Certifications

Cisco Certified Architect, usually shortened to CCAr, once represented the top of Cisco’s certification pyramid. It was built for people who could translate business strategy into an enterprise architecture and defend that architecture before senior technical and business reviewers. That made it fundamentally different from a routing exam, a configuration lab, or even a conventional design credential. The important 2026 fact is that CCAr is no longer an active Cisco certification. Cisco’s retired-certification record lists Cisco Certified Architect as retired on March 1, 2021. That means candidates cannot pursue CCAr…

MCSE was one of the defining Microsoft credentials of the client-server era. For years, Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer and later Microsoft Certified Solutions Expert credentials signaled that a professional could design, deploy, and operate substantial Microsoft infrastructure. The program changed repeatedly as Windows Server, SQL Server, Exchange, SharePoint, private cloud, business applications, and Azure reshaped enterprise IT. MCSE is now historical. Microsoft retired the remaining MCSA, MCSD, and MCSE certifications and their associated exams on January 31, 2021 as it moved toward role-based credentials. That matters because older career advice…

The old “cloud wars” framing made sense when public-cloud adoption was often discussed as a winner-takes-all race. In 2026, that framing is less useful. AWS, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud are all broad platforms with mature compute, storage, database, networking, analytics, AI, security, and management services. The practical question for an architecture team is not which provider wins an abstract contest. It is which platform best fits the organization’s workloads, identity model, data strategy, operating skills, commercial relationships, and regulatory constraints. A serious comparison therefore starts with architecture rather than…

Microsoft’s certification catalog is large enough that choosing a credential by popularity alone is a poor strategy. A better approach is to choose a career path first and then select the certification that validates the work you want to perform. In 2026, five paths stand out because they represent distinct, durable job families across cloud operations, business intelligence, security operations, data engineering, and DevOps. The point of this list is not to rank the credentials against one another. They solve different professional problems. An Azure administrator should not pursue a…

Microsoft MCSA was once one of the best-known mid-level certification families in enterprise IT. It gave Windows Server, SQL Server, cloud, and client-management professionals a recognizable way to prove product-specific skills at a time when Microsoft certifications were organized around technologies rather than job roles. That history still matters. What has changed is the action a learner should take today: MCSA is a retired credential, not a certification path a new candidate can still enter. Microsoft announced the retirement of the remaining MCSA, MCSD, and MCSE paths in 2020 and,…

Cisco’s certification portfolio changed significantly in 2026. DevNet credentials moved into the Automation track, wireless returned as a dedicated professional and expert path, cybersecurity adopted the familiar CCNA and CCNP naming, and several concentration exams were refreshed or retired. The Cisco certification catalog should control current planning because the right path depends on the work you want to perform: general networking, enterprise infrastructure, network security, wireless, automation, cybersecurity operations, collaboration, service provider, data center, or expert architecture. A current associate credential aligned with your next job can be more valuable…

The International Council of E-Commerce Consultants, universally known as EC-Council, has established itself as one of the most influential certification bodies in the global cybersecurity education landscape since its founding in 2001. The organization emerged in direct response to the September 11 attacks, when a group of security professionals recognized the urgent need for standardized cybersecurity training and credentialing that could help organizations and governments better protect their digital infrastructure against increasingly sophisticated threats. From that origin story rooted in genuine urgency, EC-Council has grown into a certification powerhouse whose…

Cisco’s security certification landscape in 2026 is fundamentally different from 2018. The current portfolio includes an entry CCST Cybersecurity credential, CCNA Cybersecurity for security-operations fundamentals, CCNP Cybersecurity for more advanced cyber-operations work, CCNP Security for network and cloud security engineering, CCIE Security for expert implementation, and a Cisco Certificate in Ethical Hacking for offensive-security skill development. That means there is no useful single ‘best’ Cisco security certification. The correct path depends on whether your job is security operations, network security engineering, expert implementation, or offensive testing. The internal Cisco security…

IBM certification in 2026 is much broader than the product families that dominated older certification lists. IBM now maintains live certifications and credentialed learning paths across watsonx, generative AI, data and analytics, automation, security, integration, asset management, and enterprise infrastructure. A page titled “Best IBM Certifications in 2018” therefore needs more than a date change; it needs a different selection method. IBM’s own training catalogue encourages candidates to choose a path that fits their career goals, learn through courses and hands-on labs, then prepare with study guides and practice resources….

Current exam context: The CISSP credential continues to assess broad security leadership and engineering judgment. For the examinable domains and current weights, use ISC2’s CISSP exam outline, effective April 15, 2024. ISC2 has scheduled the next outline for April 15, 2027. Its reputation does not replace learning the actual scope of the current exam. The Certified Information Systems Security Professional credential, universally known as CISSP, has achieved a level of global recognition that very few professional certifications in any field can claim to match. Offered by ISC2, one of the…

Cisco’s certification portfolio in 2026 is far broader than the classic CCNA-to-CCNP networking ladder. Cisco now has role paths across networking, cybersecurity, security engineering, automation, data center, wireless, collaboration, service provider, field technology, and AI infrastructure. Several exams were also renamed, replaced, or retired during 2026, so older career advice can point to certifications that no longer exist. The current Cisco certification role paths are best understood by job family. Start with the technology area you operate, then move from associate knowledge to professional specialization and expert implementation where that…

Cisco’s entry-level certification landscape no longer resembles a list of 2018 routing-and-switching badges. In October 2026, beginners can select Cisco Certified Support Technician (CCST) for networking, cybersecurity or IT support, or prepare directly for CCNA when their networking foundation is stronger. Cisco Field Technician is another role-specific path rather than a compulsory preliminary step. Choose by the problems you want to solve. A help-desk learner may need troubleshooting and end-user support; a technician visiting sites needs hardware service skills; a future network engineer should practice addressing, switching, routing, wireless and…

An article titled “Cisco Certifications Overview 2018” now spans several certification generations. Most of the track names from that era—CCENT, CCNA Routing and Switching, CCNA Security, CCNA Wireless, CCDP, and others—are historical. The modern portfolio uses a different structure and should be read from current Cisco program pages, not from an old pyramid. In 2026, Cisco organizes certifications around entry and specialist programs plus the familiar CCNA, CCNP, CCIE, and CCDE brands. The key change is that those names now cover a wider set of modern roles, including Automation, Cybersecurity,…

2026 certification update: PMI updated the PMP examination in July 2026, emphasizing business outcomes, AI, sustainability and stakeholder engagement. CAPM, PMI-ACP and other credentials have independent eligibility and testing requirements; historical salary or exam claims below are not guaranteed current facts. The world of project management certifications has expanded dramatically over the past two decades, evolving from a landscape dominated by a single widely recognized credential into a rich and sometimes bewildering ecosystem of options that span methodologies, industries, experience levels, and philosophical approaches to how projects should be organized…

An IT certification can be valuable, but the value is not the badge itself. A good certification gives employers a clearer signal about what you have studied, gives you a structured way to close skill gaps, and can make a career transition easier to explain. A weak certification strategy does the opposite: it produces a long list of acronyms without proving that you can solve harder problems. The strongest approach is therefore role-first. Decide what work you want to be trusted to perform, then choose a credential whose current blueprint,…