Confused with which Cisco certification to do

Hi i am working as network engineer in a company for last 5 years I am unable to get job in a larger firm. I would like to increase my pay but havent been able to since I don have any specialization in the networking area. I have my Bachelors degree and have a Diploma in Computer Hardware & Networking from Jetking (India). I wanted to do cisco Certification but can’t understand which one to do. Some says doing CCNA is good. Others say the Cisco certs expire in 3 years, then you have to reappear for the exam. Please help me out.

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Nutter
Answer by Ron Nutter

Expert’s answer

If you are looking at the Cisco certifications, you have to start out with CCNA. This is the base certification and the foundation for anything else that you are looking at from Cisco (with the exception of CCIE). Any of the CCNA specializations such as CCNA Wireless, CCNA Security, etc all require that you have the base CCNA as a prereq. CCNP requires that you have CCNA before you can obtain CCNP.

All of the Cisco certs have a 3 year (except for CCIE which has a 2 year renewal cycle). As you take higher level exams in the Cisco line, all of your lower level certs are automatically renewed. Just about all of the technology certifications have a renewal/recertification component. This is realistic because with things continually changing, your certification needs to reasonably reflect the current state of what your cert represents.

As to which Cisco cert is the best one to go with will depend on what skills are in demand where you are in India. Either way, you have to start the process with getting your CCNA. That should help get some doors open for you and increase your pay level. Once you have done that, see what the opportunities are as to where you head next – route/switch, security, wireless or voice.