As I wrote about in Commercial Integrator today, AV is very quickly becoming a subset of IT, and the latter skills are soon going to be a necessary part of the job whether you like it or not.
I explored this topic after stumbling upon a post on the r/CommercialAV page on Reddit in which someone was lamenting how the industry has become boring to them, with only incremental improvements to products.
Other replied, saying they’re continuing on down the AV education path by learning other relevant skills like networking, programming and more to “really understand this brave new world of AV over IP,” as one user put it.
The person then listed several networking certifications they are pursing that will help give them the skillset they need to stay relevant in the tech industry.
Here are some of those, and a few other entry-level IT-related certifications you should consider pursing to help prepare you for AV over IP, aside from the very necessary programming courses from Crestron and other AV titans.:
- Networking Technology & Networked AV Systems, AVIXA – These courses are specifically designed to give AV professionals the skills and knowledge they need to design, implement, maintain and managed networked AV systems. After completing these courses, you should be able to have meaningful conversations with the IT department of any customer.
- CCNA, CIsco – This certification from Cisco tests a person’s knowledge and skills related to network fundamentals, network access, IP connectivity, IP services, security, automation and programmability. The Administering Cisco Solutions course can help prepare you for the 120-minute exam.
- Network+, CompTIA – This certification from IT trade group CompTIA is designed to help professionals develop a career in IT infrastructure, including troubleshooting, configuring and managing networks. The organization also offers online learning and exam prep that will help teach you how to design and implement networks, configure and manage devices, use switches and routers, implement network security and create virtualized networks.
- Sec+, CompTIA – As more devices get deployed to the network, AV professionals are going to have to learn to do so while implementing cybersecurity best practices. The Security+ certification and study materials can help you do just that. The exam will ensure that you have the skills to be able to assess the security posture of an organization and recommend solutions, monitor and secure hybrid environments, operate with an awareness of laws and policies and diagnose and respond to security events.
If those don’t help prepare you for the inevitable swallowing of AV by IT, check out Microsoft’s large library of exams and certifications on things like Azure, Microsoft 365, Microsoft Teams and more.
