Entry-Level Cisco Salary & Top Level Increases

What is the average salary of someone that is CCNA certified?

The entry-level cisco salary for a network engineer with a CCNA certificate is $67,500, usually for those with 0 to 3 years experience. However, those possessing between 5 and 9 years of information technology and networking experience can make over 6 figures. Pay scale of certified individuals with Bachelors and/or Masters degrees average around $10,000 per year more than those without a degree.

The CCNA certification definitely increases employment opportunities (and compensation potential) when combined with verifiable knowledge and experience. CCNA certified individuals already possess a strong understanding of networking concepts including:

IP addressing and subnetting;

TCP/IP;

Routing and routing protocols;

LAN switching technologies;

Spanning-tree protocols;

VLANs;

WAN technologies (such as MPLS and VPN);

Network security;

Network operations;

OSI/DoD and other network models.

So CCNA knowledge is the groundwork. Next, to grow beyond an entry level cisco network engineer salary you need real world experience.

The Best Paying CCNA Related Job Profiles Require Experience!

It is essential that the certified individual possesses real world network engineering experience. They must be able to apply CCNA required knowledge to real design and troubleshooting scenarios…. higher salaries are not obtained with a CCNA certification alone.

Case in point – as a hiring manager I have interviewed thousands of individuals vying for network engineering positions. The interviews always include several specific technical questions, such as explaining how DHCP or EIGRP operates, along with at least two timed troubleshooting scenarios focused on observing the candidate’s troubleshooting processes and how well they apply the knowledge they claim to possess (such as what they should have learned prior to sitting for the CCNA certification). Many interviewees that claimed to possess CCNA certifications failed to impress during the interview either because they used “brain dumps” to pass the CCNA and did not truly understand the material, or they lacked experience necessary to apply their knowledge to real world situations.

The good news is that you can boost your entry-level cisco salary 20K or more with a CCNA and demonstrable real world experience. The next article outlines methods CCNA certificate holders can use to gain real world experience, which can be challenging when experience is required for jobs that provide the much needed real world experience!

For more information: Average Salary for Certification: Cisco Certified Network Associate (CCNA)