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 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.
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.
CompTIA