Cisco describes its program as providing a commonly understood definition of expert-level technical knowledge and skill, the methods to evaluate that knowledge, and enhanced services for best-in-class engineers. In addition, Cisco tests candidates in a lab with products, using real-life scenarios and introduced faults. The technical content is balanced with higher-level skills. A methodology is introduced for determining requirements, optimizing availability and cost, assessing proprietary and open solutions, and estimating traffic.

The demands of campus design, WAN outsourcing, and the increasing demands of security, traffic integration and cost optimization are impossible to keep up with in the absence of guidance. That direction can come only from the individual, his or her employer, or an external entity. Which is more likely to be more objective, competent and cost-effective?

If network engineering presents challenges, corporate IS has an even more daunting task. The IS workload grows as much as, if not more than, network engineering's, and there is substantially less opportunity for standardization or outsourcing. One scenario I often face is the introduction of new technology and how to get the staff up to speed. Java represents the latest incarnation of this.

Learning from Sunup to Sundown Rapid development projects and object-oriented techniques have pushed design decisions that coders have to live with up to the requirements at the gathering and design stages. Designers need to know more than ever about the tools and techniques of programming, while we still need people who know and love coding. Sun's Java Certification Training Guide recognizes this and presents a handbook to Java proficiency that neither glosses over the subtleties of syntax nor elevates analysis while de-emphasizing the coding process.

Candidates that complete the Java Programming exam know the mechanics of the language and the various APIs. That's where most courses stop. What impressed me was that the Sun Java Developer certification built on the programmer's prerequisite and tested for knowledge of how Java's intricacies affect design patterns, as well as how complex problems can be modeled in Java. It also covered real-world requirements of object-oriented programming, RMI (Remote Method Invocation), creating APIs and deployment.

The difference between the manpower shortage and the Year 2000 problem is that at least the latter has a deadline. It's time to stop being complacent and demand results from the training process. Successful managers will seek out certification programs that produce graduates who are adaptable and well-grounded, as well as immediately productive. Successful vendors will replace some of the product-specific minutiae in their programs with objective, real-world, hands-on expertise. If you're still of the opinion that certification programs are totally irrelevant, I'd suggest applying the criticism to the individual program, not to the process.

Brian Walsh is the founder of bwalsh.com, a Portland, Ore., consulting firm specializing in Internet and client/server product strategies, development and testing. Send comments on this column to him at brian@bwalsh.com.