Cisco Scores 500,000 Certification Mark
4/22/2003 -- Cisco Systems announced yesterday that the company awarded its 500,0000th certification in March.
The only other companies known to have reached the half-million mark in their IT certification programs are Microsoft and Novell.
Cisco declined to provide a breakdown of the count by titles, but did say that the Cisco Certified Internetwork Expert (CCIE) community has grown to 9,500.
"The continuing growth and adoption of Cisco Career Certifications, particularly in security and IP telephony, is evidence of Cisco's preeminence in the networking industry and increasing confidence in the competence of certified professionals," Tom Kelly, vice president of Cisco's Internet Learning Solutions Group, said in a printed statement announcing the milestone. "For employers and network professionals alike, Cisco certifications are badges of expertise, aptitude and hands-on capability that is unparalleled in the industry."
Cisco launched the CCIE title in 1993, with the full program (associate, professional, and expert levels) debuting in 1998. Since then, the program has grown into seven Career certifications (plus several CCIE tracks) and 13 Certified Specialist titles. Aside from the lab-based CCIE, some of Cisco's most well known certifications include the Cisco Certified Network Associate (CCNA), the Cisco Certified Network Professional (CCNP) and the Cisco Certified Design Professional (CCDP).
Last year, CertCities.com's readers voted Cisco's certification program as the best IT certification program. Its CCIE title also topped CertCities.com's list of the 10 Hottest Certifications for 2003.
More information on Cisco's certifications can be found here.  -B.N.
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There are 60  user Comments for “Cisco Scores 500,000 Certification Mark”
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| 4/28/03: Anonymous says: |
Like Haze, I also possess more than 20 years of work experience in the I.T. field. The problem with certification is it's a never ending battle of studying to keep up with the joneses. I'm all for having certs, but after a while you have to wonder if it's worth it (a person holding just a CCNA and no other education past high school, and no experience isn't going to get an interview). In some news articles, the trend at the moment is to hire people with experience (in most cases, 3 years plus college education, degree, certs, or a combination). I'm employed, and do not like the trend i'm starting to see in this field (which looks like it's starting to head downhill in a hurry), IMO. |
| 4/28/03: Anonymous says: |
Haze, I think a majority of the people that are frustrated are so because of the lack of jobs out there. I would tend to believe that there are many skilled IT people in the field that are jobless and need to pay rent and other bills. There are two things I blame for this. First of all the lack of attention the President is giving to this economic situation. The Iraq war will only hurt things due to our spending billions that we dont have. We were in the red before this all happened. Second, to this day I can't believe training schools are still in business. They may give you good traiing in the 5-7 month time span. But how well trained can you be for situations that are not covered in any MS courseware? If people still buy into this "get MCSE and make 70k" and the advertisement continues despite the economic situation, how can it not hurt the industry? Certs are what you get out of them, but they will no longer get you the job. They are good to have but only go as far as the interview process, unfortunately. Expect the current IT situation to be the same into 2004, I would imagine. Now I hear Computertraining.com is opening a new campus outside of philadelphia? That tells me they are pumping out MS and cisco certified people soo often that the scale of jobs to people has tipped to the opposite side. It is only a matter of time, I believe, until the people that dont truly enjoy IT or technology and were driven by the misleading salary figures will find new careers. Its quite upsetting to hear these myths about MCSE's making 70k right off the bat. The key things to have in this industry is plent of experience, even if it is with friends, its knowledge that CAN be applied to a resume since it is revelant to the job you are looking for, a 4 year college degree or a masters and more than the MCSE. Certs can still be a validation of ones knowledge if they know what they are doing at a certain situation, a situation that no cert or class can prepare you for. That is where the skills come in. I've met CCNA's that had no idea what the difference was between NTFS and FAT32 or MCSE's that did not know how to do a domain controller promotion. I asked them how the heck they passed their exam, their answer, memorized the answers while having no clue of concepts. Thats what has saturated this market and the companies only find that out during the interview. So if the person is CCNA for example they will get to the interview process and get stumped if the jo involves cisco knowledge, and wont be able to differentiate between IGRP and RIP. Estimate, look for a slight uptick in tech in mid to late 04.HOPEFULLY |
| 4/29/03: Anonymous says: |
Again, it's all down to how people get their certs, studying and practicing, or memorizing. Interviews and on-site tests will most likely filter the bad from the good ones. The $70k for MCSE or 6-digits for CCNP is a complete hoax, I never buy that. I'm an Aplus, will be getting CCNA soon, and working on MCSE and Citrix thereafter, and expecting only $30k from a local company. How do I study? I use at least 3 books per exam, courseware if any, and build my own home lab for hands-on. When the time comes for CCNP, I'll definitely get myself a router or two. You tell me they're no valid and not enough experience, yeah true, but at least I put effort and money to get to know what I'm doing. My valid experience would be my first job in that local company, after graduating in CIS from a university last 4 months. |
| 4/30/03: Anonymous says: |
500K? Wow! I didn't know it was that many (or that bad)... I remember obtaining my CCNP a couple of years ago, after working from one ISP to another - proudest moment of my life! I knew I earned something of value after working day after day on Cisco routers, switches and PIX firewalls, and finally get the salary and promotion, over these newly-hired, 21 yr old CCNAs. Nowadays, I sit in on interviews of candidates to filter out the "paper certified" from the truly skilled. If there was one good thing this economy had done, it would be the fact that we had gotten smarter with spending money. Companies no longer hire someone off the street, just because s/he is a CCNA, or an MCSE, or whatever... I come in for my company as a "tech axe" - making sure that the person across the table is exactly who and what they are perpetrating to be (many private companies, as well as federal, have started this trend). And it seems to be working! There aren't as many jobs out there anymore, as oppose to a couple of years ago; but if you can prove what your resume or your lapel pin says you are, chances are you would get the job! So if you are one of these multi-certified, bitter, dot-com dreaming, unemployed "techies", whose only "hands-on" experience is the CBT RouterSim - do yourself a favor and pick another career (or better yet, go back to school and start planning for one!). |
| 4/30/03: Haze from Hawaii says: |
Here, here!!!!! |
| 4/30/03: Anonymous from Pennsylvania says: |
Can't get a PC support job let alone router, switch work. Certs are becoming more and more worthless. Spend your time in college instead, much more worth the effort. |
| 4/30/03: Anonymous says: |
At the fifth paragraph there is a mistake regarding CCNA meaning. CCNA means Cisco Certified Network Associate not Administrator. This is ridiculous!!!!. Before writting you need to check all information. |
| 4/30/03: anonymous says: |
CCNA doea mean Cisco Certified Network Associate but there are a few terms to define the creential. Network administrator is one that i often used as well, not necessarily incorrect though as it can fall into the role of an admin. Certs are what you get out of them but I think today a B.A or Masters probably holds more value since not everyone is cut out for school and there is no way to meorize your way to a b.a or masters. |
| 4/30/03: Becky Nagel from Editor, CertCites.com says: |
ARTICLE CORRECTED: Associate typo fixed! -- Becky Nagel, Editor, CertCities.com |
| 4/30/03: Jason Smith from DC says: |
I agree that saying you can braindump the CCIE is a joke. It took me a few times to take that test and you can memorize all the commands that you want but if you don't know how to implement it the way they want you too than you are screwed. There is no doubt about it, just about any CCIE you meet, they are shit hot, period. As far as certifications and braindumping I find that yes memorizing the questions and answers is valid, because what the hell do you do anyway for school. Hello, you are memorizing everything for the test. If know memorize that OSPF uses 224.0.0.5 and .6 for neighbor relationships than guess what you just learned something and that is good. |
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