Happy new year for everyone. We are in 2007 now. And our new year?s resolution is to ?be better?. This includes all aspects of life not only professional ones.

One year ago, I read an article called ?CertCities.com?s 10 Hottest Certifications for 2006?. Becky Nagel, the article writer who was hired to create CertCities.com in 2000, tried to predict the hottest certification in the year 2006. Before stating the top ten that were predicted we need to state the facts upon which the list was made; ?The more established a title becomes, the harder it is for the certification to make this list.?, ?This is a list of 10 certs, which can make the numbering slightly confusing when there?s a tie.?, and ?We?re not perfect.? These were the three facts set free before the list was announced. And the list was as follows:

#10: Linux Professional Institute Certification, Level 2 (LPIC 2)

#9: Systems Security Certified Practitioner (SSCP)

#8: MCSE: Security

#7 Cisco Certified Network Professional

#6: Cisco Certified Internetwork Expert

#4 (TIE): Cisco Certified Security Professional (CCSP), Project Management Professional (PMP)

#3: Microsoft Certified Architect

#2: Microsoft Certified Technical Specialist: SQL & .NET

#1: Red Hat Certified Engineer

And yes there was no #5. This is because there was a tie in the #4, so as the title is Hottest 10 not Hottest 11, there was no #5.

The RHCE is indeed a good certificate. And its exam is, as I see it, the most professional exam. But I do not think it was the big hit of 2006. Microsoft Certified Technical Specialist: SQL & .NET also took a big share of the programming certification market. Perhaps Microsoft Certified Architect did not take the big share that was expected but its gaining more and more. CCSP did become a hit last year and is expected to grow more important this year.

PMP also grew important and MCSE too. CCIE is getting better too. But perhaps CCIEs that are not in ?Routing and Switching? will grow more important, as I think. A sure thing is CCIE in Voice will be important as we move more and more towards Voice over IP.

CNNP, as I see it, was the hottest certificate in 2006. CCNA took the lead for a good amount of time through the past few years. But CCNP, being the next step to CCNA, is taking the lead now. CCNP, especially after the changes made to it, is expected to grow more this year.

SSCP, being one of the best security certificates, did not take the rule it should have in the past year. I personally expected it to be more known in 2006, but it did not. And LPIC2 did not become a big thing in the past year too. Maybe Linux+, as a starter certificate, and RHCE, as a more professional certificate, will eat the Linux-Unix market.

I believe that we should be moving more towards vendor-independent certifications. You might ask why? The answer is that the vendor-independent certifications are more biased towards the academic degrees. And going into this direction would lead us one day to create an integrated academic-professional certificates that would give students more professional experience and good academic knowledge.

The certifications I expect to become more popular in 2007 are:

CWSP (Certified Wireless Security Professional from Planet3)

CWNA (Certified Wireless Network Administrator)

CCNP (Cisco Certified Network Professional)

Sun Certified JAVA Developer

CCVP (Cisco Certified Voice Professional)

C|EH (Certified Ethical Hacker)

Thank you for writing a comment