Citrix Certifications Somewhat Rationalized At Last

For years I’ve written about and covered various Citrix certifications, so I’ve spent my fair share of time on the Citrix Web pages and on the phone with Citrix Education trying to nail down what’s available to whom, how much things cost, how long they take to complete, and yada yada yada. Upon my most recent visit to the Citrix Certifications pages, I’m very pleased to report that the company has reorganized and rearranged their look and feel, and has made them somewhat easier to explore (though it still has some way to go in terms of making them equally easy to access and understand).

This screenshot captures the basic layout and tab structure:

Pick your certs by category (Admin, Engineer, Architect) and go on from there

Here’s what you’ll find for each category:

• Administrator Series (CCA: notice further tabs for Desktops, Servers, and Networks)
  Offerings also make specific mention of XenDesktop 4, XenApp6, XenApp 5 for Windows Server 2008, XenApp 5 for Windows Server 2003, EdgeSight 4, Passord Manager 4, XenApp 5, XenServer Enterprise Edition 4 and 5, Provisioning Server 5, XenServer 4 and 5, NetScaler 8 and 9, Access Gateway 4, 8 and 9 Enterprise Edition, WANScaler 4, and finally, Application Firewall 8, with Platinum versions for some platforms mentioned, and even a Citrix Certified Advanced Administrator, or CCAA, for XenApp 5 for Windows Server 2008 is included under the Desktop tab. Whew, what a tangle dangles from the CCA moniker!
• Engineer Series
  Citrix Certified Enterprise Engineer (CCEE) for Virtualization (XenApp, XenServer, XenDesktop)
  Citrix Certified Enterprise Administrator (CCEA) for Citrix XenApp (Presentation Server 4)
• Architect Series
  Citrix Certified Integration Architect (CCIA) for Virtualization
  Citrix Certified Integration Architect (CCIA) for Citrix XenApp (Presentation Server 4)

The structure and coverage of the CCEE and CCIA credentials are pretty straightforward, and easy to follow and understand. The CCA (and CCAA) are less intelligible, and would really benefit from some kind of narrative overview to help readers understand why there are so many of them, how they’re differentiated, the possible (or missing) value of obtaining multiple CCA credentials, and so on and so forth.

Come on, Citrix! Things are improving but there’s still a ways yet to go. Stand the old Talking Heads song on its head, and “start making sense” of the CCA (and CCAA).