An August 2008 IDC study titled "Worldwide and U.S. IT Certification Training and Testing 2008-2012 Forecast" expressed similar sentiments. (You can find that study here, but be forewarned -- it's going to cost you $4,500.)

The argument is that while it's nice to be able to stand out from the crowd at all times, it might be more important to do so when times aren't so good. Certification and training are two ways a candidate can stand out. Given that, we should expect that this part of the industry will continue to grow and be significant for years to come.

CompTIA To Drop Two Electives from Next A+ Revision
A few iterations ago, earning the A+ certification required passing two exams. One was the required exam and the second was called an "elective" -- even though there was no actual "electing" involved because it was the only other exam available.

In 2006, however, CompTIA revamped the program so that it offered a total of four exams. The CompTIA A+ Essentials (220-601) was a requirement. After that, candidates could choose one of the following based on which one fit their job description best: IT Technician (220-602), Remote Support Technician (220-603) and Depot Technician (220-604)

While the latter two exams were (for the most part) subsets of the first exam, this was still a move in the right direction. It allowed candidates to focus on the areas that applied mainly to them, and even allowed some to take the whole cadre of exams and become triple-certified.

Alas, the time has now come for the 2009 updates. A survey/job task analysis was sent out toward the end of last year soliciting feedback on proposed topics for revisions to the Essentials and IT Tech exam (with a notice that there feedback would also be sought on the latter two exams a bit later). Following that, objectives were drawn up for the first two exams without further mention of the latter two.

Word is now circulating, however, that in the 2009 exams, there will only be the Essentials (220-701) and IT Tech (220-702) exam. The single-elective model is also coming back. The following lists the domains on each exam and their respective weighting: 

Books of the Week: 'CCNA Voice Exam Cram'
The CCNA Voice Exam Cram by David Bateman and William Burton does an admirable job of breaking the subject matter into understandable segments. The book is divided into four parts and 15 chapters. The first part, "Traditional Telephony," is divided into three chapters but covers all the material in just 44 pages. (NB: If you don't know about simple circuits, odds are you probably shouldn't be considering a difficult Cisco exam in the first place.)

The third part, "Cisco Unified CME and Unity Express in Business," is the heart of the book. There are over 100 pages here of material you'll want to focus on heavily and understand thoroughly. The authors do a commendable job of including lots of listings and figures to help make this information digestible.

The other thing they excel at is the answers they provide to the sample questions; instead of merely saying why one answer is correct, they'll often go into quite a bit of detail explaining why the other choices are wrong. That makes this a great study aid when preparing for the 640-460 Cisco CCNA Voice exam.

Books of the Week: 'Search Engine Marketing'
Even in a rough economy, there can be no question about the value of search engine optimization and related skills. Search Engine Marketing offers a great outline of this industry and the skills that are important in it.

At only six chapters, it moves at a quick pace. Each chapter ends with lists or links to other resources and there are worksheets and other helpful items scattered throughout. While some labs and step-by-step, hands-on information would've been nice, the overview will be helpful to almost anyone who needs to keep their skills relevant in today's market.