Top Cisco Certifications

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Earning the Cisco certifications is one of the best ways to move up the IT career ladder and get the attention of the prospective employers. Many positions actually require applications to hold one or more Cisco certificates, which can show off your skills and knowledge. That is why Cisco has developed a whole certification program to allow all the potential candidates to follow the path they want.

Cisco Certification Program

Whether you are trying to build the right skills to succeed in the job or want to verify your current knowledge to get the certification, you must understand which level covered by Cisco is the one you need. Thus, the Cisco program is divided into the following tracks:

• Entry;
• Associate;
• Professional;
• Expert;
• Architect.

Each of these levels has a certain purpose and requirements to fulfill to get what you want, so it's important to consider the skills required in each path.

1. Entry Level

This is the very first level that you can face with when you start a career in the IT sector as a networking professional. It focuses primarily on those specialists who want to become Field Support Technicians. The track has only one path with three certifications for you to choose from, which are the following:

• CCT Routing & Switching;
• CCT Collaboration;
• CCT Data Center.

For these positions, you can have some technical background or can know not that much about networking yet. CCT is ideal for those engineers who will work with the Cisco's Technical Assistance Center (TAC) Engineers for authorized support work.

Each of the certifications requires that the individuals pass a certain test to deal with the path they are interested in. Thus, to get CCT Collaboration, you need to take the Cisco 100-890 exam, while the CCT Data Center certificate offers Cisco 010-151. As for CCT Routing and Switching, the students should pass the Cisco 100-490 test to obtain it.

Preparation Options

To pass any of the certification exams, you can take the recommended training, which is available right on the official webpage. Thus, you can enroll for the courses to learn the content and gain the needed skills. Unfortunately, there are no official study guides for these options, but Cisco offers you to download the course overview to give you the important details and tips of how to pass the tests. There is also an opportunity to become a member to get access to various resources and Cisco Learning Credits.

2. Associate Level

If you already have some knowledge in the IT sector or are sure that you are able to go for it and learn the required topics, you can start with one of the associate-level certifications. With this track, you can master the essentials and launch a career that will bring you good rewards. All in all, there are three paths to choose from and they are as follows:

• DevNet Associate;
• CCNA;
• CyberOps Associate.

All these options are available for any interested candidate and don’t require to meet any prerequisites.

The DevNet Associate certification is all about the development of applications and automation of workflows with the use of the Cisco platforms. It has only one exam to measure your skills, which is Cisco 200-901. As for CCNA, it covers a broad range of topics that are needed to start your IT career in the networking sector. It grants a good base that can be formed in any way to choose the path you might want in the future. The test that you need to pass for it is Cisco 200-301. Just like the DevNet path, Cisco CyberOps has also two levels to follow. To start your journey, you need to go for the CyberOps Associate certificate. It verifies your understanding of the Cisco cybersecurity operations fundamentals and offers only one exam, which is Cisco 200-201.

Preparation Options

Cisco recommends certain training for each of the paths to help you prepare. Thus, for the DevNet Associate certification, there is an option to buy a bundle with the recommended training course, review materials, and exam voucher. You will be able to follow the course and practice with some questions before trying the actual test. There is also an opportunity to purchase the Cisco Certified DevNet Associate DEVASC 200-901 Official Cert Guide by Chris Jackson.

If you are pursuing the CCNA certificate, you can go for the instructor-led training course and get the CCNA 200-301 Official Cert Guide Library by Wendell Odom or CCNA 200-301 Official Cert Guide, Volume 2 by the same author to cover all the topics. You can always join the Cisco Learning Network CCNA community to ask questions and share your thought with other members.

As for the CyberOps Associate certification, you can opt for the e-learning course to study by yourself or choose an option led by an instructor. Talking about the books, you can get the Cisco CyberOps Associate CBROPS 200-201 Official Cert Guide by Omar Santos to enhance your preparation.

3. Professional Level

This level is ideal for those who want to continue their journey with Cisco and get knowledge of a specialized area, which they are interested in. The main idea of this track is to allow you to get a good professional-level base and improve your skills by focusing on the path you personally want. All in all, there are the following options to choose from, and each of them has its own specialization to pursue:

• CyberOps Professional;
• CCNP Enterprise;
• CCNP Service Provider;
• CCNP Data Center;
• CCNP Collaboration;
• CCNP Security;
• DevNet Professional.

It has mostly the options that have a higher level of the paths of the previous track. Thus, DevNet Professional is a certificate of the next level of the DevNet certification path, which offers you to pass the Cisco 350-901 exam along with the one you choose from the list of 8 options. CCNP Enterprise can be the next level for those who got the CCNA certificate. It requires that you pass the Cisco 350-401 test and go for the one you prefer from 6 available options. As for CyberOps Professional, you will not have an option to choose. There are only two exams that a potential candidate needs to take, and they include Cisco 350-201 and Cisco 300-215.

The other four professional-level paths prove your skills in collaboration, data center, security, and service provider solutions. Each of the certifications offers a core exam and a concentration test for taking. Thus, for CCNP Collaboration, you need to pass Cisco 350-801 and one of 5 specialized options. CCNP Data Center comes with the Cisco 350-601 exam and 5 concentration tests. CCNP Security requires that you complete the Cisco 350-701 exam and provides you with 6 options to choose from. Last but not least, CCNP Service Provider has Cisco 350-501 and 3 concentration tests.

Preparation Options

The good thing about Cisco is that the company updates its certification program regularly, which means that the preparation resources are also changed according to new standards. For any exam from these paths, the provider recommends certain training that you can follow to prepare with great deliberation. There are also a lot of study guides for you to use. For example, you can opt for the following options:

• CCNP and CCIE Security Core SCOR 350-701 Official Cert Guide;
• CCNP Collaboration Call Control and Mobility CLACCM 300-815 Official Cert Guide;
• CCNP and CCIE Enterprise Core ENCOR 350-401 Official Cert Guide;
• CCNP Enterprise Certification Study Guide (Exam 350-401): Implementing and Operating Cisco Enterprise Network Core Technologies;
• CCNP Enterprise Design ENSLD 300-420 Official Cert Guide: Designing Cisco Enterprise Networks;
• CCNP Collaboration Core CLCOR 350-801 Official Cert Guide.

here are even more books that you can obtain. You can buy them on the Cisco Press store or look for them on Amazon.

4. Expert Level

The certificates from this level are considered the most prestigious in the IT field. The key concept of this track is to check your professional-level skills by offering you the core exam from the previous track and evaluating your expert-level practical skills with the help of lab tests. The candidates are expected to have a good understanding of the exam objectives and are strongly recommended to have 3 to 5 years of experience. The other professional certificates or courses are not required. The scope of the test is enormous, which goes through almost all networking technologies. The list of the certifications available for this track includes the following:

• CCDE;
• CCIE Data Center;
• CCIE Collaboration;
• CCIE Service Provider;
• CCIE Security;
• CCIE Enterprise Infrastructure;
• CCIE Enterprise Wireless.

Cisco Certified Design Expert (CCDE) is ideal for the expert-level network design engineers. It helps them develop design solutions at the infrastructure level for the large customer networks. Cisco 352-001 is the written exam that you have to pass before going for the 8-hour lab test. Another path has the same qualifying exams that are included in the professional-level certifications. The only difference is that there is a lab test for each of the paths instead of the list of concentration exams for choosing.

Preparation Options

Considering the fact that the CCDE certification has only one level of coverage with a broad range of topics, Cisco offers you a spreadsheet with all the links to the materials that you will need to explore for each of the topics. You can download the Excel file right on the certification webpage to get access to the resources. There is also the CCDE Study Guide by Marwan Al-shawi that you can get from Cisco Press.

As for the other certifications from this track, you can use the same study guides that are relevant to the professional-level exams. When searching for some prep options on the Cisco Press store, you can find some books with practice labs, such as:

• CCIE Security Practice Labs (CCIE Self-Study);
• CCIE Security v3.0 Configuration Practice Labs (eBook), 2nd Edition.

There are also other books that you can find on Amazon, for example:

• Your CCIE Lab Success Strategy: The Non-Technical Guidebook;
• The VIRL BOOK: A Step-by-Step Guide Using Cisco Virtual Internet Routing Lab;
• All-In-One Cisco CCIE Lab Study Guide.

Don’t forget that each of the written exams has training courses to enroll for as well.

5. Architect Level

Beyond the Expert level, there is one certificate, which is known as Cisco Certified Architect or CCAr. It is the highest level of accreditation achievable in the Cisco certification program. It recognizes the architectural expertise of those network designers who can support the complex networks and effectively translate the needed business strategies into the evolutionary technical strategies. It is considered the most difficult technical certificate to earn. There are no formal prior training programs available for taking, but the valid CCDE certification can prove that you have the needed expert-level skills. To obtain this option, you need to deal with the CCAr board exam.

Preparation Options

To prepare for the certification exam, Cisco offers various webinars and videos, which are new every month and are led by the Cisco certified experts. You can also find some other materials on the Cisco Press store and Amazon.

Specialist Certifications

There are also additional certificates that you can get after passing certain exams. They are divided into two types, which cover the Entry and Associate levels. All in all, there are the following certificates with available paths:

• Technical Specialist Certifications:
  • Collaboration (Cisco Unified Contact Center Enterprise Specialist);
  • Data Center (Cisco and NetApp FlexPod Design Specialist, Cisco and NetApp FlexPod Implementation and Administration Specialist);
  • Cisco Meraki Solutions (Cisco Meraki Solutions Specialist).
• Digital Transformation Specialist Certifications:
  • Business Architecture (Cisco Business Architecture Analyst);
  • Customer Success (Cisco Customer Success Manager, Cisco Renewals Manager).

Career Opportunities

The path through the Cisco certifications is rather outright. However, within each level, there are multiple different specializations that can grant you various career opportunities. When choosing the best certificate, most experts go for the paths they are passionate about to get the highest potential out of the certificate they obtained. Thus, depending on the track you choose, you can become one of the following specialists:

• Network Administrator;
• Systems Administrator;
• Network Analyst;
• Network Design Engineer;
• Network Administrator;
• Telecom Engineer;
• Unified Communications Engineer;
• Cybersecurity Engineer;
• Information Security Analyst;
• Data Center Technician;
• Network Security Engineer;
• Cisco Voice & Network Specialist;
• Systems Engineer.

As for a salary that you can earn, it ranges from an average of $60,000 to $180,000 per year.

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