Here’s the thing: IT Engineering is a very competitive
field!
Network infrastructures are always growing, developing,
expanding. As a result, companies and enterprises need to adapt to new
technologies and practices in order to remain relevant in the market and to
quickly scale businesses. For all of us working in IT, this means that we also
have to remain competitive and updated to everything that’s new out there.
Getting certified is one of the best ways to demonstrate your commitment to
your profession. Not only does it add value to your skills and competence, it’s
also a way of showing your employer that you are a valuable member of the team.
To make things easy for you, I already made a list of the top ten
certifications to aim for this year:
CCNA R&S
Earning a Cisco Certified Network Associate (CCNA) is one of
the best ways for you to prepare for a
successful career in networking. Cisco owns 80% of the market when it comes to
routing and switching technologies. If you’re trained and certified to work on
Cisco products, your skills will be more marketable and more in demand. A Cisco CCNA Routing and Switching
Certification (200-125) provides you with the knowledge and expertise to
succeed in networking, even as technologies continue to evolve. The program
teaches you to install, monitor, and troubleshoot the network infrastructure
products that are being used by major companies.
CCNP
If you already have the CCNA, your next goal should be to
take the CCNP Certification (Cisco Certified Network Professional). It is
comprised of three exams: ROUTE, SWITCH and TSHOOT. The ROUTE 300-101 exam
certifies candidates in using advanced IP addressing and routing in
implementing scalable and highly secure Cisco routers that are connected to
LANs, WANs, and IPv6. The SWITCH 300-115 is a qualifying exam for the Cisco
CCNP and CCDP certifications and it certifies candidates in planning,
configuring, and verifying the implementation of complex enterprise switching
solutions that use the Cisco Enterprise Campus Architecture. Lastly, the TSHOOT
300-135 certifies a candidates’ ability to plan, troubleshoot and perform
regular maintenance on complex enterprise routed and switched network.
CCIE R&S
After completing the CCNP, getting the CCIE Routing and
Switching Certification (400-101) (Cisco Certified Internetwork Expert) should
be your next ultimate goal. There is also the CCDE (Cisco Certified Design
Expert 352-001) which focuses on one’s ability to perform design analysis,
justify design requirements, and develop a design implementation based on best
practices. If the CCIE is asking the “how” of implementing the technology, then
the CCDE is asking the “why”. Both certifications have a written and a
practical exam. The CCIE is accepted worldwide as the most prestigious
networking certifications in the industry. CCIEs are encouraged to continually
expand their technical knowledge and are required to recertify every two years
before the certification expiration date. The CCIE exam certifies the
candidates of the skills required of expert-level network engineers to plan,
operate and troubleshoot complex, converged network infrastructure.
Python
Python is interactive, object-oriented, and a high-level
programming language. It’s super easy to learn and understand Python syntax.
That’s why it’s still gaining popularity and is still being used to develop a
lot of great programs. Youtube, Instagram and Spotify are built off of Python.
And now the scripting language found its way to manipulate networks. I’ve done
some Python scripts a few years back to develop web-based applications and now
I integrate Python scripts into network devices to automate monitoring
capabilities. To know more, you can browse through the courses on Udemy: Python
for Network Engineers or you can also check out the Python programming
certificate program recently launched by the O’Reilly School of Technology.
CCNA Cyber Ops
This course was introduced at Cisco live last year and has
gained a lot of attention recently. The emergence of IOT (Internet of Things),
BOYD (Bring Your Own Device), DNA (Digital Network Architecture) where
everything will be digitized, security threats increases exponentially which in
turn increases the demand for cybersecurity. Former Symantec CEO Michael Brown
projected 6 million cybersecurity jobs by 2019, with a whopping 1.5 million of
those jobs being unfilled. For this reason, Cisco recently introduced a
Cybersecurity Operations (Cyber Ops) certification track and it doesn’t require
any prerequisite!
Citrix Certified Associate
Virtualization is still hot. Currently, 40% of servers are
virtualized, and surveys show that this will continue to grow. It’s quite
common for individuals within major organizations to rely on virtual services
when at home that’s why a lot of companies invest in cloud computing, which
refers to the use of remote servers to store data and allow users to access
information from anywhere. Having a certification like the CCA-N (Citrix
Certified Associate – Networking) is a huge increase to your value in the tech
world. According to the Citrix certification website, the CCA-N, “validates the
knowledge and skills needed to implement and manage Citrix NetScaler 10 for app
and desktop virtualization solutions in an enterprise environment.”
VMware Certified Professional 6
As a leader in the virtualization space, VMware
certifications are a must-have for many IT professionals, especially those who
support virtual environments. The VMware Certified Professional 6 – Data Center
Virtualization (VCP6-DCV) is a popular certification for candidates experienced
with VMware infrastructure technologies. A VCP6-DCV is proficient in installing,
implementing and managing VMware vSphere environments.
JNCIE-ENT
Juniper Networks provides networking solutions aimed at data
center environments. Juniper created the Juniper Networks Certification Program
Enterprise (JNCP) several years ago to certify professionals who can configure,
troubleshoot and maintain Juniper devices and equipment. Juniper’s router
revenues increased 3.5 percent, for a market share of 16.1 percent in 2016.
Knowing how to work with Junos OS is an excellent skill to have.
Wireshark Network Analyst
The Wireshark Certified Network Analyst (WCNA) recognizes
knowledge of network sniffing and analysis using Wireshark, as well as TCP/IP
network troubleshooting and network security.
You only need to pass one written exam for the WCNA and the
certification is valid for three years. This is a good add-on to other
certifications like Cisco, Juniper etc. It’s also pretty cool to be able to
look at packet captures and easily identify errors which makes it faster to
troubleshoot.
Systems Security Professional
This certification is granted by the International
Information Systems Security Certification Consortium ((ISC)²) a global
non-profit organization specializing in IT security. Being the oldest IT
security certification in the world, The Certified Information Systems Security
Professional (CISSP) credential is a valued certification for most
professionals and is highly respected by a majority of large, global majors
like Google, IBM etc. This certification is the ideal credential for those with
proven deep technical and managerial competence, skills, experience, and
credibility to design, engineer, and manage the overall information security
programs of their organization.
Conclusions
There are other things you can do to stay relevant in the IT
field. But certifications are an inexpensive way to show proof that you’re
skills are current and up to date. You can easily market yourself when you show
that you are willing to learn new things by getting certified. It means you
passed the industry’s measurement of knowledge based on their skill assessments
of the role where they are certifying the results of your testing efforts.
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