Recently my friend and former 😢colleague Mac_wifi has called on others in the community to publish their CWNE application essays as a resource, benchmark, encouragement to others seeking to achieve the CWNE certification. I think this is a good idea. Nobody had asked me to write an essay in over 20 years and I wasn’t quite sure where to start. Hopefully a few of the current crop of CWNEs sharing their submission will help guide others.

Here’s a link to that blog post

I agree with the CWNP’s approach to their expert level. If you’re used to sitting multiple choice exams through Pearson Vue for your IT certs the need for an essay might seem a bit strange. Indeed many certification streams award the expert level automatically once enough exams have been passed. There’s nothing wrong with that approach but CWNP chose to take a different route for a good reason.

To become a CWNE, in addition to passing the exams, you need at least five years experience working in enterprise wireless networking, have people prepared to endorse you and write three essays to demonstrate that knowledge and experience.

What that means is a CWNE knows their stuff, has walked the walk and … well you know how the rest of that goes. It means a CWNE has experience that goes beyond the theoretical knowledge one can gather by studying for certification.

Some advice I’d offer anyone aiming for CWNE certification is to gather real world examples of solutions delivered and problems solved for your essays. In the rushing around of daily life it’s easy to fix a problem, move on to the next thing and then forget about the details. It’s also worth remembering your essays don’t need to be a technical tour de force of excellence, proving your capabilities as a Wi-Fi super human. We all know the real world is full of compromises. Name them and explain them. I consider an essay that knowingly describes a flawed implementation speaks more of experience than a textbook “perfect” network design, for example.

So those essays…

Essay 1 – Design
Essay 2 – Security
Essay 3 – Analysis

I’m always happy to talk further with anyone about this, if you want to get in touch you can reach out to me on twitter