Chapter 8

Why Should You Get A CCNA Routing and Switching Certification?
From what you have read earlier, you know that any Cisco certification will boost your career in the IT industry. You also know that you can apply for different roles in the same company or a different company. The examinations will help you create a sound foundation of technical knowledge. You will also develop the necessary skills to help you move ahead in this world. You will see that these examinations will bring in quantifiable results in the form of better pay and better increments. Let us now focus on the CCNA Routing and Switching Certification. There are multiple benefits of getting a CCNA Routing and Switching Certification. Since technology is constantly changing, the roles and responsibilities of a network engineer and administrator are also changing.
One of the best ways to prepare yourself for these changes is to appear for the CCNA Routing and Switching certification. Let us look at some of the reasons why you should obtain this certification.
A Certificate from the Networking Leader
If you remember from the first chapter, Cisco was one of the first companies to have established itself in the networking industry. In the previous chapter, we read that this company introduced the routing and switching certification. Cisco is one of the leading companies in the networking industry. Most companies use products and services developed by Cisco to develop and build network pathways. If you want to learn more about how to work on Cisco products, you should obtain this certification along with some other certifications offered by Cisco.
The Certification Is Globally Accepted
One of the best things about any CCNA certification is that it is recognized globally and is accepted in different countries in the world. So, the validity of a CCNA certification doesn't have any geographical constraints. Anybody working in the networking industry. If you have this certification, you are in a position to negotiate higher pay and also obtain a better position in the organization. Currently, the number of CCNA jobs open on the market is steadily increasing, and they all require that the potential candidates have some CCNA certification as one of their criteria for job eligibility. All the knowledge you gain through the CCNA routing and switching certification will help you learn more about new modules and different methods of networking. The security courses and other information you learn while preparing for this examination will boost your career. Obtaining the first certification might seem rather complicated and also an uphill battle at times. Once you take this step, you can race through the other certifications since you will get the hang of it. After all, beginning well is half done, and this stands true for CCNA certification.
Your Networking Career Is Built on This Certification
Many networking employees and engineers are doing their best to obtain CCNA certifications ever since Cisco introduced them. There are different programs offered by Cisco. Studies conducted by IDC state that many networking companies look for different Cisco skills when they are hiring employees. Many employees include Cisco certifications along with other information on their resume. Employees must always have an idea of the different networks, infrastructure, and protocols that they need to use regularly. They need to know how they work together. When you obtain the Routing and Switching certification, you can obtain the expertise and knowledge that you will need to succeed in this industry. This knowledge will also help you troubleshoot any issues that occur within the network.
Ever since Cisco began to offer courses and certifications, people from the networking field, including administrators and engineers, have been working hard to complete these certifications. Many organizations also look for these certifications when they hire employees. As indicated by an ongoing report from the IDC (International Data Corporation), Cisco's abilities are among the most wanted for aptitudes while enlisting potential candidates. This need is constantly increasing by the day. The CCNA Routing and Switching examination will improve your knowledge and also validate it. You will be termed an expert in the networking industry. When you take up CCNA certification and successfully clear it, you can place yourself as a network administrator capable of troubleshooting network problems prevalent in networking areas. You will be able to create the infrastructure to back it.
When you hold the CCNA Routing and Switching certification, you will be considered before your other competitors. This certification will boost your career and give you better recognition in the networking field. When you hand your resume over to any company, you will be considered over other applicants who do not have this certification. Since you should recertify yourself in three years, you must recertify yourself. When you recertify yourself, you will learn about the latest developments in the field.
When you obtain the CCNA Routing and Switching certification, your career opportunities will increase. Based on a survey conducted by IDC, it was identified that seven out of ten organizations look for CCNA certifications when they are promoting or hiring an individual. You can move from the associate level to the expert level in the routing and switching certification. You can also improve processes in the company using the skills you develop as routing and switching expert in technologies like Collaboration, Cloud, Network Programmability, Data Center, Security, or Wireless. You can change the direction that your career will take if you have the routing and switching certification.
Certification Improves Your Learning
As mentioned earlier, the CCNA Routing and Switching examination will create a foundation for your networking knowledge. When you appear for these examinations, you can enhance your knowledge about networking. The CCNA examination gives you an efficient way to understand different concepts about networks. Regardless of whether you have years of experience under your belt in the field of networking or not, you will certainly need to keep up with the growing demand for specialized skills to keep up with your competition. There is indeed nothing that can substitute experience, but you need to stay abreast of the changes in technology. This is the only way you can maintain an edge over your competition. Before you choose to appear for all the examinations offered by Cisco, there are a few prerequisites that you need to clear. Only when you do this that you can appear for some of these examinations. The CCNA Routing and Switching certification are like the stepping-stone to move ahead in the Cisco Training courses.
Certification Prepares You for Network Evolution in the Digital Era
Since most businesses are now digitizing their processes, there is a rapid change in the network tools and infrastructure. Many manual processes have been replaced with the software-driven network architecture that depends on analytics, automation, visualization, cloud service management, and whether the network is open and extensible. A survey conducted by IDC revealed that the role of a network architect and engineer is the most important role in the IT industry. Professionals who want to improve their standing in the industry should embrace this change and work towards improving their profiles.
Certification Keeps You Current on All the Latest Technology Changes
Cisco has brought about major changes to the network architecture that businesses use. Apart from this, Cisco also works on developing an IT landscape that is conducive to different developments in technology. These developments will have a huge impact on your job if you work in the networking industry. Cisco always ensures that it is aware of all the changes that are taking place in technology and the IT industry. The company does this to ensure that every student appearing for these examinations is aware of how the changes in technology will affect their role in the company. The company also wants students to learn how these changes will affect the certification. The CCNA Routing and Switching exam is not an exception to this. Cisco constantly revises the curriculum to ensure that students are aware of every small change made in the industry. The latest curriculum (for further details, please check the previous chapter) includes elements of QoS and also how they can be used, interactions of firewalls, wireless controllers and access points, and network functions. You will also learn more about IPv6 and basic network security. This means that you can keep up with any changes in the technology field by obtaining the CCNA routing and switching certification.
Certification Helps You Stand Out with Your Employer
You are not the only person who gains when you obtain this certification. This certification is also beneficial to organizations in the networking industry. Ask your potential employers, and they will tell you that they will prefer a certified professional any day. Therefore, if you want to stand out, you need to obtain this certification. When you obtain this certification, your employer will know that you have the necessary knowledge and skills to get the job done quickly and efficiently. Your employer will know that you want to excel in your career when you begin to prepare for the CCNA Routing and Switching examination. Managed will notice this kind of an initiative. Based on a study conducted by IDC, close to eighty-two percent of leaders in digital transformation believe that people who have a certification help to accelerate innovation. Cisco certifications are credible, and many people do their best to obtain this certification. Many employers use the CCNA Routing and Switching Certification as a criterion to hire a candidate. It is always a good idea to have an additional qualification up your sleeve so you can have the edge over your competitors.
Certification Helps Increase Your Paycheck
The salary for a networking professional is very high since there are only a few professionals in this industry. You can most definitely expect an increment in your pay if you have the CCNA Routing and switching examination. As per a report by Robert Half Technology, in the 2018 Technology Salary Guide, CCNA routing and switching certification is one the most sought-after certifications in the industry. This salary guide showed that the salary could increase by ten percent or more if the candidate meets all the criteria. Most organizations also offer their employees a monetary reward for clearing the CCNA routing and switching certification. If you obtain the CCNA certification, that you can look for better career opportunities in the networking industry. The qualifications that you obtain will also lead to an increase in your salary. In every team, and employees given a role based on the different certifications they hold. If you have a CC any certification, you can climb up the corporate ladder pretty quickly. It is always a good idea to obtain this certification close to your appraisal cycle since this will ensure that you receive a higher increment.
Certification Helps You Learn from Your Peers
Professionals and individuals are doing their best to obtain more than one Cisco certification. Since many students appear for this examination, Cisco developed the learning network. This network is a community that enables students from across the globe to communicate with one another. It also aids in career development. There are a million professionals in this community. This community provides valuable support and also helps the members learn, study, and prepare for the certification examinations. If you are a member of the learning network, you can access a wealth of information, including training videos and material. You can also speak to your peers to clear your doubts or any other questions you may have about the industry.
Certification Gives You a Full Range of Training Options
There is no right way of learning when it comes to these certifications. There is numerous authorized learning partners comma, and each of these partners offers a variety of training options that will make it easier for you to understand the concepts covered in the routing and switching certification. You can either choose to enroll in an instructor-led training or a virtual classroom for the examination. You can also sign up for a hands-on lab session for both these examinations to stop the Cisco learning network also offers self-paced, E-learning, learning labs, and are there practice exams that will enable you to strengthen your concepts and prepare well for the certification. Cisco also provides numerous resources that you can use to prepare for the examination. This is school certifications that allow you to prepare for the examinations according to your convenience will stop you can choose to endure enroll yourself in a training program or a self-paced curriculum.
Don't Forget: There Is Value in Recertification
As mentioned earlier, Cisco routing and switching certification are valid only for three years. Having said that, you can recertify your certification at the end of 3 years. Cisco constantly monitors the industry and does its best to ensure that all the information included in the course material will keep the person writing the examination abreast of the changes in the industry. If you want to learn constantly and are happy to recertify yourself, you will learn more about the changes being made in the industry. We have covered recertification in the previous chapter in the book.
Secure Your Career through Routing and Switching
You must remember that digital transformation is changing the face of the world. It this is especially true in the case of every business in this industry since companies have to take advantage of these changes to maintain a competitive edge over other companies in the market. If you notice, every initiative that a company starts is a technology initiative point every ID professional is not only expected to improve different processes within the business but also know all the changes made in technology.
Businesses are doing better now since the development of the Internet of Things (IoT). IoT is constantly evolving. The importance of technology like mobility, big data, security, network design, cloud, application development, and data center operations, systems, or services integration, as well as enterprise architecture, is increasing. You need to understand how this will affect your career or your growth in the company. Since there are numerous developments taking place every single day, managers want to hire people with certifications and the required knowledge. These certifications will let the company know that you have sufficient experience in the routing and switching industry. A recent study showed that there was a shortage of employees with critical IT skills. Managers who were a part of this study would be only willing to hire candidates or promote those employees who had Cisco certifications. When you obtain the CCNA routing and switching certification, you will gain a competitive edge over other applicants or employees.
Unique Way of Learning
The Cisco learning network is unique since this is not only a learning platform but also a social network platform that is used for learning. You can think of this platform as a better version of the Internet. This network offers students the option to share information across the globe with other professionals and students. You can also avail of a wide area of services like training, simulation labs, corporate internships, job listings, programs for mentorship and recruitment, and various other things.
Personal Gratification
Most networking professionals wonder whether you should appear for the Microsoft or Cisco examinations. The Cisco certification program does not include any broad frameworks, which makes it simpler for the applicant to understand the concepts and complete the modules. These certifications are also not very demanding, which allows you to appear or pursue other certifications that will stop if you are a certified CCNA routing and switching professional, you can move on to Obtaining the professional or expert level certification in this course. Apart from all the other benefits discussed in the chapter, you will also receive another benefit that cannot be quantified; this benefit is personal satisfaction. When you are certified, you will certainly feel a sense of personal satisfaction. If you are a networking professional, you would be quite proud to have the C CNA certification against your name. If you are in the networking field, you are quite lucky since there is a shortage of qualified professionals in the industry. With the ever-increasing innovations and developments in the industry, a greater number of people must enter the industry. So, it is a good idea to cement your ground as a qualified professional in the networking industry by obtaining a CCNA certification.
The Changing Role of Core Network Engineers
Many businesses and organizations are now looking at adopting programmable network architecture. It is for this reason that most employees will need to develop the necessary skill set to understand, configure, design, and work with these architectures. Most companies are trying to get rid of CLI based interactions in the routing and switching infrastructure. They are now adopting a controller-based interaction that is driven by business and application policies. It is for this reason that Cisco updated its curriculum for the routing and switching certification in the year 2016 to ensure that every IT professional is aware of the changes in the industry. Those people who have not renewed their certification will need to pay attention to the following changes that were made to the syllabus:
  1. Understanding of cloud resources deployed in enterprise network architectures
  2. Awareness of programmable network (SDN) architectures and the separation of control plane and data plane
  3. Increased focus on IPv6 routing protocols, configuration, and knowledge
  4. Expanded VPN topics to include DMVPN, site-to-site VPN, and Client VPN technologies
  5. Knowledge of QoS concepts, including marking, shaping, and policing mechanisms to manage congestion of various types of traffic
Cisco always ensures that the syllabus is updated regularly to cater to the changes in the networking and technology fields. The material will always need to include some new developments so professionals can stay abreast of the changes made. When you obtain the router and switching certification, you can prove to your current and future employers that you know what networking is and the different solutions you can use in that industry. Many professionals do not renew their certificate or recertify themselves since they no longer require that certification. This is, however, a bad idea since you may lose out on future opportunities.