What to Learn After CCNA
It’s easy to get overwhelmed with options after completing your CCNA. What do you learn next? If you are trying to get a job as a Network Engineer, you will want to check this out.
I went through dozens of job listings that mentioned CCNA. Then, tallied up the main devices/vendors, certifications, and technologies mentioned. And left out anything that wasn’t mentioned more than twice.
Core CCNA technologies such as LAN, WAN, OSPF, Spanning Tree, VLANs, etc. have been left out. The point here is to target the most sought after technologies and skills by employers. I also left out soft skills and any job that wasn’t a networking specific role.
Devices/ Vendors
Palo Alto is huge! I’m not suprised by this. Depending on the company, a network engineer may be responsible for firewall configuration and troubleshooting. It also looks like Network Engineers with a wide variety of skills are saught after.
| Device/Vendor | Times Mentioned |
|---|---|
| Palo Alto | 9 |
| Cisco ASA | 6 |
| Juniper | 6 |
| Office 365 | 5 |
| Meraki | 4 |
| Vmware | 4 |
| Linux | 4 |
| Ansible | 4 |
| AWS | 3 |
| Wireshark | 3 |
Technologies
Firewall comes in first again. Followed closely by VPN skills. Every interview I had for a Network Engineer position asked if I knew how to configure and troubleshoot VPNs.
| Technology | Times Mentioned |
|---|---|
| Firewall | 19 |
| VPN | 16 |
| Wireless | 12 |
| BGP | 12 |
| Security | 12 |
| MPLS | 10 |
| Load balancers | 8 |
| Ipsec | 7 |
| ISE | 6 |
| DNS | 5 |
| SDWAN | 5 |
| Cloud | 4 |
| TACACS+ | 4 |
| ACL | 4 |
| SIEM | 4 |
| IDS/IPS | 4 |
| RADIUS | 3 |
| ITIL | 3 |
| Ipam | 3 |
| VOIP | 3 |
| EIGRP | 3 |
| Python | 3 |
Certifications
CCNP blew every other cert out of the water. Companies will be very interested if you are working towards this cert. Security + comes highly recommended as well.
| Certification | Times Mentioned |
|---|---|
| CCNP | 18 |
| Security+ | 6 |
| JNCIA | 4 |
| JNCIP | 4 |
| Network + | 4 |
| CCIE | 4 |
| PCNSA | 3 |
So what do you do after CCNA?
It depends…
Are you trying to get a new job ASAP? Are there opportunities at your current role that you can use your new skills to leverage? Do you have some study time before you are ready to take the next step?
CCNP Enterprise is a good bet if you really want to stand out in Network Engineering interviews.
Don’t want to be a Network engineer?
Continue to build a good base of IT skills. This will open you up to a larger variety of jobs and open skill paths that you need a good foundation to unlock.
Core skills include:
- Linux/ Operating systems
- Networking
- General Cybersecurity
- Programming/ Scripting
A good Linux certification like the RHCSA would be great to learn more about Linux, scripting, and operating systems. Security + would be good if you want to get a solid foundation of cyber security. And Python skills will give you a gold star in any IT interview.
Don’t get paralyzed by choices.
Pick something that interests you and go for it. That is the only way to get it right. Doing what you enjoy is better than not doing anything at all because you can’t decide the best path.
Hopefully we can revisit this post after learning Python to get a much bigger sample size.