Wednesday, May 14, 2008 Industry players report shortage of certified computer engineers
ALTHOUGH the country is not far behind in computer networking skills, there is a shortage of certified network engineers that needs to be promptly addressed.
Luichi Robles, country manager of Cisco Systems Inc., said that although there are many qualified Filipino engineers, the number is still not enough to supply the huge demand in the industry, especially when major vendors come to the country.
He said that one telecommunication service provider based in the United States will be opening an office in the Philippines and will need a number of certified network engineers in its operations.
The shortage of certified engineers, Robles said, is mainly because these engineers are also “in demand” in other Asian countries, like Singapore and Hong Kong.
“They are highly paid there,” he told Sun.Star Cebu in an interview last week.
Aside from network engineers, the country also lacks certified storage administrators.
Curriculum
As part of Cisco’s corporate social responsibility program, the company initiated a network academy which provides schools a four-year curriculum designed by Cisco.
Under the curriculum, which is given to the schools for free, students will learn the skills they would need to qualify in a certification exam. However, many students do not pursue taking certification tests as the exam fees are expensive.
Cisco has partnered with 121 academies nationwide.
In Cebu, Bonifacio Belen, executive director of the Cebu Educational Development Foundation for Information Technology (Cedf-IT), said the knowledge base on network administration is increasing.
Belen also agrees that there is a huge demand for certified network engineers but the cost of certification poses an obstacle to those who want to take it.
Cedf-IT holds a monthly training on network administration but this is a non-certification program.
Belen said, though, that Cedf-IT is working on making the program certified. “Hopefully, we will get there,” he added.
Belen said he plans to talk to Robles on plans to finance the exam cost of deserving engineers. “We have to be more aggressive if we want to address the lack of certified engineers,” he added.
Bennie Revecho, a certified Cisco network professional who works in a call center in Cebu, said the written exam costs for a
Cisco certified network associate is $150.
To get a certification like Revecho’s, one has to pass four exams for the network professional certification. A total of $600 also has to be shelled out.
Revecho also said that the most in demand certification is the Cisco certified Internet work expert. Only 13 engineers in the country and 20,000 worldwide have this certification.
To attain this type of certification, one also has to get a laboratory exam which costs more than $1,000.
In some cases, companies pay for the exam fees of deserving employees who are qualified to get the certification exams. Since the company subsidized the fees, the employee has to stay with the company under a bond contract.
With the limited number of certified engineers, competing industries resort to poaching, Robles also said. (DME)
