1. CCNA
CCNA stands for Cisco Certified Network Associate is an entry-level certification offered by Cisco. The training course for CCNA delivers the skills required to manage, troubleshoot, configure, and track the requirements of network and operations at the associate level.
Earlier, there were different certifications for different domains like CCNA Cloud, CCNA Collaboration, CCNA Data Center, CCNA Industrial, CCNA Routing and Switching, CCNA Service Provider & CCNA Wireless, which was later converted into only one exam. Presently, Cisco offers only one certification and training course under CCNA that takes sections of all the above-mentioned domains. This was done to upgrade the quality of CCNA with more challenges and to validate multi-skilled individuals.
Some basic details:-
Exam Code: CCNA 200-301
Exam Duration: 120 minutes
Available Languages: English & Japanese
Conducted by: Cisco
Exam Fees: 300 USD
Schedule CCNA exam at Pearson Vue (https://home.pearsonvue.com/cisco)
The validity of Certification: 3 years
2. CCNP
CCNP certifications are the professional-level certification offered by Cisco. This stands for Cisco Certified Network Professional that validates the skills of configuration, installation, troubleshooting and managing the network and related devices at a professional level. This certification and training course is one step higher than the CCNA and hence validates deeper knowledge and skills.
The CCNP level has different certifications for different levels as this certification training is more precise. The domains of CCNP are:-
CCNP Enterprise
CCNP Data Center
CCNP Security
CCNP Service Provider
CCNP Collaboration
Cisco Certified CyberOps Professional
Cisco Certified DevNet Professional
Currently, CCNP security is among the most desired certification and training courses.
3. CCIE
The topmost level of Cisco certification is the CCIE referring to Cisco Certified Internetwork Expert. The certification is tough to get as it validates the supremacy over the network domain. The expert-certified with the CCIE certification is capable of handling the complex network devices and troubleshooting them along with having the idea and capability of designing the network.
The CCIE certification is the domain specified hence it has several certification options, such as:-
CCIE Enterprise Infrastructure
CCIE Enterprise wireless
CCIE Collaboration
CCIE security
CCIE Data Center
CCIE service provider
The candidate having the CCIE certification or training is eligible for many highly reputed and paid job, some of them are:-
Network Engineer
Senior Network Engineer
Network Security Engineer
Lead Network Engineer
Customer Support Engineer
Network Architect
Solution Architect
4. CompTIA Network+
The all-rounder certification and training for network automation can be termed CompTIA Network+. The certification course includes many complex to important topic areas all covered at once. Having trained for this certification can help the candidate to land on many decent job designations, especially for freshers. The designations like:-
Junior network administrator
Network field technician
Network field engineer
Computer technician
Help desk technician
System engineer
The certification exam will test the candidate on the following domains:-
Networking concepts
Network security
Infrastructure
Network troubleshooting & tools
Network operations
Some basic details of the CompTIA network+ certification:
Exam Code: N10-007
Duration of time: 1 hour 30 minutes
Format of exam: MCQ, performance-based and drag and drop.
Numbers of Question: 90 questions per exam
Language: English, German, Japanese (coming soon: Portuguese, Spanish)
Conducted by: Pearson VUE
Exam Fees: USD 338
The validity of certification: 3 years
5. CEH (Certified Ethical Hacker)
Certified ethical hacking is now the most demanded area for job opportunities. As in the last couple of years, the cyberattack and hacking have been a major concern for every organization as well as individuals. From governments to private companies, all want their data to be secure and safe by all means, especially from unethical hackers who use the data for their personal benefits.
Hence the need for ethical hackers emerged immensely in the last few years. Therefore, the EC council came up with the CEH certification and course where the candidate learns the skills of protecting the network and data by learning the hacking terms to defend the network from any external attacks.
Some basic details of CEH MCQ exam details:-
Exam Code: 312-50 (ECC EXAM), 312-50 (VUE)
Duration of exam: 4 hours
Exam format: MCQ
Conducted by: EC Council
Exam Fees: Application fee ($ 100) + Voucher fee ($950 ECC voucher)
Schedule CEH exam at EC Council or Pearson Vue.
The validity of Certification: 3 years
There are some more certifications like CompTIA security+, Checkpoint CCSA, Cisco ACI and more that have similar popularity and demand in the IT industry. One point to note is that these certifications will grow more and more in the upcoming time and that is for sure.