CCNA Routing and Switching

CCNA Routing and Switching is for Network Specialists, Network Administrators, and Network Support Engineers with 1-3 years of experience. The CCNA Routing and Switching validates the ability to install, configure, operate, and troubleshoot medium-size routed and switched networks.

The CCNA (Cisco Certified Network Associate) is one of the most well known entry-level certifications within the IT industry; holding this credential proves your ability to install, configure, manage and support small to medium sized networks. At present, there’s a large demand for network engineers, but most of these positions require some sort of hands-on experience. Many aspiring networking professionals find themselves asking the question, how can you get experience if you can’t get a networking job to start? It’s simple, earn the CCNA.

Earning your CCNA can be the career jump start you were looking for, moving you from a standard help desk position into actual server rooms and networking closets. The best part is, there aren’t any prerequisites to sit for the exam! Late last month, the folks over at PayScale.com surveyed a group of 8,137 CCNAs finding their average yearly salary ranged from $39,195 to $118,830, depending on the participants location, years of experience and job title.

According to the study, the highest population of CCNAs are located in New York City, Chicago and Atlanta. The city with the highest average salary was San Jose, California, coming in at $95,183.

It should come as no surprise that the more experience you have, the more money you will make.

One particularly interesting finding of this survey is that women who hold the CCNA typically earn higher wages than their male counterparts, even though they only make up 6% of those who hold the cert. The average salary for a female CCNA ranges from $55,166-$90,642, while the average male salary falls between $53,514-$89,797.

Finally, here’s a look at the job titles that have the highest median salary. You can see from the image below that IT Directors, Senior Network Engineers and IT Managers are compensated with the highest wages.

More information on the exam from Cisco can be found HERE

Detailed salary information can be found on PAYSCALE.COM