Actually, I've come to believe that the problem is not entirely as bad as it seems and the solution I propose may surprise you: Learn more about certification programs and make some certificates a requirement for your job applicants, as well as on project-resource descriptions and professional-service contracts. This is not to say that certification programs should replace hands-on experience--nothing can replace experience. But don't forget that there are plenty of people in the industry with lots of experience who are barely competent.

In the interim, staffing needs continue to grow unabated while the time available for candidate searches continues to shrink. You can--and should--rely heavily on hands-on training and past experience, but also look at worthwhile third-party benchmarks. They just might help.

No Blood From a Stone Nowadays, we are resigned to workloads and staff constraints in both corporate IS and internetworking, and doing more with less. I say that is impossible: No one can do more with less. Yes, you'll always find some people who dig in and get their hands dirty learning everything they can by doing, but beyond that, training can be key and certification programs are an objective way to scale the process past individuals and knowledge domains into a successful, repeatable system.

I know what you're thinking: "Why, I knew several CNEs and they weren't worth the time it took to interview them." Sure, you come across a candidate or two like this--I know I have. I don't mean to pick on the Novell or Microsoft programs, but they seem product-oriented and geared toward system administrators. Individuals who achieve a level of certification from these programs seem unable to map those skills to other products and often have to be substantially retrained in order to deal with new platforms or technologies. In addition, they appear to lack vision regarding any of the topics, as well as the depth required for even moderately advanced network design or analysis and development requirements.

However, I recently modified my opinion of professional certification programs after looking over some materials for Cisco's CCIE (Cisco Certified Internetwork Expert) and Sun's Java Developer exams. Both of these programs set fairly high standards with relevant topics. I was pleasantly surprised and impressed.

If you have the guts, you might even swallow your pride and try some of the certification programs yourself. It may take some work and you may be humbled, but it will help you better understand the technical capabilities of the staff in your particular environment, as well as the competencies proffered by the various certification processes.