Competition in the networking field is cut-throat and to remain ahead of your game, one has to consistently ensure they are increasing their skills and knowledge. In your journey to the top of your career ladder, every networking professional should know that the more networking certs they have on their resume the greater will be their demand by employers.
No doubt getting any IT certification is not a walk in the park. Acing and successfully obtaining a cisco certification requires sheer will power, determination and effort. It needs you to be consistently revising exam questions, attending classes, searching for new revision materials and basically doing whatever it takes so that at the end of your course you get to pass your Cisco certification exams.
What CCNP Involves
Cisco Certified Network Professional (CCNP) is an intermediate level cisco certification that networkers should consider obtaining. This certification can only be pursued by those who already have got the Cisco Certified Network Associate (CCNA) certification. However, you cannot immediately enroll for CCNP after you’ve got your CCNA. At least a year of experience in networking is equally a prerequisite of enrolling for the Cisco Certified Network Professional certification.
While CCNA qualifies you for many of the entry level jobs in networking, CCNP certification makes it possible for you to easily secure employment in more senior and demanding networking jobs. Some of the roles that this Cisco certification can enable you occupy include:
- Network Technician
- Support Engineer
- Network Engineer
- Systems Engineer
Remember though that while enrolling for CCNP certfication you will be required to specify a particular specialization path that you are interested in. Usually the path of specialization you choose should be that which you had selected at the time you were doing your CCNA. The major paths you can specialize in are CCNP wireless, routing and switching, collaboration, data center, service provider and CCNP security.
Regardless of the specialization path you choose, this IT certification mainly validates your ability to plan, setup and where necessary troubleshoot complex networks for enterprises and firms.
Recertification
Holding a Cisco certification such as CCNP comes with a lot of responsibility as you have to ensure you undertake a recertification exam periodically to prove that you have the required skills and knowledge to be considered a Cisco Certified Network Professional. Cisco Professional level certifications are often only valid for a period of three years.
For this reason, professional networkers are always advised to keep staying up to date with the latest developments in Cisco technologies and products. This way it becomes easier to pass their recertification exams and pursue even higher Cisco certifications than the CCNP.
