Top Cisco Certifications Worth Gaining In 2018

The year 2018 represented a pivotal moment in the networking profession, with organizations worldwide accelerating their investments in enterprise infrastructure, cloud connectivity, security architecture, and software-defined networking at a pace that created extraordinary demand for skilled and credentialed network professionals. Cisco Systems, as the dominant force in enterprise networking technology with a market presence spanning virtually every industry and geographic region, maintained its position as the most recognized and respected source of professional certification in the networking field. Earning a Cisco certification in 2018 carried significant professional weight, signaling to employers not merely that a candidate had studied relevant concepts but that they had demonstrated validated competency through rigorous examination processes developed and administered by the industry leader.

The certification landscape offered by Cisco in 2018 was both comprehensive and strategically structured, organized across multiple technology tracks and five distinct levels of expertise from entry through architect. This structure allowed professionals at every stage of their careers to find a meaningful and achievable certification target that aligned with their current experience level and their aspirations for advancement. Whether a networking newcomer seeking their first professional credential or a seasoned network architect pursuing the pinnacle of Cisco recognition, the 2018 certification portfolio offered pathways that rewarded investment in preparation with credentials that commanded genuine respect and meaningful salary premiums across the global technology employment market.

The CCNA Routing and Switching Foundation Credential

The Cisco Certified Network Associate Routing and Switching certification stood as the most widely recognized and broadly pursued credential in the Cisco portfolio throughout 2018, serving as the definitive entry point into professional networking for hundreds of thousands of candidates worldwide. This certification validated the foundational knowledge and practical skills required to install, configure, operate, and troubleshoot medium-size routed and switched networks, covering the core technologies that formed the backbone of enterprise network infrastructure at the time. For candidates transitioning into networking from other IT disciplines or entering the technology field for the first time, the CCNA Routing and Switching represented the single most impactful credential available for establishing professional credibility in the networking domain.

The examination content for the CCNA Routing and Switching in 2018 covered a comprehensive range of networking fundamentals including the OSI and TCP/IP models, IPv4 and IPv6 addressing and subnetting, Ethernet switching concepts including VLANs and trunking, spanning tree protocol, inter-VLAN routing, static and dynamic routing using protocols such as RIPv2, OSPF, and EIGRP, wide area networking technologies, network address translation, and foundational network security concepts. Candidates could pursue the certification through either a single composite examination or two separate examinations covering introduction to networks and routing and switching essentials, providing flexibility in how they structured their preparation and examination schedule. The CCNA Routing and Switching consistently appeared among the most frequently cited certifications in networking job postings throughout 2018, making it the highest-priority credential for candidates entering or advancing in the networking profession.

CCNA Security for Cybersecurity Career Advancement

The escalating frequency, sophistication, and business impact of cybersecurity threats throughout 2018 created intense and growing demand for network professionals who combined traditional infrastructure expertise with specialized knowledge of security technologies, policies, and implementation practices. The CCNA Security certification addressed this demand directly by validating the skills required to develop a security infrastructure, recognize threats and vulnerabilities to networks, and mitigate security threats using Cisco security technologies. For networking professionals seeking to differentiate themselves in a competitive job market or transition into the rapidly growing cybersecurity domain, the CCNA Security represented one of the most strategically valuable credential investments available in 2018.

The curriculum underlying the CCNA Security examination covered security concepts including common network attack methodologies and mitigation strategies, the implementation of AAA services using Cisco Secure ACS, the configuration and verification of firewall technologies on Cisco ASA appliances, the implementation of intrusion prevention systems, the configuration of site-to-site and remote access VPN technologies, and the security hardening of network infrastructure devices including routers and switches. The credential was designed for candidates who had already established foundational networking knowledge through the CCNA Routing and Switching or equivalent experience, ensuring that security concepts were presented and assessed within the context of practical network implementation rather than in isolation from the infrastructure they were intended to protect. Organizations facing mounting pressure from regulatory compliance requirements and escalating security incidents were actively seeking professionals who held this credential throughout 2018.

CCNP Routing and Switching for Seasoned Network Professionals

The Cisco Certified Network Professional Routing and Switching certification occupied the critical professional tier of the Cisco certification hierarchy in 2018, representing the credential that separated experienced and highly capable network engineers from the broader population of certified network associates and establishing the foundation for advancement into expert-level roles. This certification validated the ability to plan, implement, verify, and troubleshoot local and wide-area enterprise networks while working collaboratively with specialists on advanced security, voice, wireless, and video solutions. For network engineers with several years of hands-on experience who sought formal recognition of their advanced capabilities, the CCNP Routing and Switching was the natural and most impactful target certification.

Achieving the CCNP Routing and Switching in 2018 required passing three separate examinations covering the distinct domains of routing, switching, and troubleshooting and maintaining networks. The ROUTE examination covered advanced routing protocols and technologies including complex OSPF configurations, EIGRP advanced features, BGP implementation for enterprise networks, IPv6 routing, and routing policy manipulation. The SWITCH examination addressed advanced switching topics including multilayer switching, high availability technologies such as HSRP, VRRP, and GLBP, advanced spanning tree configurations, and campus network design principles. The TSHOOT examination uniquely assessed the ability to maintain and troubleshoot complex enterprise networks using systematic diagnostic methodologies, making it one of the most practically meaningful examinations in the entire Cisco portfolio. Network engineers who held all three credentials demonstrated a level of comprehensive expertise that commanded significant salary premiums throughout the 2018 employment market.

CCIE Routing and Switching: The Ultimate Networking Achievement

The Cisco Certified Internetwork Expert designation in Routing and Switching occupied an almost mythological status in the networking profession throughout 2018, representing the most rigorous, most respected, and most professionally transformative certification available to network engineers anywhere in the world. Fewer than forty thousand professionals held active CCIE certifications globally at any given time during this period, a scarcity that reflected both the extraordinary difficulty of the certification process and the exceptional expertise that the credential validated. Organizations actively competed to hire and retain CCIE-certified engineers, offering compensation packages that reflected the recognition that these professionals represented the highest tier of network engineering talent available in the market.

The CCIE Routing and Switching certification process in 2018 consisted of two sequential stages that together constituted the most comprehensive and demanding assessment in the networking certification landscape. The written qualification examination covered an extraordinarily broad range of advanced networking concepts including complex routing protocol implementations, network infrastructure security, overlay technologies, quality of service mechanisms, multicast routing, and evolving technologies including SDN and network programmability. Candidates who passed the written examination earned the right to attempt the eight-hour practical laboratory examination conducted at authorized Cisco laboratory facilities, in which they were required to configure, optimize, and troubleshoot complex network topologies against a detailed set of requirements under intense time pressure with no reference materials permitted. The combination of conceptual breadth required by the written examination and the practical precision demanded by the laboratory examination made the CCIE one of the most genuinely meritocratic credentials in the entire technology industry.

CCNA Wireless for the Expanding Wireless Networking Domain

Enterprise wireless networking underwent significant expansion and increasing complexity throughout 2018, driven by the proliferation of mobile devices in the workplace, the growing adoption of bring-your-own-device policies, the deployment of high-density wireless environments in venues such as conference centers, warehouses, and manufacturing facilities, and the emergence of Internet of Things devices that relied on wireless connectivity for their operational functionality. The CCNA Wireless certification validated the foundational knowledge and skills required to configure, implement, and support wireless LANs using Cisco’s wireless networking products and technologies, making it an increasingly relevant and sought-after credential as organizations expanded their wireless infrastructure investments.

The CCNA Wireless examination in 2018 covered the fundamental concepts of radio frequency technology and its practical implications for wireless network design, the operation and configuration of Cisco wireless LAN controllers and lightweight access points in controller-based architectures, the configuration of wireless security protocols including WPA2 with both personal and enterprise authentication modes, the implementation of basic wireless quality of service to support voice and video applications, and the troubleshooting of common wireless connectivity problems using systematic diagnostic approaches. For network professionals working in environments with significant wireless infrastructure, this certification provided formal validation of skills that were increasingly expected as a standard component of the enterprise networking skill set rather than a specialized addition.

CCNA Data Center for Cloud Infrastructure Professionals

The accelerating migration of enterprise workloads to data center environments and the growing complexity of the data center networks required to support virtualization, storage networking, and cloud connectivity created substantial demand throughout 2018 for networking professionals with specialized expertise in data center technologies. The CCNA Data Center certification addressed this demand by validating foundational knowledge and skills in data center networking, including the unique switching architectures, storage networking protocols, unified computing platforms, and virtualization technologies that distinguish data center environments from traditional campus and branch office networks.

Candidates pursuing the CCNA Data Center in 2018 engaged with content covering Cisco Nexus switching platforms and NX-OS operating system fundamentals, data center network topologies including spine and leaf architectures, storage networking technologies including Fibre Channel over Ethernet and iSCSI, Cisco Unified Computing System fundamentals, data center virtualization concepts and virtual machine networking, and basic data center automation concepts. The certification was structured as a two-examination track, allowing candidates to divide the content into manageable preparation segments while ensuring comprehensive coverage of both networking and storage dimensions of data center infrastructure. For networking professionals seeking to position themselves for roles in data center operations, cloud infrastructure management, or enterprise virtualization environments, the CCNA Data Center provided essential foundational credentials that opened doors to rewarding and well-compensated career opportunities.

CCNA Collaboration for Unified Communications Specialists

Unified communications technologies including voice over IP, video conferencing, instant messaging, and presence services had become integral components of enterprise communication infrastructure by 2018, and the professionals responsible for implementing and managing these systems required specialized knowledge that extended well beyond traditional routing and switching expertise. The CCNA Collaboration certification validated the foundational skills required to install, configure, and troubleshoot Cisco unified communications systems, making it the essential entry-level credential for professionals seeking careers in enterprise telephony, contact center technology, and unified collaboration platform management.

The examination content for the CCNA Collaboration covered the architecture and components of Cisco Unified Communications Manager, the configuration of IP phones and softphone clients, the implementation of voice gateways and dial plan fundamentals, the configuration of basic call routing and class of service policies, the deployment of Cisco Unity Connection voicemail systems, and the troubleshooting of common unified communications connectivity and quality issues. Organizations that had invested heavily in Cisco collaboration infrastructure required certified professionals who could support, maintain, and extend these systems, and the CCNA Collaboration credential provided hiring managers with reliable evidence that candidates possessed the minimum competency required to contribute productively to collaboration infrastructure teams. The convergence of voice, video, and data onto common IP network infrastructure made collaboration expertise an increasingly integrated and valued component of the broader networking skill set throughout 2018.

DevNet Foundations and the Emerging Network Automation Track

The year 2018 marked an inflection point in the networking profession where the ability to automate network tasks, consume application programming interfaces, and write scripts to manage network infrastructure began transitioning from a specialized skill possessed by a small minority of network engineers into an expected competency that forward-thinking organizations were beginning to require of their networking staff. Cisco had been building its DevNet developer and network automation ecosystem for several years and was expanding the certification and learning resources available to network professionals seeking to develop programming and automation skills that complemented their traditional infrastructure expertise.

While the formal Cisco DevNet certification track as it would eventually be structured had not yet launched in its complete form by 2018, the foundational concepts of network programmability were beginning to appear in updated examination content across the professional and expert certification tracks. Candidates who invested time during 2018 in developing skills with Python scripting, REST API consumption, Cisco DNA Center, Ansible for network automation, and software-defined networking concepts were positioning themselves ahead of what would become a fundamental shift in how network engineering roles were defined and compensated. The professionals who began building these automation foundations in 2018 found themselves exceptionally well-positioned as the industry’s expectations around network programmability accelerated dramatically in subsequent years.

CCNP Security for Advanced Cybersecurity Specialization

The sophistication and organizational impact of cybersecurity threats reached new heights throughout 2018, with high-profile breaches, ransomware campaigns, and nation-state sponsored attacks dominating technology news and forcing organizations across every industry to reassess the adequacy of their security infrastructure and the competency of their security teams. This environment created exceptional demand for network security professionals who could implement and manage the advanced security technologies required to protect enterprise networks against increasingly sophisticated adversaries, and the CCNP Security certification validated precisely the depth of expertise that this demanding environment required.

Achieving the CCNP Security required passing four examinations covering the core security technology domains of Cisco’s enterprise security portfolio. The SISAS examination covered identity services and secure access using Cisco Identity Services Engine, validating the ability to implement 802.1X authentication, profiling, posture assessment, and guest access workflows. The SITCS examination addressed threats, intrusion prevention, and content security using technologies including Cisco Firepower and web security appliances. The SIMOS examination covered secure connectivity through VPN technologies including FlexVPN, DMVPN, and SSL VPN implementations. The SENSS examination validated network security infrastructure skills including advanced firewall configuration using Cisco ASA, network access control, and security monitoring practices. Together these four examinations produced certified professionals with a comprehensive and deeply validated security skill set that commanded premium compensation throughout 2018.

CCIE Security for Elite Cybersecurity Leadership

The CCIE Security certification represented the pinnacle of achievement for network security professionals in 2018, combining the extraordinary technical depth of the CCIE qualification process with a focus specifically on the advanced security technologies and architectures that protect enterprise and service provider networks against sophisticated threats. Like all CCIE certifications, the Security track required passing both a comprehensive written examination and a grueling eight-hour laboratory examination that tested practical configuration, implementation, and troubleshooting skills in a live security environment. The combination of these two assessment stages ensured that CCIE Security holders had demonstrated both broad conceptual mastery and genuine hands-on proficiency across the complete range of Cisco security technologies.

The laboratory examination for the CCIE Security presented candidates with complex scenarios requiring the implementation of comprehensive security architectures spanning multiple technology domains simultaneously, including advanced firewall policies, intrusion prevention systems, identity services and access control, VPN technologies, security intelligence and monitoring systems, and the integration of multiple security components into coherent defense-in-depth architectures. Candidates had to implement these configurations correctly under significant time pressure while managing the interdependencies between different security systems that real enterprise environments involve. The genuine scarcity of active CCIE Security holders globally throughout 2018 translated into exceptional market value for those who held the credential, with compensation levels that reflected the extraordinary investment of time, effort, and intellectual capability required to achieve and maintain this elite designation.

Conclusion

The Cisco certification portfolio available in 2018 offered technology professionals an extraordinarily comprehensive set of pathways for validating and advancing their expertise across the full spectrum of enterprise networking disciplines, from foundational routing and switching through specialized domains including security, wireless, data center, and collaboration to the elite expert-level recognition of the CCIE designation. Each certification examined in this guide addressed a specific segment of the market for validated networking expertise and offered candidates a meaningful return on their preparation investment through improved employment prospects, enhanced professional credibility, and measurable salary advantages over their uncertified peers.

The strategic value of Cisco certifications in 2018 was grounded in the remarkable consistency and rigor of the examination processes behind them, which ensured that certified professionals had genuinely demonstrated the competencies their credentials claimed to validate rather than merely completing a perfunctory assessment designed primarily to generate examination revenue. This commitment to examination integrity and curriculum relevance was a significant factor in the sustained employer confidence in Cisco credentials that persisted throughout 2018 and that has characterized the certification program across its entire history. Organizations that based their hiring decisions and compensation structures on Cisco certification status did so because experience had consistently confirmed that certification level was a meaningful and reliable predictor of on-the-job capability.

For technology professionals evaluating their certification investment priorities in 2018, the guidance this analysis points toward is both clear and nuanced. Beginning with the CCNA Routing and Switching provided the foundational credential that opened the broadest range of entry and mid-level networking opportunities while establishing the knowledge base required to pursue more specialized tracks. Professionals with established networking experience gained the most career leverage from advancing to the CCNP level, where the combination of breadth and depth validated by the three-examination track commanded genuine respect and compensation recognition from sophisticated employers. And for those with both the aspiration and the extraordinary dedication required to pursue the CCIE, the investment in that pinnacle credential delivered returns in career advancement, professional reputation, and financial compensation that few other professional certifications in any field could match.