In March 2013, RFID Journal published a news story about the International RFID Institute, established to promote professionalism in the radio frequency identification industry through the creation of standardized certification exams, much like those in the project-management and IT industries (see International RFID Institute Prepares Certification Program). A group of dedicated individuals, including yours truly, have been working during what little spare time we’ve had to create the institute and its first certification examination program (see The Return of RFID Certification and The RFID Industry Needs Professional Certifications).
A great deal of progress has been made, and we are almost ready to begin drafting questions (or “items,” in certification industry parlance), but we first need some input from the RFID industry. We have created a blueprint for the first exam, which we have dubbed the Foundation Certification. This blueprint explains what the exam will cover, as well as the weightings given to each topic.
The first exam—geared to recent graduates, end users and those new to the RFID industry—is designed to determine whether an examinee possesses a broad knowledge of the many types of RFID technologies, the differences in performance between them, and characteristics among those systems and their applications. It is somewhat similar to CompTIA‘s RFID+ program, though it will be updated annually and cover technology innovations.
This exam will be the first of several. The institute has created a roadmap for future exams, designed to demonstrate whether an examinee has more detailed knowledge of specific RFID technologies, such as active, passive ultrahigh-frequency (UHF) and Near Field Communication (NFC) systems. The idea is that if a company were to hire someone to deploy an NFC system, it would have greater confidence in the skills of someone who had passed the NFC exam.
Those of us who contributed to the blueprint and roadmap have many combined years of experience in this industry, and we did our best to develop an approach that would serve the industry’s needs. But we understand that the best way to ensure we are meeting the needs of companies using RFID, solution providers selling RFID products and systems integrators deploying RFID is to have you tell us what you want. That’s why we are soliciting your input.
I know people are busy. All of us working on the certification programs are busy. But we ask that you please take a few moments of your time—for the good of the RFID industry—to fill out these surveys.
• Foundation Certification Blueprint
Thank you very much for your input. We at the International RFID Institute greatly appreciate it.
Mark Roberti is the founder and editor of RFID Journal. If you would like to comment on this article, click on the link below. To read more of Mark’s opinions, visit the RFID Journal Blog, the Editor’s Note archive or RFID Connect.