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Hello Im studying the CWNA( Certified Wireless Administration) inUK-London.
Wireless appears to be the future but the problem im having is that although wireless technology has exploded all over the world ,I dont think wireless jobs have not seen any real growth or boom in the Uk.

Im not sure why this is and im asking for advise from you as to why this is?
Do you think this will remain the case in the near future, bearing in mind the recession.

What do any of you think the future might be for wireless in the uk?
Do you think the uk will go Wireless in the way the Usa and china and other countries have, or do you think the uk will lag behind because of a lack of investment

Also ,Is the CWNA exam good enough to get a good job in wireless, or do you think i would need at least the next level up, aCWSP (Certified Wireless security professional) . PLEASE ANSWER ALL QUESTIONS THAT I HAVE ASKED ABOVE +PLEASE GIVE ME ANY USEFUL ADVISE ABOUT ANY CAREER TRENDS YOU HAVE NOTICED, GIVEN CURRENT DEMAND THAT YOU KNOW OF
THANKS
VIV DEE

Interesting questions Vivdee

In my experience, most companies don't know anything about it, and their wireless expertise tends to be poor. The CWNP program seems to have little exposure at present. Thus you don't see many jobs requiring it. (Although a few Cisco wi-fi certs from time to time).
Personally, when I look to recruit any wireless specialists, I will be looking for CWNP cert's. CWTS would be fine for a "technican" level job (£ ~20k )- assisting with surveys, maintenance of equipment, 1st / 2nd line support. Otherwise, for more "analyst" level work (£~30k) I would be looking for CWNA. 
I would be surprised to *find* a CWNA though! I'd probably put it on a recruitment advert as desirable, and possibly make it a probation condition within a year... or something like.
Regarding Wireless in general - yes it will take off. I have no doubt. Working at a University I see lots of young people with loads of mobile devices. Within the last 12-18 months there has been a real change from Wi-Fi being a nice to have to Wi-Fi as being essential. As this pervades industry in general, and Wi-Fi becomes *expected* (really I mean mobility), then demands for certifications to ensure that it works should become more of a requirement - people will wake up to the fact that their WLAN isn't working as expected.
I hope this helps.
on a final note, I tend to avoid requests for help in CAPS; it can come across as quite rude.

hang in there! I too am from the UK and yes I tend to agree that there doesnt seem to be a huge uptake in Wireless yet but I think maybe 802.11ac will change all that...who knows!

I would get a CWNA for sure if you are serious about being taken seriously as a wifi engineer. You learn a great deal about wifi and how it really works. Most vendors, like Cisco, will not go deep enough or far enough in wifi and just glare over things you really ought to know.

Im sure there will be an uptake soon in Wifi - IF and I do mean IF - CWNP becomes a pre-requisite for wifi jobs out there or at least desirable..

At this point managers seem to believe that wireless is just a new bit of hardware that IT can read the instructions for, then plug-and-play. They will come around when they figure out that the radio side of wireless adds a whole new level to the learning curve. IT needs to figure that out on their own and report this fact to management. When individuals in IT recognize the need to add a whole new layer of training to their toolbox, management will see that people trained in the arcane art of radio solve problems unique to RF environments, and build demonstrably better systems. How do you recognize a person trained in the arcane art of radio?

Systems engineered and built by CWNPs outperforming kludges hacked together by well meaning but undertrained IT guys will convince management that they need CWNPs. Measured and documented increases in throughput and reliability as a result of training, said training documented by CWNP credentials.

I believe these are all great points. Would you all feel comfortable if I were to use these to create some marketing content for CWNP? 

if you can make an RF signal Visible then I think you've cracked it! 

there is no huge demand in the UK for WIFI nor investment in wifi infrastructure. Its a niche market. You just need to look at jobs forums and you will get a sense that for the UK.

Wifi is one of those "i got a signal, it works, who cares!" technologies. Until that mentality changes...nothing changes.

Honestly, that's the mentality in many parts of the world, not just the UK.  This is especially true in certain verticals.  Others (like large public venues -- check out Liverpool Football Club) actually want quality Wi-Fi and will invest in both people and technology to make sure they get it.

With the explosion of Wi-Fi-enabled mobile devices, increased demand for connectivity everywhere, and carriers wanting to offload to Wi-Fi, having Wi-Fi experience (and certifications) is absolutely valuable.  Wi-Fi is a $4+ billion market and growing at an aggressive pace.
Just as wired networks shifted from a convenience to a necessity, Wi-Fi is becoming more necessary to many businesses.  They are learning that Wi-Fi requires additional skills and talents, and that you can't just throw a bunch of APs on the ceiling with a pre-shared key for security.  If you keep your skills sharp and market yourself right, you will be in a position to benefit from this kind of shift.
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@@ron

That's a good point @@ron. So it seems that we would need to educate on the need for wireless professionals before we're able to market a particular kind of professional. Agreed? 

spot on.

Personally, I work for a WiFi MSP (managed services provider) and even my boss doesn't see the value in highly training and certifying our team by use of CWNP's vendor neutral certification tracks. Then again, the only certifications that are ever arranged by the company are free ones provided by our vendors which are required to reach or maintain certain partner levels. A good amount of our competitors not only pay for certs but require them. Ignorance is bliss as they say and only the highly trained teams will prevail in the end is my belief. Oh by the way, WiFi is not plug and play!
The good news is that not only will CWNA certification teach and certify you on WiFi technologies that exist in the ISM bands, but the CWNA exam track and beyond also teach and certify you in a number of RF propagation, modulation, and antenna principles which can be useful when working with cellular technologies such as LTE which are also continuing to grow. But don't fret, if high powered transmitters and inanely complex modulation schemes aren't your thing, WiFi is here to stay and grow. Bring on .ac!