Cisco Certification Matures As Industry Reflects Expert Technology
Cisco's main stalwart, the Cisco Certified Internetwork Expert (CCIE) Routing and Switching certification, also Cisco's most popular training certification, recently experienced a major transformation, reflecting the technical advances in the field and incorporating job tasks most important to professionals employed today. The CCIE level of certification is the highest rated expertise level of demonstrated ability that Cisco currently provides, with the added distinction of being one of the hardest and most technically advanced certifications in the world, and generally reported as the highest salaried certification in the field. It was only natural that Cisco updated and revised the certification parameters to best resemble the technologies experts face on a daily basis.
Cisco queried over 1,500 industry professionals working with networks in their current jobs, and collated the received information into a listing of relevant and crucial duties most important to qualified experts and highly proficient authorities in the know. Cisco first removed exam questions any professional level student should already know. The resulting exam now focuses on added material that concentrates on the expert level skill set, covering more detail in the area of new routing technologies (Internet Protocol version 6, Multiprotocol Label Switching), performance routing, optimized edge routing and troubleshooting. The most significant change to the exam is the addition of a troubleshooting section in the hands-on portion of the lab. Resembling a real world situation, one fourth of the eight hours in the new exam contains a simulated network environment with trouble tickets the applicant has to diagnose, locate the system imperfection, and repair it.
Lora O'Haver, product marketing manager at Learning@Cisco, stated, "We wanted to make sure that we weren't just pushing our product, but that we were actually making sure that these certifications reflect what people are doing in their jobs."
It has also been observed that the new exam and all future adaptations will be harder to make the grade if the networking professional does not possess a great deal of networking experience. This change has been implemented due to the occupational position and related obligations of the professional working in the field. A solid recommendation for candidates desiring to take the exam would be to have a good three to five years under your belt first.
About K Alliance:
K Alliance specializes in assisting students and corporate teams to improve their technical knowledge and related abilities. Focusing on computer based training and online computer training videos, K Alliance delivers quality instruction in many areas, including IT training, certification tracks, such as Cisco CCNA training, desktop applications and soft skills. K Alliance also provides customized enterprise training management systems allowing courses to match each student's needs, progress tracking, detailed reports and many more features. Another K Alliance element is distance learning, permitting students to learn from their workstations as they participate in a live online training session.
If you would like to receive permission to use our articles on your webiste, you may contact us at permission@kalliance.com.
