Cisco: Certification paths are inscrutable

I decided to write my first article about what every new Cisco engineer involuntarily thinks about: Salary . Just kidding, of course, about self-education and certification .



Cisco provides a huge selection of different certification programs and exams. But today we will touch only the main, the so-called " General Certifications ".
Each Cisco certification path consists of 4 levels: Entry , Associate , Professional , and Expert :

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In total, Cisco offers 7 certification paths:

• Routing & Switching
• Design
• Network security
• Service Provider
• Storage networking
• Voice
• Wireless

Let's consider each of them in a bit more detail (each direction is characterized separately by its levels, so it’s difficult to say something in common):

Routing & Switching: This certification path is the most popular among Cisco engineers. Probably some of you have seen your superiors / managers, about whom behind their backs on the wall there was a wooden frame with a similar inscription:



This direction of certification confirms that you can implement modern complex converged networks and detect faults in them.
The certification path is as follows:
CCENT-> CCNA-> CCNP-> CCIE Routing & Switching

Design: Proves your skills and abilities in building, developing design and supporting the ever-growing complex networks of global corporations.
The certification path is as follows:
CCENT-> CCNA / CCDA-> CCDP-> CCDE

Network Security: Proves your skills and abilities in working with various security protocols, ensuring their interaction with routing protocols and building end-to-end secure networks.
The certification path is as follows:
CCENT-> CCNA Security-> CCSP-> CCIE Security

Service Provider: Confirms your skills and abilities in building networks of service providers (for example, Internet providers). The focus is on quality of service and various Internet-level routing protocols.
The certification path is as follows:
CCENT-> CCNA-> CCIP-> CCIE Service Provider

Storage Networking: Proves your skills and abilities in building and maintaining data center networks, data centers that provide the work of many of the largest organizations.
The certification path is as follows:
CCENT-> CCNA-> CCNP-> CCIE Storage Networking

Voice: Proves your skills and abilities in building and supporting VoIP services in enterprises and in manufacturing. This direction is gaining momentum and now the market is experiencing a shortage of specialists of this class. This applies not only to Cisco products, but to all VoIP products in general.
The certification path is as follows:
CCENT-> CCNA Voice-> CCVP-> CCIE Voice

Wireless: Confirms your skills and abilities in building and supporting wireless networks, and most importantly in understanding the operation of wireless technologies. This is a completely new direction, presented by Cisco, currently there is no Professional certification for it (CCIE is new). From my own experience I can say that, using the example of Moscow and the Moscow region, wireless networks on Cisco equipment at the district level have not been seen again.
The certification path is as follows:
CCENT-> CCNA Wireless -> (not yet) -> CCIE Wireless

Now you got an idea about the directions of Cisco certification Now you need to decide on the direction and start moving towards the achievement of the cherished goal. For this, I have prepared a scheme by which one can trace the “road” to one or another certification. The scheme is divided into levels, at each of which you can see the name of the certificate for which you need to be prepared. Having received such a certificate, you can continue your development further.



That's all. Next time I will tell you more about CCNA , how to prepare for it, on what materials, what simulators and on what equipment.

PS: This is my first article on Habré, so I ask you to unsubscribe what you liked, what you did not like. Is the article normal? Perhaps some additions or tips. After discussion, it can be corrected and transferred to the Cisco blog.
PPS: Well, of course, any of your wishes for the next article =)
PPPS: Updated shemku due to the fact that not everything will be so obvious to you, as it seems to me =) It is better to revise the shemkit again.
PPPPS: Thanks to rlaovai for helping to transfer to the Cisco blog.