Some twat used the handle ‘P.Eng’ has vomited up a common fallacy on the blog post at Packetlife. He attempts to say that computer people, and networking engineers in particular are not ‘real’ engineers.
In fact, he is wrong. The Institution of Engineers and Technology (IET) does accredit Cisco-certified individuals as recognised engineers.
The Details
The Institution of Engineers and Technology will accredit people with Cisco certification as ‘Chartered Engineers’ and provide professional support assistance and official standing and has done so for some time. People with CCIE certification and suitable experience are recognised as Professional Engineers.
The IET recognises Cisco Career Certifications as an assurance of professionalism and knowledge – http://www.theiet.org/membership/cisco/career-certification.cfm
Here is how the IET enables the recognition and membership:
You can find more details here http://www.cisco.com/global/EMEA/iee-iie/routes.shtml.
Proably the best outline is http://www.theiet.org/membership/cisco/ccc-miet.cfm.
The EtherealMind View
Having been to university for an Engineering degree ( and gave up out of boredom) and through Cisco certification process to CCIE level, they both have their place. The Cisco courses do place a high value on content and knowledge (and, now, so does Juniper and HP ) and require somewhat less rigorous and modern approach, they are no less valid than an engineering degree. At least eighty percent of what I learned was useless and irrelevant (transformer theory, civil engineering principles and motion physics were utterly pointless to an electronics engineer) and the twenty percent I use now is quite valuable.
I think that Network Certifications teach you the twenty percent you need to know and avoid the dross. Education should be about learning what you need and not an endurance test of irrelevance.
So, ‘P.Eng’, feel welcome to leave an apology below in the comments. I’m sure you be pleased to learn the correct use of the term that you seem so passionate about.
Appendix
I was an member of the IET myself for a while, but when I couldn’t renew my membership online I gave up. I couldn’t deal with an organisation that was accrediting my technical ability that didn’t use the Internet.
