Cisco Certification Guide: Overview and Career Paths

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Cisco Systems, Inc. is a well-known name in the networking and communication industry. Cisco has a very high market share when it comes to business routing and switching products. As a step towards ensuring that the IT professionals have the required knowledge and skill to access the Cisco products and render proper services to the customers around the globe.

Many of us quite fascinated with the “Cisco certifications” and aim at attaining the prestigious credential to add sheen to our careers. Yet, we have a lot of questions concerning the subject like:

• the various levels ofCisco certifications
• the tenure of their validity
• how to prepare for the tests
• how to select the best certification for the future career
• the job opportunities that would make way post certifications

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Cisco specializes in offering the much coveted and renowned certification concerning the IT industry. The certification program starts from the rudimentary level termed as the entry level and then takes the course depending on the advancement and hierarchy. On clearing each level, candidates get a certain credential. To get a credential, one needs to acquire the exact prerequisites apart from the natural clause of clearing the exams. The more difficult the credentials get, stricter and sterner gets the terms of the set “pre-requisites”. The certification exams are conducted by the Pearson VUE.

The credentials comprising the various certifications under the Cisco’s purview:

• Certified Entry Networking Technician (CCENT)
• Cisco Certified Technician (CCT)
• Cisco Certified Network Associate (CCNA)
• Cisco Certified Design Associate (CCDA)
• Cisco Certified Network Professional (CCNP)
• Cisco Certified Design Professional (CCDP)
• Cisco Certified Internetwork Expert (CCIE)
• Cisco Certified Design Expert (CCDE)
• Cisco Certified Architect (CCAr)

Out of the many offerings by the Cisco, there are few poignant certificates that one can take up and reap benefits out of it. The most prominent ones are the certifications dealing with network operation and network design. If we talk about the typical certification hierarchy concerning the networking, the certificate would start from the CCENT credential and go up to the CCNA, the next would be the CCNP, and the final one would be the CCIE. There could be exceptions too, for people interested more in the designing domain, for them there could be another ladder, they could start with the CCENT and then graduate to the CCDA, then the CCDP, thereafter, the CCDE and the final step would be the CCAr.

Cisco credential levels and their validity

1. Entry – for 3 years
2. Associate – for 3 years
3. Professional – for 3 years
4. Expert– for 2 years
5. Architect – for 5 years

How to choose the right certification program?

One needs to understand their core strengths and area of expertise, and then opt for the best module of certification, the best practice would be to explore the various available multiple certification options that would comply with the needs of one’s job requirements and tenure of job, there has to be a proper mix of the said components.

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To begin with, there is an array of Cisco IT certifications. The Associate level credentials are the basic or the foundation level certification. For the more advanced level of job roles and technologies, there i an advanced level of certifications like the professional levels. The trick here is to choose the apt certification which could be more than one also, purely depending on one’s professional requirements. The ultimate aim should be to gather more technical know-how and to create a better professional repertoire in the IT industry.

The plethora of career options

There are varied arrays of specializations too tagged with the Cisco CCNA Certification Questions which cater to the various professional skills required in order to fit into the available portfolios offered by the company, these include data center application services, voicemail and messaging or rich media amongst the many.

We would now address the most poignant area of concern, and that is the options of career path that one gets after completion of the certifications.You may opt for network operations or could be network design as your career path; the certifications offered by Cisco are a perfect saviour and prepare you well for the various roles that Cisco has to offer. The certifications equip you enough to make you suitable for the various portfolios. It is immaterial as to which career path you choose the bottom-line remains the umpteen job options that are available for Cisco certified professionals. The nature of job would again purely depend on your experience and your skill sets.

A small peek into the kind of jobs that one can expect is here – a person with the CCENT certification can be considered for the roles of the help desk assistance or technicians. A CCT certified person can be an ideal choice for a field or network engineer or a systems administrator. A CCDA certified specialist could look for an opportunity for a network or telecommunications engineer. Likewise, a CCDA certified candidate could be a perfect choice for the profile of an analyst or a technical specialist. Similarly, there a variety of options revolving from network administrators to senior network design engineer. The jobs mentioned here are just a few out of the wide range of jobs that one can expect after being certified.