CCNA and CCNP are associate level and advanced level courses developed by Cisco. Candidates generally face a dilemma regarding the distinction between these two certifications offered by Cisco. Therefore, we bring the ultimate guide differentiating between CCNA and CCNP, thus helping you choose the right path.
What is a CCNP Certification?
Cisco Certified Network Professional, known as CCNP, is a professional-level Cisco career certification course. Professionals from an IT background who want to improvise and upskill their knowledge in professional networking enrol for this course. CCNP certification provides advanced knowledge to learn to maintain a WAN & LAN network system, access lists, and troubleshoot complex networking models, and ethernet.
What is a CCNA Certification?
Cisco Certified Network Associate, known as CCNA, is a popular certification course for professionals with an information technology background. It helps you build, deploy, execute or even troubleshoot medium-sized networking infrastructures and solve problems in an enterprise.
CCNA is an associate-level course that serves as the gate to enter and earn the Cisco Certified Internetwork Expert(CCIE) certification.
Differences between CCNA & CCNP Certification
Given below are the striking differences between CCNA and CCNP certifications:
Level
CCNA Certification is an associate or entry-level certification, whereas CCNP is of professional level.
Prerequisite
No prerequisites are required for CCNA, but candidates must possess a CCNA/CCIE certification to be eligible for CCNP.
Modules
CCNA is only one module examination, but CCNP is of multiple modules combined.
Course Benefits
A candidate can learn about basic networking, and medium-sized network infrastructure knowledge from CCNA certification. In contrast, a CCNP course provides expertise in professional networking to deal with complex network setups and enterprise solutions.
Future Job Profiles
Upon completing CCNA certification, you can take up roles like a Service desk engineer, Network Support Engineer, Helpdesk Engineer.
The job profiles for CCNP certification are Network Specialist, System Engineer, and Network Analyst, including all the jobs of a CCNA certified candidate.
Salary Range
CCNA candidates can expect a salary range starting from about INR 1.5 lakh per annum. CCNP candidates have a pay scale starting from INR 2.5 lakh per annum.
Get the Best Training for CCNA and CCNP
If you want to gain professional knowledge in the networking domain and upgrade your skillset with Cisco certification, Koenig Solutions is the right place. Koenig is one of the leading Information Technology-based training organisations with unique USPs, meeting the customer’s needs and creating jobs and talent pools.
Koenig Solutions provides specialised certification on CCNP courses and CNA courses. There are various categories and modules available under one single certification- the CCNP certification. Their CCNP training courses are mentioned below:
- CCNP Enterprise
- CCNP Data Center
- CCNP Security
- CCNP Service Provider
- CCNP Collaboration
- Cisco Certified CyberOps Professional
- Cisco Certified DevNet Professional
Some popular modules under these courses and their CCNP certification cost is mentioned below with their duration:
| Course Name | Duration | CCNP Certification Cost of Modules |
| Implementing Cisco Enterprise Network Core Technologies (ENCOR) | 5 days | INR 84,500 |
| Implementing Cisco SD-WAN Solutions (ENSDWI) | 5 days | INR 40,000 |
| Implementing and Operating Cisco Security Core Technologies (SCOR) | 5 days | INR 79,000 |
| CCNP Data Center | 28 days | INR 15,000 |
| Implementing Cisco Enterprise Advanced Routing and Services (ENARSI) | 5 days | INR 76,500 |
| Implementing Cisco Collaboration Core Technologies (CLCOR) | 5 days | INR 84,500 |
| Implementing Automation for Cisco Data Center Solutions (DCAUI) v1.0 | 3 days | INR 63,650 |
Apart from the CCNP courses, they also have a CCNA course – Cisco Certified Network Associate Certification Training, which has around 40 hours.
Why Should you Choose a Training Institute?
Preparing for CCNP or CCNA certification is not an easy task. You need to have the proper guidance and resources to acquire the knowledge and skills necessary for the job.
When you enrol at a training institute like Koenig Solutions, international experts and instructors help clarify your doubts and understand advanced concepts quickly. Moreover, with an online training centre comes the facility of flexible study hours and time-slots.
Conclusion
Cisco coursesare authentic and internally recognised courses. Aspiring IT technicians, Network Engineers, IT professionals can take up this associate-level training to polish their skills. In comparison, advanced certification courses and modules are helpful, especially for System Engineers and IT Team Leaders who want to secure a job at a higher hierarchy.
Rehan is a student of Masters at the University of Birmingham. He loves writing about business, finance, technology, and life. He believes that sharing knowledge with the public is the best thing that one can do for the world and humanity.