Becoming a CCNA Network Engineer – 2 Paths to Your CCNA Career

by Francis Teo on July 24, 2009
in CCNA Exam Tips, Cisco CCNA Test Overview

CCNA Career Tip – Why Obtain the CCNA, Not Just the CCENT Certification

There are currently 2 ways to obtain the CCNA certification and to launch your CCNA network engineer career, the 1 exam (640-802 CCNA exam) or the 2 exam method (640-822 ICND1 and 640-816 ICND2). After passing the ICND1, you will become a certified CCENT (Cisco Certified Entry Networking Technician, which is considered by Cisco to be the new entry level networking certification for Cisco networking.

In reality, because the CCNA certification has been the entry-level Cisco networking certification for so long, most employers are familiar only with the CCNA certification (together with the CCNP and CCIE certifications), so it would be harder to get a job with just a CCENT certification. Because of this, I strongly recommend getting the CCNA instead of just the CCENT. After you have finished the CCNA certification, there are several other paths and specializations that have been introduced by Cisco, and they are summarized on the Cisco IT certification and career paths site.

How To Choose – 1 CCNA Exam or 2 ICND Exams

First off, there is no cost difference in going either route. The ICND1 and ICND2 exams cost $125 each, while the CCNA exam costs $250. Both ways will effectively give you the CCNA certification.

If you have prior experience with other networking certifications (e.g. Network+), and you are already somewhat familiar with the OSI model, basic routing and switch, IP addressing and subnetting, I would recommend studying for and attempting the 1 exam CCNA test just to get it over and done with. Personally, I took the 1 exam CCNA test and passed first time. I noticed that many of the questions required the combined knowledge of both the ICND1 and ICND2 sections of the CCNA exam syllabus, and for that reason, may be slightly more difficult.

If you are new to the IT industry, I would definitely recommend that you take the ICND1 and ICND2 papers separately to obtain your CCNA certification. IT networking is still quite a niche career choice when you consider that there are so many programmers in the IT industry as a whole. There are also many terms and concepts unique only to Cisco and networking. In order to reduce the feeling of being overwhelmed, I encourage you to do the CCNA exam tests separately if you are new.

Don’t forget that there are many options for self-study material and plenty of help is always available if you are lost. Please see my post on CCNA books for more advice on CCNA preparation material. Above all, don’t be discouraged. The road to CCNA is long but rewarding.