CISCO CERTIFICATIONS

Cisco Career Certifications are highly respected credentials which effect valuable rewards for the persons who hold them and their employers. There are three levels of Cisco Certification: Associate, Professional, and Expert. Each level is available with a different emphasis. The most common specializations are Network Security, Service Provider, and Routing & Switching. In addition, there are a large variety of Cisco Qualified Specialist certifications to document a candidate’s knowledge in certain specific job roles or technologies.

The Cisco Career Certifications begin with CCDA and CCNA certifications on the associate level. These show a person’s expertise with networking fundamentals. This is equivalent to the “apprentice” level in most trades.

The associate level certifications are:

• CCDA - Cisco Certified Design Associate
• CCNA - Cisco Certified Network Associate

The next level of Cisco Career Certifications includes the CCNP, CCDP, CCIP, and CCSP professional certifications. These professional designations demonstrate a person’s more advanced understanding of networking as it relates to a specific specialization or career path. This is equivalent to the “journeyman” level in most trades.

The professional level certifications are:

• CCDP – Cisco Certified Design Professional
• CCIP – Cisco Certified Internetwork Professional
• CCNP – Cisco Certified Network Professional
• CCSP – Cisco Certified Security Professional

Expert level certifications, showing expertise in a particular specialization are:

• IP Telephony
• Network Management
• VPN and Security
• Access Routing and LAN Switching
• Wireless LAN
• Content Networking
• Multi-service Switching
• Cable Communications
• Public Access
• Optical

Which Cisco certification path should you take?

There are four general certification paths available. Each path is based on a different emphasis or aspect of networking.

• Network Installation and Support: This certification path focuses on installation and support of Cisco based networks utilizing WAN or LAN switches and routers.
• Network Engineering and Design: This certification path focuses on design of Cisco based networks utilizing WAN or LAN switches and routers.
• Service Provider: This certification path focuses on utilization and interaction with access solutions and infrastructure of end-to-end Cisco environment systems with an emphasis in telecommunications.
• Network Security: This certification path focuses on the implementation and design of Cisco Secure Networks.