CWNA or CCNA?

Mahansc

I'm going for my security + first, reason is that we have a lot of contracts i can work on if i have that cert. After i get it i was looking at either the CWNA or the CCNA. is one better than the other or is it that cisco is geared towards more of the routers and switches while the CWNA is more geared towards the actual wireless side of the house? pros and cons of each, which one is better? thanks.//

Scott

JDMurray

Neither is better than the other. They are two different types of networking entirely. Yes, there is a little wireless on the CCNA, but just a little. The CCNA also requires much more base TCP/IP networking knowledge than the CWNA.

You could compare the CWNA with the CCNA:Wireless, in which case you'd find the CWNA to be vendor-non-specific, while the CCNA is Cisco-specific cert.

ptilsen

I would agree with JD in that they are different and don't compare directly. However, I would say unless you are looking for positions specifically for wireless, CCNA is going to get you farther, and in that sense it is better.

Running a few quick indeed searches, I get:
CCNA 7560
CWNA 103
CCNA Wireless 1762
"CCNA Wireless" 66
"cisco certified" wireless 547
Certified Wireless Network Administrator 220
"Certified Wireless Network Administrator" 22

Of course, this doesn't necessarily mean the CCNA is a higher-level certification, since there will typically be more demand for lower and mid-level certs (e.g. CCIE vs CCNP, MCM vs MCSE). However, from what I've seen CWNA is not really that high-demand unless you want to just do wireless, in which case you'll still probably end up being good with a vendor wireless certification.

CCNA is really a solid certification for pretty much any IT professional to get, even in other fields (sysadmin, DBA, development, security, etc.) because it provides such a strong networking foundation.

MrXpert

Having both the CWTS and CCNA, I can say that the one that has benefitted me the most was the CCNA. It is vendor specific to Cisco so you learn how to configure things like switches and routers as well as routing protocols and other stuff like Spanning Tree. Your subnetting skills will also improve as a result and so to will your basic network design skills.

The CWTS, CWNA are good certs to have and will help you gain a very good understanding of the wireless physics, standards as well as the hardware but to be honest a lot of this is pure memorization.Unless you go back and review it constantly or are immersed in 802.11 then you'll forget most of it within a few months. This is my experience of it.

Cisco stuff sticks in the mind longer because you actually implement it. To summarize I have listed below pros and cons but this is just my experience of them both.

CCENT/CCNA
+You learn loads
+Recognized cert and even those who haven't much to do with IT have heard of it. Even joe Bloggs don't the road.
+Vendor specific
+It covers wireless stuff, the basics but enough for you to get a good understanding.
+It can open many new doors to you - security, CCNP, etc
+There's a lot of good study material out there to support you. CBT nuggets,. Chris Bryant and my old mate Rene Molenaar
- It will take longer to study for and pass than a CWNA. Average 3 months CCENT, 3 months ICND2.Some can do it in less time.
-It will cost more money but you will feel wonderful after you've passed the exam(s)
-You will need to work hard for it

CWNA
+Gives you an excellent understanding of wireless
+It's fairly easy to study for although be prepared for more acronyms than you can shake a stick at.
+It is recognized and the certificates are nice
- Won't give you an in dept understanding of networking
-It is vendor neutral so you won't really learn much about actual implementation from it
-A few months down the line after you passed you may forget most of it unless of course you're involved with it a lot.
-The physics behind wireless networking isn't for everyone. Some just plain hate it
-The acronyms and memorization isn't for everyone. It can be tedious.