ARM launches accreditation courses, CNE anyone?

Anyone old enough to remember why a 486 was exciting, will have known someone that was a Novell CNE (Certified Network Engineer). Microsoft and Cisco also had coveted courses and now, it seems, ARM will be following suit. KitGuru packs it's lunch and heads off to tech school to learn more.

When it comes to courses and learning, you can position yourself anywhere from ‘nice' to ‘nasty'. At one end, there are long courses, full of caring and sharing, where there is a genuine attempt to ensure that the student picks up full knowledge of a subject – not specifically tied into the curriculum (think ‘Educating Rita').

At the other end is an evil system of study which leads to a multiple choice exam with a computer. If you have done all the work, then a short while after entering the torture-test zone, you will emerge, victorious, with a smug grin and a shiny new certificate. Get one question wrong, and the compute is programmed to ‘hammer you' in that area of weakness.

In short, the computer looks for signs that you might be blagging – and then goes for the jugular when it detects BS.

ARM will now have its own certification programme, run in conjunction with Drake Prometric – whose long list of healthy clients seems to include Microsoft and the Saudi Government [Sole Beating 101? Shirley not – Ed].

In a statement, ARM VP Paul Elbro said, “The ARM Accredited Engineer certification program we are developing with Prometric will be a key factor in driving the proliferation of engineers with demonstrable skills in the design and development of devices integrating ARM technology. ARM Accredited Engineer certification will be an important differentiator for the industry's engineers and engineering students”.

The course starts with simple enough topics like ‘What does multi core mean' in the context of a CPU – and rapidly makes its way onto subjects like ‘How can you code Cortex A9 solutions to avoid pipeline processing issues'.

KitGuru says: Back to school jokes to one side, ARM is proving a hugely popular alternative to traditional ‘full on' processing solutions from companies like Intel. We're not saying ‘Sign up today' – but if you have any interest in working in/around the ARM Eco-system, then it's got to be worth checking out the syllabus.

Become a Patron!