By Jack Dausman
It's out. Software manuals and pressed CDs are finally shipping for the latest version of Lotus Notes and Domino (ND6). Lotus professionals like you are eyeing its new capabilities and anticipating fresh opportunities. Within the turmoil of learning new technologies, re-certifying, and changing old habits is also a career opening: you could become an ND6 CLI (Certified Lotus Instructor).
In the Goldrush days, it was said that selling to the miners made the only real wealth. Becoming a CLI may not allow you to retire early, but in today's grim job market it could make a difference. In my experience, only half of all R4 CLIs made the transition to R5. If we expect only half of all active CLIs to jump over to ND6, then it seems reasonable to predict a need for fresh CLIs.
In the training industry, a line is drawn between authorized and non-authorized education centers. An LAEC (Lotus Authorized Education Center) can only use CLIs for the Lotus curriculum. On the other hand, a CLI can teach wherever they choose, as an independent CLI (working as a contractor) or as a full-time employee to an LAEC.
Steps to becoming a CLI
The steps to becoming a CLI are illustrated in Figure A.
FIGURE A
There are a number of steps to becoming a CLI. (click for larger image)
Certification
Even though most students taking courses never attain certification, the first qualification to becoming their instructor is to be CLP certified in either administration or application development. There are some CLIs who do both system administration and development, but many start out on one side before expanding into the other.
Lotus is unique in its instructor certification requirements. An R4 CLI can only teach R4 curriculum. Not only must the CLI be current to the version in which they instruct, they must also take the certification exam for each class that has an associated exam. So, being an R5 CLP qualifies a CLI to teach a few core CLP classes. In order to teach additional classes, the CLI will have to pass each exam for each specific course. Personally, I find it hard to believe that not all vendors require instructors to pass their course exams before teaching the class.
Experience
While certification is to be expected, many applicants are initially surprised to find out that experience is required. Lotus expects a minimum of three months practice in Notes and one year for general system skills (e.g., networking, PC Hardware, maintenance). On the other hand, the requirement for experience may seem insufficient for the wide range of Lotus expertise taught at an LAEC. But this condition does offer a starting point for the new CLI, who will begin with teaching entry-level courses.