When an individual applies to take an exam, he must first establish his eligibility by meeting prerequisites. These requirements are based on national criteria and some of them require passing three Cisco classroom exams – CCNA or CCNP, CCSA or CCDA, and CCIE or Cisco Certified Network Associate. Once a person meets these prerequisites, he can now register for the CCIE exam, which typically takes about two hours to complete.
Once a person qualifies for passing these exams, he can now register for Cisco certification courses. There are several options available and the most popular one is to hire a Cisco consultant or trainer to help you study and prepare for the exam. If you opt to hire an individual to do this for you, then you need to know how much experience he or she has in implementing and administering Cisco exams. Hiring an individual who has been certified in an area as well as someone who is capable in conducting practice tests will significantly enhance your chances of success when it comes to passing the CCIE exam.
Cisco certification exams are categorized according to skill sets, which means that different candidates must learn and practice certain skills in order to be prepared for the exam. To make studying for the exam easier, there are prep labs available to test all skills and understanding in areas that the candidate needs to pass. These labs are administered by certified professionals and are usually affiliated with the testing centers. The exam includes questions based on the CCNA, CCNP, CCSA, CCIE, and CCDA exams.
Candidates who passed the CCNA exam will need to pass three to twelve exams in total in order to obtain Cisco accreditation. Two to three years is required before a Cisco certification exam can be taken. It takes about six months for candidates to pass their exams and another six months for them to get a full Cisco designation. At present, there are only five different Cisco certification exams and each candidate has to pass only one exam in order to become a Cisco expert.
The exams cover many different topics and the topics differ depending on the level of certification that a person has earned. Some of the Cisco certifications that are available are: CCNA, CCNP, CCNA Training, CCNP-D, and CCDA. The two highest recognized Cisco training centers are the Cisco Institute and Cisco School of Engineering. There are other Cisco certification courses that are available and many professionals prefer to take these courses because they are more focused and comprehensive than the ones offered by smaller Cisco companies.
Cisco is not the only IT company that offers Cisco certification exams. There are several others that offer similar Cisco exams and these include: Microsoft, Citrix, Sun, Alias Systems, NEC, eMC, Belvoir and others. These companies also offer IT certifications which are geared towards different aspects of an enterprise such as: enterprise data center design, enterprise security, cloud computing, wireless communications, networking, and device management. There are several types of exams that are offered for these courses: Certified Information Technology Application (CITA), Cisco Application Security (CASA), Cisco Systems Security Services (CSSS), Cisco Qualified Network Professional (QCP), Cisco Certified Information Manager (CCIM) and others.
Most certification courses are designed to enhance the skills needed to work in a specific department within an organization. Cisco is a great company with many opportunities for employment. However, many small companies do not have the budget to train their employees to work in Cisco’s world of switching, security, networking, and technology. Small companies can take advantage of a virtual Cisco network training course that will give them the knowledge they need to perform in-house IT functions while still paying for their classes. The virtual courses are also available to the public.