CCIA Certification, is it worth the effort?

DATE: April 30th 2010

Well the short answer, is no. Just because someone does not possess a CCIA certfication doesn't mean they are not capable of designing a Citrix solution. As long as they have the relevant experience of designing solutions, it shouldn't really matter about any certifications. There's a lot of people without certifications in Citrix technology providing excellent levels of consultancy, engineering and support skills around the world, so it follows, these people shouldn't really be penalised just because they don't have the certifications even though they have plenty of actual real world experience.

Partners value CCIA certification

Over the years, I have realised the only people interested in the value of certifications from Citrix are the partners who need to have accredited staff so they can keep their own partner accreditation up to date. None of the customers of the Citrix partners really show much interest in the certifications held by the consultants and other staff employed by the partners.

Without accredited staff, not only would these partners lose potential partner status and/or level, but this would also result in them losing discounts attainable for Citrix products which can be based on their partner level. For these partners it's critical staff are accredited, as it means they could lose out on potential revenue, if the cost of Citrix products and licenses increases.

CCIA doesn't mean all round knowledge

I've met many people who hold CCIA certifications and I've been appalled at their lack of basic IT knowledge, it's as though they only know what they've learnt in a course and can't logically think about problems outside of this.

Understanding networking and interconnectivity between systems seems to be missing in the knowledge of many and this shows when trying to develop solutions.

Documenting solutions is also an issue I see with many people, who do not know how to document correctly, especially for a wider audience and instead end up producing overly technical documentation which has little appropriate detail or merit.

Presentation is the key and producing designs which can be understood by a projects many stakeholders is essential in ensuring, the design meets the requirements agreed. Otherwise the technical solution produced may not meet the expectations of the business and deliver little in value except problems in support.

CCIA is not an architectural framework

CCIA is not an architectural framework instead it includes both a hands-on technical knowledge requirement and an understanding of deployment best practices in current IT architecture environments.

These two requirements of hands-on knowledge and deployment best practises, make the CCIA more project orientated.

Citrix Consultants lapsed certifications

My own experiences working with other Citrix Consultants also leans towards not holding certifications, as many of the consultants I meet or work with, don't have any Citrix accreditations or have lapsed accreditations, with the majority also having no inclination towards attaining certification.