital investigation programs and certifications, while in the previous article, Ed points out how virtualization skills and knowledge, and by extension virtualization certifications, are good for any IT professional who works with systems, networks or IT infrastructure or architecture to pursue.

Additional articles delve more deeply into specific subject areas such as security, networking, system administration, programming, forensics, database, ERP and so on. There is also a sub-series that focuses on evergreen certifications, as well as articles covering DIY certification programs, online and classroom training, never-fail exam tune-ups, getting the best bang for your IT certification dollars, finding the best exam prep courses and, of course, how to plan a brilliant certification career.

James Alan Miller is Managing Editor of Tom's IT Pro. He is a veteran technology journalist with over seventeen years of experience creating and developing magazine and online content. Founding editor of numerous business and enterprise computing sites at the internet.com network, James headed up the After Hours section at PC Magazine, as well as hardware and software sections of various Windows publications.

See here for all Tom's IT Pro articles written by James.

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