And Cisco Cyber Security?
What is your degree program? Or, what is your career path?
In general, when people say “Cisco” certs, they almost always mean CCNA, which is the associate level Cisco certification, and gives foundational network knowledge that is highly valuable and transferable to other IT and cyber fields.
Cisco CBROPS probably won’t get you in the door at a SOC without other work experience or certifications, unless the place is super aggressive about churning through SOC I analysts.
Agreed on it being the CCNA. That is the definitive intro to cisco networking certs, especially in undergrad
He was most likely referring to the CCNA-CCNP-CCIE path. CCNA is pretty much considered industry standard for networking fundamentals, and while it is certainly possible to do without it, having it shows a certain level of competency in the field, which can enable you to get a foot in the door.
And just for the record, these certs teach concepts that are valuable for working with equipment from other vendors as well. The only thing cisco specific is IOS, but even that translates fairly well to other hardware.
If you think you might be interested in network security or networking and don’t have money try the free courses here.
https://academy.hackthebox.com/catalogue
There are paid and free courses there, choose the free ones. If it’s paid, in any web browser search
how to <title of the course>
Good luck.