Understanding the CWXX certfiications

Cat5

What's the difference between the CWTS and CWNA certifications? How do they compare to, say, the CCNA Wireless cert from Cisco?

Cert Poor

CWTS is a lifetime cert that's only an intro to the world of 802.11 wireless networking. I took it, and the book was a great resource honestly, but the exam was easier than the book. It's worth skipping and going straight to the CWNA, which is the beginner cert for a "true" IT person. CWNA expires every 3 years and is the foundation exam for the other CWNP certs like CWSP (Security), CWDP (Design), CWAP (Analysis), and CRAP (Reconnaissance). Just kidding on the last one.

CCNA Wireless is very Cisco-oriented. I hear it's slightly easier than CWNA and it's obviously vendor-specific. Probably gives less of a foundation in how Radio Frequency works in general and focuses more on Cisco implementation and troubleshooting. Probably still worth taking just to get the vendor specific side of things.

There is a new CWNA book and exam coming out probably in July 2014 that will cover 802.11ac and other new things, so it's worth waiting a few months before starting CWNA studies.

Cat5

What's the comparable cert to a CCNP-Wireless? I'm thinking of going the route of CWNA forward, since Cisco doesn't even have textbooks for its NP-level wireless if you can believe that.

Is it just one book to study for the CWSP/CWDP/CWAP or a series for each? Cisco's mid-level certs have anywhere between three and five tests, with a textbook to study for each.

Thanks!

Cert Poor

CWNA/CWSP/CWDP/CWAP all have their own "official" Sybex book, and I'm pretty sure they're 1 exam each.

Cat5

Is there an advantage/disadvantage to pursuing the CWNP professional certs vs. the CCNP-Wireless when it comes to finding a job in wireless?

JDMurray

It's all great information, but for finding a job it comes down to which certs are being asked for in job postings.

Cat5

I agree. I don't want to make the mistake of spending huge amounts of time and energy into getting a cert(s), then go out and see who might want it and discover no one is interested.