The benefits of certification.
Enda Cahill, one of our UK & Ireland Cisco Champions from Innovate Ltd. You can find out more about Enda here.
Why should you put in the time and effort to achieve a Cisco certification? Let me explain some of the reasons why I make that effort.
There are many benefits to attaining certification from a vendor or industry body, some are obvious such as enhancing your C.V. for the recruitment process or contributing to an employer who is building a business in a partner program. Others are less obvious such as the confidence that accrues from knowing that you understand the subject and have proven it in an exam. Of course you must also recognise the benefit of the knowledge that you will collect and retain while preparing.
When I started my career the first certification that I achieved was the CCNA and there was definite satisfaction in achieving that. Since then I have progressed through the CCNP Security and recently completed the Cisco Certified Design Expert (CCDE) pre-qualification exam. That means that today the journey continues to preparing for the CCDE practical exam.
Clearly, I do place a value on the benefit of achieving certification. To me personally the value is in acquiring the knowledge of the scenarios and technologies that I do not encounter in the projects I complete. This knowledge along with the exposure to the thought processes and problem solving approaches outlined in the various books, blogs and videos which are used to prepare for certification exams are the real return for the effort put in.
I would encourage anyone who is considering taking a certification exam to go ahead and just do it, the benefits are many and long lasting. There is also a huge volume of information and resources to get started with and a very supportive community to get you through the challenge. The Cisco Learning Network is a great place to get started.
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