A source of no little annoyance for many searchers of the World Wide Web is websites that are out of date. Poor design is another irritation and a really bad site can damage a company's image.
Faced with the rush to the Web, businesses have three choices: use the services of an outside agency or company with Web expertise, have the work done in-house, or use a combination of the first two.
Whichever option is taken, properly trained Web personnel are needed, and it looks like the demand will continue to grow, opening up prospects of a new career unheard of a decade ago.
According to Mr John MacNamara, CEO of the Internet Certification Institute International (ICII), an Irish company set up this year, one of the problems with Web and Internet training is that it tends to be tied to a particular vendor.
His company linked up with US company Net Guru Technologies, (NGT), this summer to provide a comprehensive range of vendor-independent Internet training and certification programmes.
"We are unique because we offer all type of Internet technologies including Microsoft, Sun and Netscape," Mr Mac Namara told The Irish Times. "There is a significant demand for vendor-neutral qualifications, and this has not been offered in a comprehensive way to date."
Another feature stressed by Mr MacNamara is independent verification.
"The ICII-NGT global alliance strictly adheres to a policy of third party testing by having all Certification examinations administered by the world's largest testing body Sylvan Prometric, which has more than 700 test centres throughout the world," he stated.
Mr MacNamara has a degree in business studies from the University of Limerick. The idea of ICII came while working with the International Labour Organisation in Geneva as an associate expert on enterprise and management development.
In Geneva he was close to international standardisation bodies and to the CERN research centre, where the Web was invented. He decided to set up a company to provide international standards of competence for Internet professionals.
From its base in the Innovation Centre in the National Technological Park in Limerick, ICII will be offering its courses throughout Europe, and arrangements are being finalised for courses in Belgium, France, Norway, Spain, and the Netherlands.
Tech Connect in Britain and Irish Times Training in Dublin have been recognised as authorised training centres, and courses in the Innovation Centre in Limerick are to start in a few week's time.
The ICII-NGT Certified Internet Webmaster (CIW) courses are given at three levels. Level one is CIW Designer, and three one-day courses cover Internet basics, planning a website and Web development. Four level two courses take three or five days each, and cover development, administration, networks and electronic commerce.
