Advanced Certifications: Taking Your Career to New Heights

There are only so many things you can do to a device. You can install it, configure it, manage it, monitor it, troubleshoot it and design larger networks that use it. Most certification families follow this path pretty reliably. Foundation-level certifications are focused on installation and basic configuration. Mid-tier certifications focus on management and troubleshooting. And advanced certifications center around design or even business-case development for a given type of solution.

Certifications provide extraordinary benefits in establishing the baseline skills required to fit certain job roles, especially at the entry-level. Foundation-level certifications like A+ and Network+, as well as the somewhat more advanced Cisco Certified Network Associate (CCNA) and Microsoft Certified Systems Administrator (MCSA) do a good job of helping prospective employers assess the knowledge and skills that job candidates will bring, and help services organizations build confidence in their capabilities by requiring the certification of all of their consultants.


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