Cross-Vendor
ICCP stands for Institute for Certification of Computer Professionals. It was founded way back in 1973 to promote high standards among computer professionals, explicitly by certifying them.
As most everybody knows, certification is very in thing among the IT industry now. Simply training people to become MCSEs, CNEs etc is a now a big business that employs a fair number of people in and of itself.
However, you may be thinking that things weren't always this way - if you were around any time from 1973 to the early 90s, certification was a non-issue. You had a computer science degree or you just told the employers what you could. You either cut the mustard or you got canned.
So where was the ICCP for its first 20 years. Believe it or not, they were certifying computer professionals. It is true, however, that certification did not take off until Novell introduced the CNE. So it really is the vendor certifications which have fueled the popularity of certifications.
However, the ICCP can still offer you something important. The vendor certifications have the strength of forcing you to learn that particular software or hardware, but say nothing about your overall professional abilities, or whether you could handle other software or hardware. The ICCP certifies your overall ability as an IT professional.
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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. |
The ICCP offers two certifications, the first for beginners. The second for experienced pros.
The ACP is intended for everyone just entering the IT industry. Whether you're a recent college graduate or changing careers later in life. Let's face it, even if you just graduated from college with good grades, that's not proof positive you can do the job. And if you're a career changer, especially self-taught, all a prospective employer has is your word you can do the job.
If you can't, it's a bummer to fire you. With so many wrongful termination lawsuits going on these days, employers want to be more and more sure that someone will work out before hiring them.
That's the value of the ACP certification. You don't get it without passing the tests. Dozing through class and faking your final exams won't cut the mustard. Neither will exaggerating what you learned from that book.
To obtain the ACP certification, you must pass two examinations. The first is the "core" exam, which tests your overall IT knowledge, the questions covering the IT industry's Common Body of Knowledge as established by the Test Councils of the ICCP.
The second ACP requirement is to pass an exam on a specific programming language. The languages covered by ICCP exams are:
This language requirement is probably why you don't see many career changers seeking this ACP certification. Computer programming is a tough entry after you are past the normal age of college graduation, so most career changers get steered to the networking arena, or steer themselves there.
So how many people in mid-life, already knocked out by the A+ and MCSE etc exams they're studying for, have the time and energy to learn one of these programming languages, just so they can pass this certification?
Few to none. C and C++ are about the only ones with real career potential, and few to none employers want middle aged C programmers.
These are massive languages, too. They take years of classes to master. As a current computer science major (who hates learning C++) told me, "They make us learn C++ because they know that if we can learn that language, we can learn anything."
All well and good for college students who have yet to learn how tough it'll get in real life - but not convenient for someone laid off their prior job who just wants to get started networking so they're drawing a paycheck again.
The second certification is the CCP. This is certainly not an entry-level paper certification, since you must have at least four years of experience in the IT industry before you are allowed to take the examination.
To earn the CCP, you must pass the Core exam plus two specialty exams.
The subjects of the specialty exams are:
Complete outlines of the subjects on the core exam and of the specialized tests are available on the ICCP web site.
I do wish I could report positively on the usefulness of the ACP certification for mid-life career changers. If they could come up with a specialty examination for networking technologies, they would be doing a great service.
As it is, I do think the ACP certification is valuable for recent college graduates.
The CCP certification is worthwhile and valuable. If you have been in IT at least four years, you should check it out. Though it's probably a certification to get on top of your vendor-specific certifications, not in place of them.