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CompTIA Certifies Home Network Integrators

Posted by samzenpus on from the I'm-a-level-7-cable-connector dept.

prostoalex writes "Consumer Electronics Association and Computer Technology Industry Association introduced a new certification for individuals and companies installing home networks and connecting consumer electronics devices to a central PC: 'The certification is geared to individuals who install, integrate and maintain "smart" homes, in which the PC is the hub controlling lighting, security systems, audio-visual and digital entertainment gear, including home media centers.' The home networking market is predicted to grow at 20% a year globally."

7 of 56 comments (clear)

  1. It's official. I can wire X10. by lightversusdark · · Score: 5, Informative

    Did any new standard supplant X10 in this field?

    Isn't this basically an electrician with knowledge of niche product availability?

    I can't imagine this qualifies you to build and install a soffit-mounted machine and code up some custom serial control. That's a service I would pay for.

    --
    "There is nothing nice about Steve Jobs and nothing evil about Bill Gates." - Chuck Peddle
  2. CompTIA exams by transporter_ii · · Score: 4, Informative

    Got Network+ certified a couple of months ago. The actual test material isn't bad, and it covers a lot of networking fundamentals from a vendor neutral standpoint. I had heard they had really made the test a lot harder. Boy, if my test was hard, I would have hated to have seen the easy test. It seemed repetitive and all very easy, with a lot of port number questions, firewall questions, and basic TCP/IP utility questions, most of which I could have passed without hardly any actual study.

    Now, I see no reason to make it so hard that hardly anybody can pass (Cisco are you listening?), but it would be nice to have a test that reflected the study material a little better. All in all, I have had Brainbench exams that were much, much harder to pass.

    Transporter_ii

    --
    Doctors destroy health, lawyers destroy justice, universities destroy knowledge, religion destroys spirituality
  3. From the people who brought us the A+ cert by zoomshorts · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Are you serious? CompTIA is basically useless. I have seen far
    too many of their 'certified' people be nothing more than paper tigers. They have
    a piece of paper and that is all.

    Their paper is suitable for lining bird cages.

    ATTENTION HUMAN RESOURCES - CompTIA training is a joke. Rinse, repeat.

    1. Re:From the people who brought us the A+ cert by Simulant · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I agree that most certs are generally meaningless to most tech savvy people. I would never rely on a cert as an indicator of ability and would probably be suspicious. But... if one were, say, to go into business as a "Home Network Specialist" the average, not so technically inclined customer might feel comforted to see some sort of certification on your business card.

      Given that the market shows promise and I that can probably handle most of the tech involved with my eyes closed, I am seriously consider dropping out of the corporate rat race and starting up a little business helping normal people with the tech they have at home. May take the test myself just for marketing purposes.

  4. Re:I coulda used someone with that cert by fastgood · · Score: 3, Funny

    One cert makes you an "Agent" at the Best Buy store, and I actually got a phone call from someone who identified themselves as a "double Agent" ... I never figured out if it meant they worked on Macs too, or something else.

  5. How certifications work by transporter_ii · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Ok, I snagged this from a Slashdot post a while back, author unknown:

    Assume there are 2 people up for a job:

    (1) If neither has the experience and one has the certification, the one with the certification wins.
    (2) If one has the experience and no certification and other has no experience but a certification, the person with experience wins.
    (3) If both have the same experience and only one has the extra certification, the one with the certification wins.
    (4) If both have the same certifications and the same experience, the one who is cheaper wins.
    (5) If both have certifications and neither has any experience, the one who talks better wins.
    (6) If neither has any certifications or experience, the one who looks better wins.

    Transporter_ii

    --
    Doctors destroy health, lawyers destroy justice, universities destroy knowledge, religion destroys spirituality
  6. Cisco.... by HockeyPuck · · Score: 3, Funny

    I for one can't wait for my CCIE:Linksys.

    In the sprit of CCIE: R&S (Routing and Switching)... one would have to know indepth the common protocols used in the house to include (but not limitted to) at the frame/packet level:

    Ethernet.
    TCP/IP
    UDP
    Netbios
    CIFS
    BitTorrent
    Various streaming audio/video protocols.
    PPOE..

    It shall be in the style of the "old CCIE:R&S" exams, which had a TWO day lab, in which if you failed the first day, you didn't come back the second day. Additionally, while setting up the gear, you will have to contend with a crying baby, a large dog that wants to play, a husband that "thinks he knows it more than you" and a housewife that says you charge too much.