Cisco has one of the most industry recognized certification programs out there and, If you're looking to start or grow a career in 2022, Adding cisco's search will greatly improve your resume. In this article I'm going to go over the cisco certification program, The various levels within it how to earn the various cisco certifications and I'm also going to share with you a particular sweet spot within the certification Program that can really help you stand out when you're submitting your resume to hiring managers so last year, Cisco, Completely overhauled the certification program, And now, Let's take a look at what it takes to get cisco certified, Starting with the ccna.
But first, If you like, This content, Go ahead and hit that, Like button hit the subscribe button. Alright, So the ccna is the foundation level, Networking certification from cisco, And it covers the basics like osI model, Basic routing and switching protocols. And if you are completely new to networking, I highly recommend going for this certification first, As it will help you to establish that base level knowledge that you need to move on to the higher level certifications in the past.
The ccna actually was a prerequisite to be able to get the higher level certifications, But since the overhaul in 2020 - that's no longer the case now you can actually go on ahead. If you have that knowledge already established through say on the job education or on the job training, But I still highly recommended, As I said, If you are just completely new to this now, You may also hear about certain paths within the ccna. That's actually old information from before last year's overhaul, There used to be multiple ccna certifications, But now there is just a single cisco, Ccna, Cisco certified network associate exam and certification. So moving on to ccnp.
This was where you could really differentiate yourself through different technology paths that the CCNP breaks out onto and of that there are five different technology paths for the CCNP program. There is enterprise, There is service provider, Data, Center security and collaboration. Now the way you get a ccnp is you have to pass a minimum of two exams. You have a minimum of two exams.
You have to pass the core exam for the technology. You are focused on and I'm going to put up a list right here of the various core exams at the ccnp level. The other thing you have to do is you have to pass a focus. Concentration, Exam also referred to as a specialist exam, And that exam must coincide with the technology path of your core exam. So when you do the concentration exam plus the core exam that together will earn you a ccnp certification now the other feature that those concentration exams from the CCNP program gets.
You is every time you take and pass a cisco concentration exam. You will earn a cisco certified specialist certification and what this does, Or what this essentially means is that when you are earning a ccnp, You will also get at least one cisco certified specialist certification. Now the way this works here is I'm going to put up a list here. This is just in the enterprise track of the list of concentration exams for the enterprise ccnp, And when you pass each one of these, Of course, You would get this cisco certified specialist. For that.
The way that this really pans out is this actually creates. What I refer to as the sweet spot in certification programs - and this is what the hiring managers are really going to be looking for, As there is t're going over any cisco certifications that you have, Because this is a really your ability to show your strengths within That technology path, So if you've passed the cisco certified specialist for design and you've, Also passed the say, Wireless design, Then that shows that you understand how to design not only a physical cable network but also a wireless network and again this. As I said, This shows where your concentration is, Where your focus is within the technology path and where your strengths lie. So that can help you to differentiate yourself from the other candidates and I'm speaking from this from the perspective of being a hiring manager, As that is actually what my day job role is.
Essentially, I hire for my team so combining the with that core exam gets. You, The ccnp, Now onto the other side of the ccnp program. You have the that core exam and when you take and pass the core exam that gets you into phase one of the next cisco level of certification, The cisco ccie, Cisco, Certified internet working expert. That is the highest level of the cisco certification program and it is essentially a two-phased approach, So step one or phase one is you have to pass what is called the ccie written exam in the past? That was its own in the past.
That was its own exam, But since the overhaul of 2020, The core exam for the cisco certified networking professional, The ccnp that actually doubles up as the written exam for the ccie. Now, Once you have passed the ccie written exam that basically qualifies you to be able to do phase two of the cisco certified internet working expert and the phase two part is the lab exam. Now the lab exam is an eight-hour, Hands-on lab and that is done at various cisco locations around the world, For example, I'm in the united states and the lab exam here. As I'm doing, This, Article is currently done at their at the cisco location in dallas texas, So you actually have to physically get yourself to there to to do the lab exam. I believe in europe.
It is over in belgI where you have to go. Do the lab exam, So what makes the ccie lab exam so challenging is that in order to pass it, You have to go through two different modules of the exam. You have the design module and you have the deploy, Operate and optimize module. The design section takes three hours and the deploy takes three hours and the deploy section is five hours and to pass the exam.
You have to score above the minimum passing score on both sections and then on top of that you have to exceed the passing score for the test overall. So if, By chance you get a score, You did really really well on the deploy phase and your overall passing score is above the passing score for the exam as a whole. But you did not do very well on the design section and so your score. There was below the minim you did not pass the ccie lab exam, So this is why the ccie is considered such a highly regarded certification. It really challenges you with hands-on practical application of the skills that you've learned working in the technology that you're focused on and also I would just recommend I've got a article recommendation right here for how I went through the ccie process.
Now, When I did it, It was before the overhaul phase. So my story is going to be a little bit different from somebody going through the process today, But it still might provide you with some great insights as to what you need to do and the mindset that you need to have going through the ccie program. So there are some other cisco certifications that I didn't touch on in this article, And that would be the devnet certification program, As well as the cyber ops certification program. I'm going to do separate articles about those, Because those actually really just require their own article and the purpose for why you would want to go, Get those certifications.
Although no system is ever 100 percent protected, the ability for differentiating between typical network traffic as well as potentially harmful malware is considered crucial and provides the focus of this associate-level certification path. Also, if you wish to acquire this certification, you should gain the Cisco 300-610 Practice Questions, which are being offered at the EveDumps.
