Certify IT curriculums

For long, careers in software have been the only mantra for success. This despite the fact that software shelf life is sometimes lower than pickles and chips. This also despite the fact that overnight programmers become redundant and only 2per cent of those who qualify from the dream-selling institutes actually get the job of programmers. The time has come to balance out the importance of software and hardware education. Facts need to be told bluntly and future students need proper counselling. In order to make hardware engineering more accessible and remove myths about the complexity of hardware, well-known hardware vendors like IBM, Compaq and Digital have came together to support CompTIA (Computing Technology Industry Association) in evolving a uniform certification process.

The objective of CompTIA is to evolve and implement a certification for students who would like to pursue a career in hardware. This certification would be vendor independent, global and industry compatible. This objective has led to the development of A+ Certification in 1993. Today A+ certification is considered de facto recruitment standard for entry into the hardware and networking arena.

An A+ certificate is a testing process that broadly means that theindividual possessing this certification has the knowledge skills that transcend geographical boundaries. The test covers a broad range of hardware and software technologies. The popularity of A+ certification can be gauged from the fact that since its launch in 1993 as many as 1.2 lakh professionals had obtained A+ certifications till May 1999.

In order to keep pace with IT, a new certification called Network+ was added on April 30, 1999. This would test and measure the skills of networking professionals. It covers all major networking technologies including Windows NT, Novell NetWare, TCP/IP etc. This certification is supported by networking majors like 3Com, Banyan, Novell, ZD Education etc. Last fiscal, there was an installed base of around 40 lakh computers in the country. If we require one technician/engineer to maintain 50 machines, then we will require around 80,000 engineers. In addition, we will require people for assembling and marketing computers.

The task force set up by the governmentenvisages that the computer base will be around 2 crore by 2008 and we will require a staggering 4 lakh engineers. This opens opportunities in hardware and networking. But there is a need to balance this by equally qualified hardware technicians. Moreover, the country suffers from the lack of proper counselling to hardware engineering students. And there is no industry support to institutes who are engaged in training hardware engineering courses.

— The author is Chairman & MD, Jetking