Earning a Cisco CCNA Routing and Switching certification is the best way for you to prepare for a successful career in networking.
Which is a great reason all by itself. But there are lots more.So read on, and discover the many advantages of a CCNA Routing and Switching certification – and the many reasons why you should earn one.
1. You’ll Be Certified by the Networking Leader
Cisco pioneered routing and switching technologies—and continues to lead the way, with the greatest market share and largest installed base across many industries. The overwhelming majority of today’s Internet traffic travels over network pathways built with Cisco infrastructure products. If you’re trained and certified to work on Cisco products, your skills will be more marketable, and more in demand.
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of IT managers say that training is critical to project success
of training saves 5 hours of lost productivity
of employees are willing to move to another organisation if their skills are stagnating
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2. Certification Is the Foundation That Networking Careers Are Built Upon
Ever since the CCNA program began, Cisco certifications have been coveted by network engineers and employers all over the world. According to recent research from IDC, Cisco skills are among the most included skills in hiring requirements. They are included more frequently than 97 percent of all skills requested. The need for an intimate understanding of network infrastructure and protocols, and how they work together, has always been relevant. Now, that need is intensifying. A Cisco CCNA Routing and Switching certification provides you with the knowledge and expertise to succeed in networking, even as technologies continue to evolve. The program teaches you to install, monitor, and troubleshoot the network infrastructure products that are at the very heart of the Internet of Things.
3. Certification Gives You More Career Options
With a CCNA Routing and Switching certification, your IT career path will have seemingly limitless possibilities. IDC has found that seven out of 10 organizations look for certifications when they’re hiring or promoting. With Cisco, you can continue upward along the Routing and Switching track, progressing through the Professional and Expert levels. Or you can apply your core skill to technologies such as Cloud, Collaboration, Data Center, Network Programmability, Wireless, or Security. These growing specialties are propelling IT forward. With Cisco by your side, you’ll be uniquely prepared to take your career in whatever direction you want to go.
4. Certification Prepares You for Network Evolution in the Digital Era
As business becomes increasingly transformed by digitization, the network infrastructure is experiencing radical change. Much of the manual process of operating traditional networks has given way to a software-driven network architecture that depends on virtualization, automation, analytics, cloud service management, and the ability of the architecture to be open and extensible. Recent IDC research reveals that network engineers and architects are some of the most important future IT roles to help support these changes. Professionals looking to advance in IT networking today need to embrace the shift. Cisco has introduced its Digital Network Architecture (DNA) to exploit the power of today’s network and is committed to helping you align to it starting with CCNA Routing and Switching.
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Skills and Training Pay Off
Many organizations offer rewards and recognition for employees who earn industry certifications.
47%
Salary
Increases
47%
Social Recognition
40%
Employee Rating Increases
34%
One-Time Bonuses
9%
Increased Benefits
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5. Certification Keeps You Current on All the Latest Technology Changes
In addition to encompassing major network architecture shifts such as with Cisco DNA, Cisco continually surveys the changing IT landscape for myriad technological developments that have an impact on our certifications and your job role as a networking pro. CCNA Routing and Switching is no exception. Cisco’s latest revision to the curriculum incorporates an understanding of quality of service (QoS) elements and their applicability, the interactions and network functions of firewalls, and wireless controllers and access points, along with additional focus on IPv6 and basic network security.
6. Certification Helps You Stand Out with Your Employer
By pursuing your Cisco CCNA Routing and Switching certification, you’re telling your employer that you want to excel in your career. Managers notice that kind of initiative. IDC has found that 82 percent of digital transformation leaders believe that people with certifications help accelerate innovation. And there’s particular credibility associated with Cisco certifications. In fact, prospective employers routinely use a Cisco CCNA Routing and Switching certification as a search engine term, or as a criterion for identifying job candidates.
7. Certification Helps You Learn from Your Peers
As more professionals are earning Cisco certifications, a vibrant learning and career development community called the Cisco Learning Network has emerged. This community is made up of nearly a million professionals, and provides valuable support, as members help one another study, learn, and pursue their IT goals. When you become a member of the Cisco Learning Network, you gain immediate access to study groups, training videos, peer-to-peer advice, and an impressive wealth of exam information.
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Who’s Earning What
See the average salaries that Cisco Certified IT professional are earning as they further develop their careers.
CCENT Entry Network Technician
CCNA Routing and Switching
CCNP Routing and Switching
CCIE Routing and Switching
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8. Certification Gives You a Full Range of Training Options
There’s more than one way to learn. And, through our Cisco Authorized Learning Partners, we offer a complete suite of flexible training options to make it easier for you to earn your CCNA Routing and Switching certification. You can enroll in instructor-led training, a virtual classroom experience, or hands-on labs for the ICND1 and ICND2 components of a CCNA Routing and Switching certification. The Cisco Learning Network Store offers self-study e-learning, learning labs, and practice exams all geared to prepare you for your certification test day. In addition, our authorized publisher Cisco Press offers a wealth of resources.
9. Certification Helps Increase Your Paycheck
Salaries for IT networking jobs continue to surge, often fueled by a worldwide talent shortage. And your Cisco certification increases your earning potential. In its 2018 Technology Salary Guide, Robert Half Technology lists CCNA Routing and Switching certification as one of the most sought-after certifications in North America, and adds that employers may increase salaries 5 to 10 percent for evidence of such in-demand abilities. In addition, many organizations frequently offer lucrative rewards and recognition for employees who earn Cisco certifications.
10. And Don’t Forget: There Is Value in Recertification
When it comes time to recertify your status as an IT superstar, you can be confident that the effort will remain a powerful, industry-recognized way to validate your knowledge. That’s because Cisco continually monitors its certifications to ensure that they are keeping pace with IT requirements. When you adopt the attitude of a lifelong learner and recertify, you make sure you are up to date in the training that you have worked hard for.
Future-Proof Your Career: CCNA Routing and Switching
Digital transformation is changing the world. This is especially true in the business world, where every company must take full advantage of technology to remain competitive. Today, every business initiative is also a technology initiative. IT professionals are not only required to stay on top of technology advancements, but also business practice and process improvements.
The Internet of Things (IoT) is now the engine that moves businesses forward. But IoT itself continues to evolve. And top technology initiatives, including security, cloud, big data, mobility, application development, network design, systems/services integration, data center operations, and enterprise architecture, are increasing in importance. What does this mean for you and your career? Now more than ever, IT managers are relying on certifications as proof of knowledge of all these new IT skills, as well as the core routing and switching background that supports so much of IT. Is your certification currently inactive? In a recent study, 60 percent of IT hiring managers acknowledged that there’s a shortage in critical IT skills. These managers also indicated that they value certifications, both in terms of having certified professionals on staff and hiring new candidates. And when you have the skills that are so vital for businesses to succeed, a world of new possibilities opens up to you.
The Changing Role of Core Network Engineers
As enterprises adopt programmable network architectures, the expertise required of core network engineers is evolving. CLI-based interactions with routing and switching infrastructures are giving way to controller-based interactions driven by business and application policies. To meet this demand, Cisco has updated its most popular certification, CCNA Routing and Switching, to enable IT professionals to fully harness the power of the latest Cisco technologies. Those who have let their CCNA Routing and Switching certification lapse will want to pay attention to these changes. The CCNA Routing and Switching certification has been updated to meet these latest shifts in technologies:
- Awareness of programmable network (SDN) architectures and the separation of control plane and data plane
- Expanded VPN topics to include DMVPN, site-to-site VPN, and client VPN technologies
- Increased focus on IPv6 routing protocols, configuration, and knowledge
- Understanding of cloud resources deployed in enterprise network architectures
- Knowledge of QoS concepts, including marking, shaping, and policing mechanisms to manage congestion of various types of traffic
Through the continually evolving training and certification available as part of CCNA Routing and Switching, you’ll be able to prove to your current and future managers and organizations that you are equipped with the latest and most powerful know-how in terms of industry solutions. One of the top reasons certification holders let their credentials lapse is because they have secured a position where they no longer technically require a current certification. But, with technology changing so fast, this might be the right time to reconsider.
Cisco Certified Professionals
Earn More—and Gain More
Professionals with Cisco network administration skills earn 9 percent higher salaries. And 65 percent of certified
employees surveyed confirm that certification has had a positive impact on their professional reputation. In addition, when asked how certifications have helped them the most, certified professionals mention being able to perform their jobs more efficiently, gaining newfound confidence for taking on projects, or enjoying higher performance ratings. As a Cisco CCNA-certified professional, you’ll be uniquely prepared to design, deploy, monitor, and troubleshoot the network infrastructure at the heart of IoT. And you’ll put yourself on the path to professional recognition and a promising IT career.
