Cisco Certified network engineers are among the most prestigious and sought after employees for any company. Taking into consideration that every company has an IT network and that Cisco Systems is the networking vendor with the biggest market share, you can easily figure out why Cisco engineers are so popular. Just an indicative salary figure, a LAN/WAN network administrator in USA earns between 40,000 to 70,000 USD (depending on the location).

Cisco offers three levels of Career Certifications, starting with lowest to highest:

• Associate
• Professional
• Expert

To start your certification path, you need to earn the Associate level first. There are currently 6 Associate level certification areas, as shown below:

CCDA	Cisco Certified Design Associate. CCDA certified professionals can design routed and switched network infrastructures and services involving LAN, WAN, and broadband access for businesses and organizations.
CCNA	Cisco Certified Network Associate. The Cisco CCNA network associate certification validates the ability to install, configure, operate, and troubleshoot medium-size routed and switched networks, including implementation and verification of connections to remote sites in a WAN.
CCENT	Cisco Certified Entry Networking Technician. CCENT certification is the first step toward achieving CCNA. The Cisco CCENT certification validates the skills required for entry-level network support positions, the starting point for many successful careers in networking.
CCNA Security	CCNA Security Certification meets the needs of IT professionals who are responsible for network security. It confirms an individual’s skills for job roles such as Network Security Specialists, Security Administrators, and Network Security Support Engineers.
CCNA Voice	The Cisco CCNA Voice certification confirms that you have the required skill set for specialized job roles in voice technologies such as voice technologies administrator, voice engineer, and voice manager. It validates skills in VoIP technologies such as IP PBX, IP telephony, handset, call control, and voicemail solutions.
CCNA Wireless	CCNA Wireless recognizes the critical importance of professionals supporting wireless LANS including Networking Associates/Administrators, Wireless Support Specialists and WLAN project managers. The CCNA Wireless Certification validates candidate’s skills in the configuration, implementation and support of wireless LANs, specifically those networks using Cisco equipment.