Most of us know that Cisco has different tiers or levels of certifications. In each technology focus, there are three tiers that you can achieve. Those are the Associate, Professional, and Expert tiers. I’d like to take an opportunity to talk a little bit about my perspective on each of the tiers and how they could be viewed.
For this article, I am omitting the Entry level and the Architect level certifications. The Entry level really just a piece of the Associate level certifications. The Architect tier is an extension of the design track and is not ubiquitous across each technology focus.
1) The Associate level (CCNA)
This is the level that people typically start out at. Most tracks (technology focuses) allow you to earn this level of certification by passing two tests. The tests are primarily multiple-choice based and often do not test any hands-on abilities. You mostly pass these tests by memorizing facts and information so that you can answer the questions being asked. Books and documentation are your primary study materials and the benefit of hands-on experience is not as important here as it is with other levels.
While the CCNA tests do not get into technologies at a deep level, they will test you on a very broad range of topics. For this reason, they can actually be tougher to pass than you may originally think. I have had people tell me that they took a CCNA exam “for the heck of it” at Cisco Live that lined up with a discipline that they have been doing for many years and they failed. So experience alone is usually not enough to pass these exams. The breadth of topics and the inclusion of non “hands-on” topics usually ensures that most people will need to put in at least some studying. And for those people starting from scratch, it can take time to learn and retain information across the large range of topics.
While the CCNA can take some work to achieve, it really won’t equip you to be competent in a technology at a day-to-day level. It mainly gets your toes wet in a technology. I often like to compare certifications to college degrees (there are many similarities even though they have different scopes). I would compare the CCNA to an associate level degree (2 year degree). It’s a good start, but generally not enough education for most specialized job roles.
I would definitely encourage anyone to get their CCNA if you have to deal with a related technology in your job. If the technology is something that you only dabble in, then it’s probably OK to stop at this level. But if the technology is a significant portion of your day-to-day responsibilities, you’ll definitely want to progress to the next level.
2) The Professional level (CCNP)
This is a level that many people strive to obtain. Most tracks allow you to earn this level of certification by passing three or four tests. You also need a CCNA in the same technology as a prerequisite. Much like the CCNA, the tests are primarily multiple-choice based and often do not test any hands-on abilities. You mostly pass these tests by memorizing facts and information so that you can answer the questions being asked. Books and documentation are your primary study materials. But hands-on practice becomes more beneficial in helping to memorize information needed to pass the tests.
The CCNP starts getting into a reasonable level of depth into the tested technologies. The tests now focus on a subset of technologies since they are getting more in-depth. So in one aspect, the tests are more difficult because you are digging deeper. But on the other hand, you have fewer technologies to worry about for a given exam. So on the whole, I’d put them in the same ballpark as the CCNA exams in terms of the amount of preparation needed for studying. If anything, I often found it took slightly less time to study for a CCNP exam than a CCNA exam on average.
Thanks to the larger number of exams, the CCNP will usually take longer to achieve than the CCNA. But now you are really starting to learn technologies at an appropriate level for those that use them on a day-to-day basis. I would compare the CCNP to a bachelor’s degree (4 year degree). It generally prepares you competently take on technical roles. But you still have a lot of learning ahead of you to actually master the technology.
I would definitely encourage anyone to get their CCNP if you have to deal with a related technology in your day-to-day job. If I were managing a network team, I would make it a minimum requirement. If you didn’t have it, I’d make it one of the first priorities in your development plan.
3) The Expert level (CCIE/CCDE)
This is the top dog of the Cisco certifications (unless you want to count the Architect level). You achieve this level by passing a written exam (very similar to the CCNA/CCNP exams) as well as an 8 hour lab exam. The written exam is almost like a cross between the CCNA and CCNP exams. Like the CCNA, you are covering a very large range of topics. Like the CCNP exams, you are covering them at a deeper level. But the written exam is a mere formality when compared to the lab exam. The lab exam is what makes the CCIE so special. You have to be able to know the technologies well enough to properly interpret requirements, you need to be able to configure most anything, and also troubleshoot most anything. And all of this with an 8 hour time limit that often feels much shorter.
Preparing for the CCIE often starts out more in the reading/learning side, but soon moves heavily into hands-on practice. It takes a lot of time and resources to prepare for the lab. And if you fail, you just spent $1500 + travel for a learning experience and a so-so lunch. So the pressure is often pretty high. But you do not actually need to have a CCNA or CCNP in the related technology to go for the CCIE. The CCIE could be the first Cisco certification that you ever achieve if you wanted.
The CCIE gets even deeper into technologies than the CCNP does. Once you start focusing on the lab, the nice thing is that you can stop worrying about some of the extraneous stuff that you have to learn for the written exam. For instance, you don’t need to worry about the governing bodies of networking or some of the silly details like what color a certain alarm severity shows up as in your GUI. Now it’s all about making stuff work. So you practice configurations over and over until they become ingrained in you and you stop having to think about it.
Due to the large amount of technologies, the depth of the technologies, and the raw amount of practice needed, the CCIE often takes as long to pass as the CCNA and CCNP combined. Most people spend a minimum of 6-9 months and may take 2+ years in order to pass. Some people just give up after a while. It takes a lot of work. I would compare the CCIE to a master’s degree (beyond a 4 year). You have learned things at an advanced level and are generally operating at a high level of proficiency. Although there will always be more things to learn. You still won’t know everything about everything in the technology.
I would definitely encourage anyone to get their CCIE if you plan on working day-to-day in a technology for years to come. If you are going to devote years to working at something, why not become a rock star at it? It’s such a game changer in a career because it forces you to know how to configure most things inside and out. It also forces you to work under pressure and troubleshoot well. Plus, the CCIE carries serious value that will open your career up to a large number of possibilities.
So those are my general thoughts on the different tiers of Cisco certifications. This is based on my perspective of progressing through these 3 tiers across two separate technology tracks. Ultimately, they will mean different things to different people. But if you haven’t made your way through the tiers yet, hopefully you can benefit from the perspective of someone who has.
-Jeff Rensink
CCIE #24834 (R&S and Wireless)
CCIE Wireless Instructor – iPexpert, Inc.
About Jeff:
Jeff Rensink is a dual CCIE who passed the R&S lab in 2009 and the Wireless 2.0 lab in January of 2013. He also holds a bachelors degree in IT Management from Concordia University in St. Paul, MN.
Jeff has worked in the networking industry since 2006, starting in the enterprise space. In 2009, he worked on a team supporting one of the largest datacenters in Minnesota. His last employer was one of the premier Cisco gold partners in Minnesota, where Jeff was the lead wireless engineer for the majority of his time there. Jeff’s wireless experience spans local and national companies across many verticals including enterprise, retail, healthcare, education, and manufacturing.
