Best WiFi Certifications?

filkenjitsufilkenjitsu Member Posts: 564 ■■■■□□□□□□
If someone wants to start learning the technology behind WiFi, starting from scratch and business goals certifications as milestones to their growth, where should they start?

CCNA Wireless?
CWTS: Certified Wireless Technology Specialist?
Planet3 Wireless Sharp (#)? (does that even exist anymore?)

Thanks!
CISSP, CCNA SP
Bachelors of Science in Telecommunications - Mt. Sierra College
Masters of Networking and Communications Management, Focus in Wireless - Keller

Comments

  • omi2123omi2123 Member Posts: 189
    i'd go for CCNA Wireless cause it's more vendor specific rather than vendor neutral.....plus, it will renew ur ccna certs also
  • filkenjitsufilkenjitsu Member Posts: 564 ■■■■□□□□□□
    Yea, but the knowledge I am looking to build is around WiFi in general as I may need to support certain vendor systems in public places. Cisco has not been a vendor name that has come up, but troubleshooting issues with WiFi in general will be a future concern.

    I will not be engineering the design that I know of, but supporting issues experienced by the users as well as outages. I figured I would get an early start and build my knowledge from the ground up on antennas, RF specific to WiFi, issues relating to 2.4 and 5 Ghz congestion and limitations, etc.

    The future may have me working with hardware vendors on high level and low level network designs, etc.
    CISSP, CCNA SP
    Bachelors of Science in Telecommunications - Mt. Sierra College
    Masters of Networking and Communications Management, Focus in Wireless - Keller
  • TechnoracerTechnoracer Member Posts: 105 ■■■□□□□□□□
    Aruba certifications are hot for wireless, but starting off with Cisco would be great. Certifications | Aruba Networks
  • Cert PoorCert Poor Member Posts: 240 ■■■□□□□□□□
    Skip the CWTS (it's actually a good intro, but the CWNA also has the intro material and is a step up). CWNA all the way. They're coming out with a new version of the exam sometime mid-2014 that will include 802.11ac and 802.11-2013 stuff, so I'd wait till this summer when it comes out.

    CWTS is good if you want a lifetime cert and ease your way into WiFi, but I already had an RF background with amateur radio, so the only thing I gained from CWTS was more details on the Layer 1 technologies like FHSS, DSSS, OFDM and stuff on 802.11w, 802.11s, 802.11r, 802.11e, 802.11i, etc. I'm sure CWNA covers all that and more.
    In progress: MTA: Database Fundamentals (98-364)
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  • BokehBokeh Member Posts: 1,636 ■■■■■■■□□□
  • PsychoFinPsychoFin Member Posts: 280
    I have been working with wifi for quite a some time and I have so far got the cwna and cwsp. I bought one of their promotions a couple of years ago that included all the books and one exam try per exam. The cwna is insanely detailed and gives a great introduction to 802.11 and what it really is and how it works. After the cwna ccna wireless is easy in comparison. The cwnp certifications are very in depth and tough. But you will get a thorough understanding of the subject matter for sure. The prep material is of a very high quality too. I have used almost all of the books in my daily work, especially the cwdp and cwap ones.

    Go go go!
  • eansdadeansdad Member Posts: 775 ■■■■□□□□□□
    Another vote for CWNA then Cisco: Wireless....
  • JustFredJustFred Member Posts: 678 ■■■□□□□□□□
    This is one of those rare cases where i think a vendor neutral cert would be an asset.
    [h=2]"After a time, you may find that having is not so pleasing a thing, after all, as wanting. It is not logical, but it is often true." Spock[/h]
  • rowelldrowelld Member Posts: 176
    I also recommend doing CWNA. CWTS is very basic stuff. There is a big section on wireless cards where most aren't even available anymore. CWNA has lots of good material in it. The material that really counts.

    Then I would go for the CCNA Wireless. It's very specific to Cisco and lacks a lot of the information that is in CWNA.

    You can think of it this way.. you can learn how to manage a Cisco wireless network but you won't know the foundation of wireless. You get that with CWNA.
    Visit my blog: http://www.packet6.com - I'm on the CWNE journey!
  • JDMurrayJDMurray Admin Posts: 13,023 Admin
    It really depends on how much computer networking, 802.11, and RF experience you already have. If you have no experience then the CWTS (and Network+) is where to start. If you've been working in WLANs or amateur radio for a while then the CWNA is more your starting level.
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