How to Choose a Huawei Certification: HCIA, HCIP, HCIE, and Career Paths
Understand Huawei’s HCIA, HCIP, and HCIE levels and explore paths in Datacom, cloud, storage, security, and presales.
Huawei certifications are commonly organized into three levels: HCIA, HCIP, and HCIE. Your choice also depends on the technical track. HCIA, HCIP, and HCIE broadly represent Associate, Professional, and Expert capabilities, while Datacom, cloud, storage, and security are distinct subject areas. Choose a role first, then decide how deeply you need to progress. Check the Huawei certification catalog for current exam requirements, versions, and validity.
Who are the three levels for?
| Level | General focus | A good fit when |
|---|---|---|
| HCIA | Associate-level foundations in a technical area | You are new to the area and need to learn core concepts and common configurations |
| HCIP | Professional-level implementation and operations skills | You have the fundamentals and want to take on broader technical responsibilities |
| HCIE | Expert-level design, implementation, troubleshooting, and technical decisions | You have substantial hands-on experience and target expert or senior technical roles |
This is a common progression in capability, not a universal exam sequence. Exam combinations, lab requirements, and versions vary by track, so verify the route for your chosen specialty before registering.
Choose a technical track
Datacom: HCIA-Datacom → HCIP-Datacom → HCIE-Datacom
Datacom, short for data communications, covers how network devices exchange data, including switching, routing, IP networking, network security, and troubleshooting. It is a common Huawei path for enterprise network engineers, network operations staff, and systems integrators. Huawei lists Datacom as a dedicated certification track; select current HCIP and HCIE options from the official roadmap.
- Foundation: HCIA-Datacom guide
- Professional: HCIP-Datacom guide
- HCIP Advanced Routing & Switching: H12-831 guide
- HCIE written exam: H12-891 guide
Cloud: specialize by cloud services or solution responsibilities
The cloud track is relevant to people who deploy, migrate, manage, or design cloud solutions. This site currently has a guide for the HCIE-Cloud Computing written exam. It is an expert-level path; verify the corresponding lab exam and current certification requirements before preparing.
Storage: progress from product foundations to architecture and operations
The storage track covers how data is stored, accessed, protected, and kept available. If your work involves enterprise storage, data protection, disaster recovery, or storage operations, explore the relevant HCIA/HCIP/HCIE storage path. This site currently includes guides at the HCIP and HCIE levels.
Security: choose based on network defense and security solution work
Huawei security certifications cover areas such as network security products, solution implementation, and operations. Choose based on your role and the current exam scope; do not infer a required sequence relative to Datacom from the exam code alone.
Presales and solutions: consider HCSA routes
If your work centers on understanding customer needs, explaining solutions, and providing presales technical support, explore Huawei’s solution and presales credentials. This site includes a guide related to HCSA-Presales-IP Network. Its goal differs from the Datacom engineering path focused on implementation.
How to plan your learning
- Identify whether your day-to-day work is mainly in networking, cloud, storage, security, or presales.
- If you are new to the area, start with the relevant HCIA or foundational exam. If you already have experience, compare your skills with the official requirements before choosing a higher level.
- Use the current official exam objectives and lab requirements, and practice in a real or simulated environment.
- Pursue HCIP or HCIE when deeper skills align with your responsibilities; you do not need every track just to collect credentials.
Huawei updates certification content and exam versions. This guide explains the levels and tracks; use the Huawei certification catalog and the relevant exam page for current paths, exam codes, languages, and registration details.