CompTIA Adds Depth to Shallow Pool of RFID Talent
By Eric Van Osten
The results are in. CompTIA has released the findings from its second annual state of RFID survey, which reveals, among other things, that 75% of the respondents believe there is not a sufficient pool of talent in RFID technology to hire from. CompTIA and its cornerstone committee are helping to solve this problem with the creation of the CompTIA RFID+™certification exam, designed to confirm an individual's aptitude for RFID and fill the market with educated professionals.
State of RFID Survey
The survey was first conducted in 2005 to verify the RFID interests of the IT channel in delivering RFID solutions. The survey was repeated again this year and used as a comparison to last year's results. David Sommer, Vice President, Electronic Commerce for CompTIA, says, "We wanted to confirm that the interest in RFID remains very high—and it does."
The Web-based survey was launched to CompTIA members on January 13 and closed on February 15. Target respondents included IT resellers, VARs, solution providers, systems integrators, IT end-customers, and others directly involved in the delivery of IT products/services. In total, there were 80 respondents.
The survey had three major purposes. The first was to collect feedback from CompTIA members in order to better understand the IT channel's current intentions for addressing RFID and current skill levels. Another purpose, as mentioned, was to compare the 2006 results to those of the previous year. Lastly, the information was used in the development of the certification.
David Sommer,CompTIA
Results of the Survey
It was discovered that 61% of the respondents' clients have not implemented RFID solutions. Compared to last year's 71%, this 10% decrease shows that there is increasing interest in RFID. The remaining 29% say less than 20% of their clients have implemented RFID solutions.
Eighty-nine percent of respondents report their companies will or might offer RFID products or services in the next three years. Of these, 41% will definitely do it — a figure that is up from the 37% reported last year. Another 48% say maybe (if clients or customers express an interest), compared to last year's figure of 39%.
The results show that the top three challenges respondents believe their company will face in offering RFID are consistent with last year's, but that two of them declined significantly in prominence. Sixty percent believe overcoming initial RFID implementation hurdles is a major challenge (versus 70% in 2005). Fifty percent believe training and educating staff on RFID technology presents a challenge (versus 67% in 2005). Finally, gaining clients or customers for RFID solutions is seen as a challenge for 59% (versus 56% in 2005).
The survey probed the companies' current experience level with implementing RFID technology. It was found that 44% have investigated the technology without implementing any projects, 34% have neither experience with RFID nor have investigated it, and 15% have implemented at least one RFID pilot for the company or a client company.
A very significant find was that a remarkable 75% believe there is not a sufficient pool of talent in RFID technology to hire from (down 5% from 2005's 80%). Of this 75%, 80% of them believe the lack of individual skills in RFID technology will impact the adoption of RFID technology (versus 53% in 2005).
CompTIA RFID+ Certification
CompTIA has stepped up to the plate and produced an RFID certification program at a critical time for RFID. The program was released on March 28 and was intended to help both businesses with the transition to RFID and individuals working with the technology to develop a professional certification of RFID skills. Twenty-two other companies working in the industry helped CompTIA in this effort (see sidebar).
CompTIA+ RFID is a vendor-neutral certification of RFID skills, available worldwide, that addresses the needs of RFID hardware and software manufacturers, VARs, training developers, and end-users. The exam, which was released in beta form late last year, was in development for over a year.
Students have 90 minutes to complete the proctored, 75-question exam. There are nine "domains," or categories, measured in the exam. These domains are interrogation zone basics, testing and troubleshooting, standards and regulations, tag knowledge, design selections, installation, site analysis (before, during, and after installation), RF physics, and RFID peripherals.
Candidates should have six to 24 months of experience in the RFID industry or related technology field, such as barcodes, and perform the following tasks as part of his or her job: installation, configuration, and maintenance of RFID hardware and device software; site surveys and site analysis; and tag selection, placement, and testing. The cost of the program for non-members of CompTIA is $237; members receive a discount. Many of the face-to-face training companies offer vouchers with their training as well.
Developing the Certification Exam
"The exam development was a very vigorous process," says Sommer. "The result of the process is what we call 'legally defensible certification,' meaning it's statistically proven."
Starting in early 2005, CompTIA collected members for its cornerstone committee. In May 2005, the committee appointed subject matter experts to analyze what they wanted to test for in individuals taking the exam against what kind of activities they themselves performed. The next step was to execute a survey that went out to the public about the subject matter these experts suggested be covered. From this survey, a blueprint of the nine domain areas for the exam was created.
In August 2005, the subject matter experts met again to develop questions in the nine domains. These questions were compiled in a beta version of the test, meaning that not all of the questions appearing on this version would survive into the live exams. The point of this was to figure out which questions would be appropriate and which should be discarded.
Over 100 people took the beta version of the exam during November and December of 2005. The results were analyzed and then presented to the subject matter experts. They primarily threw out the questions that were thought to be too difficult, too easy, or simply misleading. What survived ended up on the final version of the exam, made available on March 28.
Training is Readily Available
In preparation for the CompTIA RFID+ certification exam, many people find it helpful to invest in training. There are a number of companies offering training to the certification curriculum in locations all over the country including OTA Training (www.otatraining.com), American RFID Solutions (www.americanrfidsolutions.com) and RFID4U (www.rfid4u.com). Self-training is also an option, with the many books on RFID that exist today (see page 30 of this issue), as well as more on the horizon.
RFID4U and partner RFIP Training (www.rfipsolutions.com/training) are rolling out their CompTIA RFID+ Certification course in the UK starting in May 2006. The course comes with a guarantee that participants will obtain the CompTIA RFID+ Certification. If participants finish the certification preparation without the certification, they can attend subsequent RFID4U training within a period of one year at minimal cost.
International Paper's ASURYS business and OTA Training have partnered to offer CompTIA RFID+ Certification training. This is the industry's first CompTIA-approved certification training program. OTA Training has developed an officially recognized CompTIA Authorized Quality Curriculum™(CAQC) for RFID+ Certification and has partnered with ASURYS to teach and host classes at its world-class training facility.
Academia is responding to the needs of the industry, with courses, classrooms, and labs set up to teach RFID technology across the country and around the world. Some schools that house RFID labs and/or offer RFID-specific courses include Michigan State School of Packaging, the University of Arkansas' Sam M. Walton College of Business, the University of Pittsburgh's RFID Center of Excellence, the University of Ohio's Center for Automatic Identification (see page 24), and the University of California.
"We don't prescribe any method of training that has to be followed," says Sommer. "Education is an industrywide effort. CompTIA has just provided the expertise and exam development; the other companies involved are the real ones driving the effort." For more details, visit www.comptia.org.
|
