Does CCNA Certification & Training Worth Your Time, Effort & Investment in Coming Years?

Over the years, the digital world has seen some huge and drastic changes in technologies. From wired phones to Bluetooth headsets and from wired internet connections to wifi super-fast networks. The era of technology is all about updates and changes over a while. So, it would be quite justified to say that if you want to survive in this digital era, you also have to update your skills and knowledge accordingly.

And this is where the roles of certifications and training courses come into the picture. Especially if you are a working professional in the IT industry, no matter the job role you have, there is always scope for changes and updates or you can say, to get on one step forward in your career.

Moving with the updates, recently, Cisco made a huge change in their certifications and training courses. To fulfil the need of the digital era, Cisco collaborated with all the different domains of CCNA certification and made it one examination to make it harder and deliver multi-skilled knowledge.

What is CCNA certification?

CCNA stands for Cisco Certified Network Associate, is an entry-level certification offered by Cisco. The certification validates the skills required to enter the world of network and security with a strong understanding of the devices and tools.

Earlier, the CCNA certification had different domains like CCNA Cloud, CCNA Collaboration, CCNA Data Center, CCNA Industrial, CCNA Routing and Switching, CCNA Service Provider & CCNA Wireless. But for the sake of technology and the digital era’s demand, the CCNA certifications were updated with their levels and merged all into one as CCNA certification.

This huge change eventually helped the certification retain its market value in the IT industry thus, the CCNA certification can benefit the candidates in different manners.

According to recent surveys, CCNA stands in the top 10 network and security certifications that can make the candidate land a highly-paid and reputed job easily. Even in the coming times, the demand for CCNA professionals will increase as the number of users is increasing exponentially. The organizations are hiring professionals to manage and secure their networks with the best possible devices, tools and skilled managing professionals.

 

What are the benefits of CCNA certifications and CCNA training courses?

If you are planning to invest your time and money in a certification course then you must be aware of all the benefits of it so that you can decide if it is worth it or not.

With the investment of 300 USD as exam fee and approx 100 USD in the training course along with the hard work to study, the candidate will get the following benefits through CCNA certification and training course.

1.   Adaptation to new skills

The CCNA certification training courses include some much-needed skills of this era. The CCNA training courses prepare the candidate with skills like:-

a.    Everything about switches and routers from A to Z

b.    Detailed learning about LAN. Like, switch and router installation, configuration, and operations.

c.    All about ethernet.

d.    About TCP/IP transport layer and application layer

e.    ACL and its application

f.     Working on STP and RSTP.

g.    Management of Cisco devices

h.    Relevant things about security threats and defence technologies

i.      Basic designing of IOS system monitoring tools.

And the list goes on. Currently, these skills are highly in-demand by different organizations to make their network function more smoothly and safely.

2.   Validation of the skills

The certificate received after qualifying for the CCNA certification exam provides an authentic stamp on your skills. It will help the employers to believe sooner that you possess the skills required by a network and security professional to perform the daily tasks.

3.   Increased market value

The training and certification will portray your seriousness and dedication to your career. Also, adding the skills and validating them will help you stand out in the crowd by increasing the potential levels in you.

4.   Hands-on experience

The CCNA training courses includes virtual labs practices that include a real-time project lime environment where the candidates can practice what they learn and polish their skills.

5.   Increased chances of being hired

In a bunch of candidates where there are several applicants for the same job role, your resume will shine out because of the certification you have attained. This will make the employer believe that you already have sufficient knowledge and skills to start the work ASAP.

6.   Higher salary packages

When the candidate will be identified as an asset for the organization. The company gives their best to retain the employee for a longer period. And for the same purpose and to value the skills the candidate possesses, he/she is offered higher salary packages than others.

7.   entry-level certification with higher scopes

CCNA is an entry-level certification, but also a prerequisite for many higher-level certifications. Acquiring CCNA certification and training will open the doors for the higher level of certifications to get them in a more appropriate and structured way than directly jumping on the high-level certifications.

8.   Good to go for freshers

As mentioned above, the CCNA certification is an entry-level certification, hence it is best for those who are willing to start their career in the field of network and security. But also, CCNA certification and training courses are beneficial for those as well who have started their career in the field. Yes, those who are at the early stage of their career can also prefer this certification as it will add to the authenticity and capability levels for the candidate.

9.   Open doors for different job roles

When you are prepared with such a set of skills and clears the hurdles of examination pressures, you eventually become capable to earn the following designations:-

●        Network Administrator 

●        Network Engineer

●        Entry-Level Network Engineer

●        Network Security Specialist

●        Data Center Network Administrator

●        Network Design Engineer

●        Project Manager

●        Service Provider Network & Support Technician

Basic details of CCNA certification exam

If you feel like CCNA certification and training courses would be beneficial for you and your career, then the following are some basic details about the CCNA examination.

 

1.    Exam Code: CCNA 200-301

2.    Exam Duration: 120 minutes

3.    Available Languages: English & Japanese

4.    Conducted by: Cisco

5.    Exam Fees: 300 USD

6.    Schedule CCNA exam at: Pearson Vue (https://home.pearsonvue.com/cisco)

7.    The validity of Certification: 3 years

8.    Prerequisite: there is no formal prerequisite for the CCNA examination or training course. However, basic knowledge of network and security devices is recommended with at least 3 months of hands-on experience.