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.