Cross-Platform
The i-Net+ certification was designed by CompTIA to be a cross-platform foundational certification for anyone considering an Internet career. It covers a lot of territory, and it's unclear to me how helpful it is, precisely because it does cover so much territory. Everything from TCP/IC stacks to HTML to e-commerce standards.
Trouble is, web server administrators don't generally design web sites and web site designers don't generally manage databases of customers or coordinate online credit card processing.
Although certifications are very big in the IT industry, and the Internet has become a major part of the IT industry, and Internet certifications seem to be a logical development, there are in fact no widely recognized Internet certifications. Novell and Prosoft have both come out with a full set of Internet certifications, but neither one is generally recognized. It must be vexing both companies that most people still learn to design web sites and get jobs or business, by simply doing it.
Both Novell and Prosoft Internet programs contain a large number of tracks and tests covering different aspects of working with the Internet, from running a server to programming a Java applet. The i-Net+ certification attempts to cover all those areas with just one test. There is no way it could be comprehensive on the many areas it covers.
|
Standard disclaimer: Whether or not any certification is "worth it" is an individual decision. You alone must decide what your career goals and needs are. Look at certifications from a cost/benefit or Return On Investment (ROI) basis. If they help you get a better paying job or make more money at your current job, they are obviously "worth it." The problem is, there is no real way of measuring how much you can expect your income to go up as a result of any given certification. It also depends on non-related job search skills such as how well you network. |
According to CompTIA, people in or seeking the following jobs could benefit from the i-Net+ certification:
That's a broad range of skill-sets.
To be fair, this is designed to be only an entry-level certification. Also, as a lifetime generalist-type, I think it would be good for all Internet professionals to have a basic knowledge of other specialties. It's probably good for web designers to know something about TCP/IP stacks. However, I suspect that few employers care about this.
How many people get hired as a general Internet expert? Not many, I'm sure. Most people are hired as database specialists or web site developers etc.
If you want to go into an Internet-related area -- and this is certainly a good idea, long term, despite the recent crash of the dot com boom -- the i-Net+ would be a good place to go to get a broad overview of what's available. After that, you must specialize.