While I wholeheartedly agree that the numbers aren't mutually exclusive -- one individual may hold more than one Microsoft certification, or may hold a certification from Microsoft and Cisco, and so on -- the key issue is that these are numbers the vendors are actually proud of, as witnessed by Cisco's press release when it hit the 1 million mark.

Should vendors be pleased with those numbers, or should they report only the number of certifications that are currently valid? From a marketing standpoint, it sounds good to say X-number of administrators are certified by your program -- never mind if those administrators certified 15 years ago on a platform that has since lost support. From an administrator's standpoint, however, it's better to compete against those who have the same exact certifications as you and to stand out from those who have antiquated certifications.

Arguably, creating new titles is one solution (we're moving from "engineer" to "architect," and I'm guessing "draftsman" isn't too far down the road). By creating a new title, you immediately start with zero certification holders, and then only those with current skills will hold the title. One drawback to this approach, though, is generating enough market education -- particularly among hiring managers -- of the new certification.

I would think that a better solution is to simply strike from the record all old certifications. A Microsoft Certified Trainer (MCT) can't be an MCT if their skills aren't kept up-to-date, so why shouldn't the same be true of all other certifications? This would require an expiration date to be affixed to all certifications, not just the ones which currently implement it.

Codes of Conduct
There seems to be a trend afoot to create or refine codes of ethics for all professions. CompTIA has one of the most succinct ethics policies that I'm aware of; instead of belaboring the point ad infinitum, the company takes a difficult topic and condenses it rather pithily.

Now, while CompTIA doesn't publish numbers for all of its good-for-life certifications, it does so for three:

• The A+ certification, which has been around since 1993, has awarded over 700,000 certifications.
• Network+, which has been around since 1999, has awarded over 180,000 certifications.
• Security+, which has been around since 2002, has awarded over 45,000 certifications.

That means that over 925,000 people have agreed to CompTIA's conduct policy. Of those, I can't help but wonder what percentage actually read the policy beforehand versus how many merely agreed to whatever was presented to them for the sake of getting the certification. How many of those certified are unaware of the policy's existence -- or that they've even agreed to it?

And, perhaps most importantly, what's the penalty if those policies aren't adhered to? If you disclose confidential client information, does a representative from CompTIA show up at your office and revoke your good-for-life certificate? What if you bought the coffee mug with the logo on it -- do they take it back, too?

A Look at the Sun Certified Enterprise Architect Certification
One of the more interesting certifications from Sun is the Sun Certified Enterprise Architect (SCEA), an upper-level certification aimed at those working with Java EE-compliant applications. What makes it interesting is the way you go about obtaining it.

To become certified, you're required to do a number of things:

• Pass the requisite testing-center exam (CX-310-052: Sun Certified Enterprise Architect for the Java Platform, Enterprise Edition 5). Administered through Prometric, you have 120 minutes to answer 64 multiple-choice and drag-and-drop questions and get 57 percent correct to pass. The cost is $200.
• Pass an assignment exam (CX-310-301A). After passing the testing-center exam, you download an assignment directly to your computer and then have 12 months to complete it. There are several parts to the exam and you must get 71 percent of the assignment correct in order to pass. The cost is $250.
• After successfully completing the first two requirements, return to a Prometric testing center and take an essay exam (CX-310-062). The exam consists of eight questions based on your assignment and you have 90 minutes to answer them. The cost is $200.

What I like most about this approach is that it's broken into three completely different parts, with a hands-on component to weed out those who only have knowledge-based skills from those who can actually apply what they know.

New Novell Linux Certifications
Novell recently rolled out one new Linux certification: Certified Linux Desktop Administrator (CLDA), and is expected to soon go live with Certified Linux Administrator (CLA), as well. Both consist of a single exam on SUSE Linux Enterprise 10 that's administered through either Prometric or VUE testing centers. The exam numbers are 050-708 and 050-710 (not yet available), respectively.

The CLDA focuses on SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 10. Test objectives can be found here.

The CLA focuses on SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10. The test objectives aren't posted yet, but the exam will focus on topics taught in Novell's 3071 and 3072 courses, the objectives for which can be found here and here, respectively.

Book of the Week: 'Cisco Networkng Simplified'
While there have always been books about how things (computers, machines, etc.) work, it wasn't until a few years ago that many of those moved away from a school-aged audience and toward adults. One of the first in that genre I can recall was the old Ziff Davis series for which Ron White wrote many of the entries -- How Computers Work, How Software Works and so on.

The newly updated Cisco Networking Simplified, Second Edition is a hybrid. While the text is written for adult readers, the graphics alternate between four-color versions -- similar to what you'd see in a standard Cisco Press book -- and more cartoonish pictures. As I read through the book, I found myself wishing that the editors picked one format and stuck with it. The flow of the content is great and I'd like to see more of these books in the future, but after I'm done reading it, I'd like to know whether to pass it down to my son or put it on the reference shelf.

More information on the title, including some sample pages (without the cartoonish images), can be found here.