Cisco certifications (CCNA / CCNP / CCIE)
termnetworkingIT supportops culture
Stands for: The Cisco certification ladder
The certification ladder that defined the industry: CCNA to prove you can run a network, CCNP to prove you can build one, CCIE to prove it under lab pressure.
Since the CCIE arrived in 1993 - years before the associate tiers existed - Cisco's ladder has been networking's common currency: the CCNA as the profession's entry ticket, the CCNP as the working engineer's credential, and the CCIE's eight-hour hands-on lab as the industry's most feared and most respected exam, whose holders cite their number the way pilots log hours. The 2020 restructure consolidated the sprawl (one CCNA, specialization tracks, DevNet added for automation) without changing the social fact: on a résumé in this industry, these three acronyms need no explanation.
Also known as: ccna, ccnp, ccie, ccie lab, cisco certified