I’m Not Crying, You Are

The WiFi professionals community defines that word – community. We have an incredibly active Twitter presence, we have conferences, we have Field Day, we have our own vernacular, we have shared pain unique to our niche. We call each other by our first names and not Twitter handles. It’s a specialty with its own very different challenges. It’s a dual discipline job, half RF nerd and half Network bit jockey. Because of the unique challenges and the tight-knit aspects of the industry anyone in the trenches, I dare say, would answer anyone else’s phone call.

Perhaps the highest honor in this community is the CWNE (Certified Wireless Network Expert) from the excellent training and certification organization, CWNP (Certified Wireless Network Professionals). Why is it the highest? Every other expert level certification in the industry is a combination of proctored tests, some including live labs. They are hard, most of them DAMN hard. CWNE combines four of these tests – difficult ones, with a BUNCH of other stuff. The other stuff is why I’m elated to have been conferred with this thing.

You have to do Pearson-Vue tests, the hard ones. There is the CWNA for table stakes. It’s called an administrator test, it’s an engineer test, flat and simple. Then there’s the CWAP, which is the DEEP packet analysis test. That one nearly killed me in prep. Then the CWDP, the design test. Then the CWSP, the security test. They are 90 minute 60 question tests. You need a 70% to pass. The CWNA/CWSP were a bear when I first got them in 2004. They are as tough now, even having done this kind of work for all of those intervening years (they expired after 3 years and I hadn’t renewed).

So when you pass those it’s all just getting started. Next is three endorsements from people in the field. You also need two other valid certifications, not from CWNP. You have to have three years of verifiable experience specifically in WiFi. You then write three essays of 500-1000 words about projects you’ve worked. Next comes the painful part. You zip it all up and send it to the CWNP. Then you hold your breath for several weeks. You also check your email obsessivly, wake up in cold sweats and annoy your friends as your imposter syndrome goes in to overdrive. During this extended misery the CWNE Board of Advisors does a peer review. They have the opportunity to ask clarifying questions and generally validate that you are worthy of conferral.

Eventually you get an email. If you are me, you basically hang up on your work partner and call your wife crying.

I’ve passed hard tests that span eight hours. I’ve gotten certifications that require verified experience and a long wait. I’ve not, until now, had a certification that involved such subjective validation of my work by my peers and betters. I may still have imposter syndrome, but it has eased up a tiny bit.

Share: