CCNA Certification: Overview and Career Path [updated 2020]
What is the CCNA certification?
If you ask someone to mention some cornerstone IT certifications, CCNA will most likely be on the list. The acronym stands for Cisco Certified Network Associate, and it is the entry point to Cisco’s certification system. The official name of the exam needed to gain CCNA is Implementing and Administering Cisco Solutions.
The CCNA has undergone a major revision in 2020, as have almost every Cisco certification. In this new version, you need only one exam, after which you’ll get a paper that certifies your familiarity with general networking fundamentals, routing and switching technologies, Wide Area Networks (WAN) and wireless networks, security and other relevant networking topics, including programmability and automation.
The CCNA certification is administered by Cisco. This company is a networking equipment vendor that manufactures many kinds of networking devices, as well as developing network-related standards and protocols. They have been on the market for quite a while (since 1984), have built a strong brand and are the market leader in areas such as enterprise routing and switching.
Why did Cisco combine the CCNA, CCENT, CCDA and CCNA Security exams?
Up until now, the CCNA certification could be done in two ways: in one complex exam or two separate exams. This new version has only one exam, which is simpler and more transparent. Under the old system, you could choose various paths to continue in specializations after the base certification (security, design, voice, wireless and so on) and it was still the CCNA level. So there were a lot of options to choose from. Now the situation is much simpler: one curriculum and one exam, at least at the associate level. At the CCNP level, there are more paths available if you need deeper understanding in specific areas.
*** This is a Security Bloggers Network syndicated blog from Infosec Resources authored by Adeolu Owokade. Read the original post at: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/infosecResources/~3/6GQjP_6sVmQ/