Network+ Certification for Not Yet Techies

Network+ certification comes from CompTIA. They designed the Network+ certification as a "vendor neutral" way of measuring the technical competence of networking professionals with "18 to 24 months experience in the IT industry." That last part can probably be ignored. If so many people can be MCSE certified without experience, you can pass the tests without experience.

This is not a criticism. Just a realistic expectation that people wishing to enter the networking field should not expect many companies to give them an entry-level job in networking and then let them wait one and a half to two years to get a basic foundation certification such as Network+ certification. Why should they hire somebody with no experience and no certification over somebody who at least has a tough to obtain piece of paper?

Network+ certification is designed to be foundation from which people can move onward and upward with vendor specific more difficult specifications such as MCSE and CNE. Before it, people entering the networking field had to immediately choose between going for one of those major certifications or the other. Now you can learn basic networking theory and practice without having to commit yourself to a major operating system.

Cross-Platform

The vendor-neutral aspect of Network+ certification is important in an industry defined by the business war over networking software between the older Novell and its CNE certification for NetWare and the newcomer Microsoft and its MCSE certification for NT and now Windows 2000. Plus, Linux has recently made the contest a three player game. Red Hat has introduced its RHCE certification.

Network+ certification therefore gives the beginner a chance to learn the basics of networking without having to take sides first.

From the listing of test subjects, it is apparent that there is a lot of overlap between Network+ certification content and the Networking Essentials exam that used to be part of Microsoft's MCSE exam requirements.

I cannot say that Microsoft discontinued the Networking Essentials exam because of the Network+ certification exam, but I would say that since Networking Essentials is no longer part of the MCSE 2000 exams and coursework, that makes it all the more important for anyone wishing to go into the networking profession but who does not yet know all the basics about TCP/IC, cables etc, should certainly make sure they buy a N+ textbook and possibly take a class in it -- and make sure they know the material well BEFORE spending the big bucks on an MCSE or CNE. Microsoft does support N+.

This could save you some time and money. If you cannot hack the CompTIA Network+ certification requirements, you can forget a networking career, because it only gets harder after that.

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