There is a famous saying that nothing is free in the world. The same goes for the CCNA certification. To achieve the certification, you need to invest money along with intense dedication and hard work.
Every certification validates some highly demanded skills and hence requires hard work to gain the relevant skills. CCNA certification is also in the group of such certification.
Although there are several factors that affect the hardness and complexity of the certifications, like candidates’ experience on the same or the interest area or the dedication level. Many factors combine to set the standards of the certifications.
While talking about the CCNA, let’s have a look at it first.
The Older CCNA Certification
CCNA which refers to Cisco Certified Network Associates is a certification that is offered and titled by Cisco to the qualified candidate. The certification holds a high reputation in the IT sector and can easily make the candidate stand out from the crowd applying for the same job profile.
The CCNA certification validates the core knowledge of Cisco product handling and troubleshooting the errors. Along with this, it is considered a certification that validates the basic and fundamentals of networking concepts like LAN, WAN, Troubleshooting, Analytics and others.
Earlier, the certification had 7 separate domains for the certification title, they were:-
- CCNA Cloud
- CCNA Collaboration
- CCNA Data Center
- CCNA Industrial
- CCNA Routing and Switching
- CCNA Service Provider
- CCNA Wireless
They were served as the options and it was up to the candidate to choose on domain to appear in the examination. However, Cisco has made a huge change now in its certification services.
A View on the New CCNA Certification
As mentioned above, Cisco has made some huge changes in its certification services, especially in the CCNA.
Currently, there are no segregated domains for the CCNA certification, all the subdomains of old CCNA have been merged into one and now known as CCNA certification only.
The new CCNA certification is now the fundamental certification that covers a wider area of concepts and syllabus. It gives a complete overview of each domain of old CCNA. Although, the candidates can pursue the specialization in a specific domain later with CCNP certification.
So, candidates preparing for CCNA certification must be cautious while preparing for the New CCNA and must go through with the syllabus before diving into it.
Is the New CCNA harder than the Older CCNA?
Well, the answer to this question is a bit complicated and based on many factors.
Certainly, the answer is YES. The new CCNA is harder than the older one. After the collision of all the subdomains into one, the new syllabus made its level quite higher. We can’t ignore the fact that with time, everything needs an update and obviously the update is made to make it better than before. The intention of Cisco to update their certification series was the same, to make it compatible with the time.
By merging 7 different domains into one, it made the scope of the study area way too wider than before, making it complex and harder to cover.
Whereas, earlier the candidates had the option to choose the area of their interest and learn the skills accordingly. But there is no such flexibility.
However, we can’t ignore the fact that setting the certification level higher simply means that the skills acquired by the candidate will also be way more polished and enhanced than before. Since it will give an overall view of all the possible domains, it makes it easier for the candidate to plan the network and secure them in an easier way.
Tips to Prepare for the New CCNA Certification
Since the old CCNA was completely different from the current CCNA, the old study strategies may not work the same.
Hence the very first step any aspirant should do is to get the complete syllabus of the new CCNA from the official site of Cisco and go through it thoroughly.
It is also recommended to join institutes providing the CCNA training courses as they have a professional instructor and well-designed study structure to cover the syllabus. However, it is not that an individual can not prepare on his/her own. There are many different sites and channels providing study resources related to the CCNA certification examination. Just keep in mind to verify that the resource should be based on the updated syllabus.
After all the technicalities, the most important factor is determination. The certification isn’t that easy to get, but the most important thing is the knowledge and skills one gains, hence keep a focus on the knowledge and hands-on practice and not on the theory part only.
