What is CCNA or Cisco Certified Network Associate?

In a world of technology, one of the largest and leading I.T vendor today is Cisco. They are the largest manufacturer of networking devices that supports large businesses and institutions today. And as we know, they offer/require different levels of certifications for you to be able to gain knowledge and be qualified to support different levels of their technologies.
In addition to that, companies and businesses today are eager to require certifications on their I.T employees. Of course, we're not saying that certification alone can tell if a person is really qualified or knowledgeable for a certain role. It needs to be backed up by skills and experience. If you're an I.T person, siguro hindi na lingid sa iyong kaalaman ang bagay na ito. Pero para mga bago pa lamang sa career na ito, susubukan natin ipaliwanag kung anu nga ba ng CCNA or Cisco Certified Network Associate.

According to Cisco's website, Cisco Certified Network Associate (CCNA) Routing and Switching is a certification program for entry-level network engineers that helps maximize your investment in foundational networking knowledge and increase the value of your employer's network. CCNA Routing and Switching is for Network Specialists, Network Administrators, and Network Support Engineers with 1-3 years of experience. The CCNA Routing and Switching validates the ability to install, configure, operate, and troubleshoot medium-size routed and switched networks.

Ibig sabihin ang CCNA ang nababagay na certification para sa mga bago pa lamang magsisimula sa networking career nila. This will provide basic knowledge and foundation on your cisco career. The CCNA routing and switching will furnish you with the right skills and experience before you drive into the battle of cisco networking.  


How to be CCNA?

There are two ways on how you can acquire your ccna certification. 

1. You need to pass the new ICND1 Interconnecting Cisco Networking Devices Part 1 and ICND2 Interconnecting Cisco Networking Devices Part 1 . Ibig sabihin kelangan mong maipasa ang dalawang sets ng exam na ito bago ka ma-certify bilang CCNA. The exam number for these are100-101 ICND1 and 200-101 ICND2 (Before September 2013 they were ICND1 v1.1 640-822,  ICND2 v1.1 640-816). Each exam costs $125 each. Passing Score is 849 out of 1000 pts. for 640-822 ICND1 and 85% for 640-816 ICND2. Hindi kailangan na sabay mong kunin ang mga exams na ito. Pwede na one after the other depende sa'yo as long as the first one is not expired.

2. If you are already familiar or confident about your knowledge, you can take up the composite exam - Interconnecting Cisco Networking Devices: Accelerated (CCNAX). Exam number: 200-120 CCNA (Before September 2013 it was CCNA v1 640-802 composite). This will cost you $250. If you're going to ask me, I prefer to take this one. Kumbaga isang exam at aral na lang and pag naipasa mo you're certified. This is the exam I took last 2013 and luckily naipasa ko naman.

So there you go, these are the 2 ways on how you can acquire CCNA certification. Topics and tutorials will be posted on this blog in the future. But if you need it now, you can go directly to cisco's website here.

FYI  Cisco's certification expires every 3 years. You need to re-certify or take a higher level exams to automatically renew your certification.