Introduction: Overview of Certification and How to Succeed

Professional certifications have been an important part of the computing industry for many years and will continue to become more and more important. Many reasons exist for these certifications, but the most popularly cited reason is that of credibility. All other considerations held equal, the certified employee/consultant/job candidate is considered more valuable than one who is not.

Cisco Certifications: Training Paths and Exams

The Cisco Certified Internetwork Expert (CCIE) certification program has been available since the early ’90s. This  long-standing certification has maintained a high degree of credibility and is recognized as a certification that lives up to the name “expert.” The CCIE certification process requires passing a computer based test and then a two-day hands-on lab. Recertification is required every two years to ensure that the individual has kept skills up-to-date. Many problems were created by having one highly credible, but difficult to pass, certification. One problem was that there was no way to distinguish between someone who is almost ready to pass CCIE and a novice. The CCIE lab test is meant to prove that the individual not only has mastery of many topics, but the ability to learn and unravel situations quickly and under pressure. Many highly respected engineers have failed the CCIE lab on the first try. Employers wanting to reward employees based on certification, employers looking at prospective new employees, and network managers trying to choose between competing consulting companies have had too few Cisco-related certifications on which they could base their decisions.

In an effort to solve these problems, Cisco Systems has created several new “Cisco Career Certifications.” Included in these new certifications is a series of certifications related to routing and switching. The Cisco Certified Network Associate (CCNA) certification, accomplished by passing a computer-based exam, is one of these new certifications oriented toward routing and switching. CCNA is the first certification in this series. If you understand the protocols listed in the table of contents, plus how they apply to the network diagramed in Figure I–1, then you are a candidate who should be ready for the CCNA exam.