CIW or Certified Internet Webmaster is a certification process for global web professionals. Given the tremendous growth of internet-based businesses, there has been a huge demand for web professionals in the past few years. As a result, the demand for qualified web professionals has led to a higher demand for CIW-qualified personnel. The course enables a professional to gain expertise and exposure to diverse areas such as project management, security and web management, and e-commerce. The course offers exposure to the most critical areas of being a complete web professional. The CIW certification is accredited by the Association of Internet Professionals and approved by the World Organization of Webmasters.

Certification & Process:
As far as the certification process is concerned, the tests for acquiring a CIW certification is not administered by any particular vendor and are therefore, vendor neutral. Additionally, the cut off marks for passing the tests are set at a high of 75%. This is a reasonably high standard for a certification, which also ensures a high credibility for the CIW qualification. The curriculum for CIW provides practical training in Internet technologies including website development, server administration and e-commerce. For taking the exams, a student has the choice of being trained at instructor-led training sites, or at home or office through the medium of conference calls, email or Web-based support. The exams are administered by Sylvan Prometric, an independent body that conducts these tests at their own centers. In the United States, the CIW certification program is offered by ProsoftTraining

Types of Courses:
In terms of complexity, the CIW course is divided into three levels: Associate, Professional and Master. The initial requirement for the course requires the candidate to pass the CIW Foundations level. This level provides exposure to the fundamental areas of internet technologies, network infrastructure and HTML-based webpage creation. The course further offers specialization in four major areas of the internet management - enterprise development, administration, website management, and designing. The following courses are the main programs offered under CIW:

- CIW Security Analyst Certification
- Master CIW Enterprise Developer Certification
- Master CIW Administrator Certification
- Fundamentals of databases
- CIW V5 Database Designer Specialist Certification
- Master CIW Designer Certification
- CIW Professional Certification
- CIW Associates Design Specialist Certification
- CIW Associates

Details of some of the CIW courses are listed below:

1. CIW Site Designer: This course runs for five days and offers exposure to designing, implementing and maintaining a web site with HTML and scripting languages.

2. CIW Server Administration: Spread over five days, this course enables students to gain exposure to managing internet and intranet structures for a large corporate. The course teaches techniques in managing news and mail servers, monitoring web server systems, and configuring e-business servers.

3. CIW E-Commerce Professional: E-commerce is a vibrant and dynamic part of transacting through the internet. This course helps students gain exposure to designing and implementing e-commerce web sites, understanding how customers place orders, analyzing their buying patterns and improving sales using e-commerce.