CWNE Journey - Part Five CWISA

12/29/2021

I am preparing to take my CWNP-CWISA exam tomorrow. What I have found to be very interesting is that the more I learn about Wi-Fi, the more I want to know about other wireless protocols. As a typical "network engineer" in a corporate deployment we don't really foray much into the world of 4G/5G tech, Zigbee, 60GHz tech, etc.

I think that confining our wireless knowledge to only 80211 is a bit of an issue. I can remember lots of conversations in the wired context about having separate networks for building controls and automation, or security or fire suppression. Many times these are areas that could be improved with having a network engineer in the design room, however all too often we just choose to isolate these functions and put them in a silo. Sometimes, a poorly designed silo.

While I have found the curriculum in CWISA to be largely introductory, as an engineer it has compelled to learn and do more. Also, as someone who works with manufacturing, it really makes me want to "dig in" and explore the world of Wireless Sensor Networks and what we can do in the industry to help move manufacturing forward with more data to produce better, more consistent products.

Thanks for reading!

12/30/2021

Update - So... I passed without much trouble. I enjoyed the book, the material was well presented and I can definitely see the need for a larger program. If I get more involved in the manufacturing or industrial space, I can see the need to complete the curriculum. Regardless of that decision, I know I still want to pursue further knowledge of cell carrier and private cell networks as I can see these being of increasing importance in the future.