I'll list a few examples here, for one of the leading top 3 IT management companies, much like IBM
Example 1:
We have 3 insurance companies merging. The Novell Netware v5.1 will be migrated to NT 2000, coupled with Domino migrated to Exchange Server 2000. Yes, people are moving to Microsoft for a one-stop-shop solution, even though Novell was more stable than NT, and Lotus Notes more robust and user friendly and versatible than MS Outlook. I'll get to the core issue. I worked on this contract, with another individual, who has only his A+ certification, was well versed in hardware, and had good people skills. No Bachelor's in Science, MCSA, MCSE, CCNA, or anything of the sort. I had to walk him through how to share a folder on the network, map the drive remotely, so we could back up the data, and later copy the data on new workstations, after we had finished ghosting them. Apparently, sharing a drive, mapping one, and doing peer to peer networking is brain surgery.
Example 2:
On another gig, I had to rollout a few 100 centrino enabled laptops. One of the individuals got canned in the first week, for lack of skill. No certifications whatsoever, however, a modest amount of working with computers but mostly with people was the case. This guy admitted operating his own landcaping business in the summer, with his own trucks, salesforce, etc. Apart from the technical failures demonstrated along the way, this guy had to make a call on his cell phone, while 2 of us were ghosting and customizing AutoCAD and similar apps, asking his pal on the phone, how to save a picture from a website, onto his local hard drive. You know how to right click on a picture on a website, and click SAVE PICTURE AS, pick a spot and press OK? This was brain surgery to him. Of course, a few days later (despite good human rapport skills) he was out.
Example 3:
Another individual I worked with, tried to do a
1 year IT program, but quit mid-way because he couldn't master the concepts, or hack it. That didn't stop him from getting hired on another contract that I did. Why ? Perhaps soft skills. This guy, one more time, had a sense of responsibility (as did the others) but very minimal, or null, technical skills. This dude turned out to be OK on the contract, but had no prior IT experience.Often people believe that A+ technicial work normally requires technical skills, right?
Example 4:
Finally, I did another contract, where the project manager, responsible for a 3 million dollar contract and managing the IT infrastructure, could not hope to pass a MCP exam, if his life depended on it. And this is not an exaggeration, as the field techs, had they required technical or Tier III or Tier II style knowledge, would have been dead in the water.
The CWNA is a technical achievement, obviously, but in IT, much like as McDonald's, if you can flip a burger, let the fries fall out of the plastic bag from the fridge into the cooker, and can press a lever to let the coffee cup fill up, then that's all you need to know to get and keep your job, as a quote unquote cook. In networking and computers, the lowest common denominator often is the case ... which is not a bad thing, until a job is bungled, the contract is bungled, jeopardized possibly, and another individual is brought in to mop up the mess.
The upshot here, is that employers, and even the project managers are not looking specifically or minimally for technical wizardry, but mostly, hiring people whose technical aptitudes are nil, but who have some experience and some demonstrated success in soft skills and in dealing with people.
Will wireless rollouts require people who are CWNA ? Or will project managers require that their technicans doing the rollouts be CWNA ? Nope! Already they don't need the A+ or the MCSA or Network+. Why would the CWNA be required any more ? Or MCSE ? CCNP ?
The problem, as I see it, is that the large IT management companies are arrogant, and purposely dumb down all operations in the field, with rollouts, and contracts and such. It's called the McDonald-ization of their IT staff and workforce.