CCNA/CCNP
- Thread starter Mr-White
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Soldato
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I'm on my second semester of my CCNA which is now badged as CCNA2. I've passed CCNA1 and hopefully by September I want to get onto CCNA3.
I'm not going to lie to you. I'm finding CCNA a little challanging. You learn exciting new things you thought you knew or thought you'd never know.
You get to do a lot of exciting things like design very complicated networks and wire them up. Play with industry standard Cisco Routers and Catalyst Switches and those add up to a lot of £££.
But I also know CCNA on its own doesnt provide much foundation to base a career on. Don't get me wrong you can get a job, but you'll expect something like 22k - 25K. If you live in London, that's no way enough.
Thats why once people have passed thier CCNA they tend to go on one or two years experience before tackling the more advanced and more respected CCNP.
But i'm personally doing my CCNA and going to start HP IT Essentials I in September. The reason im going to start HP IT Essentials is because that course is very simple and its things to do with stuff I already know about.
Half of IT Essentials is Semester 1 of the CCNA, and other half is basic computer enthusiast knowldge such as how to build a computer and componants of a motherboard.
I'll tell you one thing though, the more qualifications you have after your name the more money you are going to earn. But be warned, people now desire experience. If you have experience with dealing with networks and everything else, you should be set for life.
I'm not going to lie to you. I'm finding CCNA a little challanging. You learn exciting new things you thought you knew or thought you'd never know.
You get to do a lot of exciting things like design very complicated networks and wire them up. Play with industry standard Cisco Routers and Catalyst Switches and those add up to a lot of £££.
But I also know CCNA on its own doesnt provide much foundation to base a career on. Don't get me wrong you can get a job, but you'll expect something like 22k - 25K. If you live in London, that's no way enough.
Thats why once people have passed thier CCNA they tend to go on one or two years experience before tackling the more advanced and more respected CCNP.
But i'm personally doing my CCNA and going to start HP IT Essentials I in September. The reason im going to start HP IT Essentials is because that course is very simple and its things to do with stuff I already know about.
Half of IT Essentials is Semester 1 of the CCNA, and other half is basic computer enthusiast knowldge such as how to build a computer and componants of a motherboard.
I'll tell you one thing though, the more qualifications you have after your name the more money you are going to earn. But be warned, people now desire experience. If you have experience with dealing with networks and everything else, you should be set for life.
i've just signed up to do the CCNA followed by the CCNP, and its all work from home. i was told very few people do the course and theres a huge demand for CNNA/CCNP qualified people.
i already have an internet/networking degree which was mostly theory based so i'm hoping this is more specific and follows on from this.
MW
i already have an internet/networking degree which was mostly theory based so i'm hoping this is more specific and follows on from this.
MW
I teach the CCNA part time, I did the CCNP last year and take my CCIE Lab exam in october this year (I also work full time as a network guru)
There have been a lot of posts like this recently, and its really just a case of where you want to go, a lot of people expect the certification to do all the work and expect to get a good job because they're a ccxx. This did used to be the case but in the last 5 years the certification industry has taken a hammering with foreign braindumpers and as a result some employers are steering clear of people with "CCNA, CCDA, CCNP, CCIP, CCSP" on their CV as it looks suspect.
You have to take a look at what you want to achieve, if you want to work in networks then Cisco is a great route to take, not only because a lot of places use Cisco gear, they teach a lot of theory and IETF and standards technology, not just Cisco specific. Also if you have been on Cisco training, you are useful because you can actually configure the kit to a basic degree.
I think that the certifications are definitley worth having as they show you have a level of knowledge, but certs are completley useless without any experience, a CCNA may help you get a very low end networks job for which you could get experience, but it would be low paid. a lot of people would be annoyed by this but they fail to realise you have to start somewhere and the next job you'd double your salary.
The problem is in the last few years networks have quadroupled in complexity due to demand, security and growth, there is a huge gap in the skills set of most engineers, the average medium sized network will nowadays contain a reasonable amount of multilayer switching, ip routing, qos, VPN, tunneling, ip telephony, multicast.. All of which are way beyond what CCNA can offer.
the crux of what im saying is that you need experience, or no one will hire you.
If your gonna go down the route of getting a cert be it the CCNA or CCNP, go ahead but the effort spent getting the certs will be required again in getting a job, and as I said above it won't be well paid to start with. It is right that a lot of people don't do the courses nowadays, but with all due respect all they do on courses is read whats in the book to people, and some hands on labs, all of which can be used online for £10 an hour, as opposed to maybe £2k which might be spent on a course...
There have been a lot of posts like this recently, and its really just a case of where you want to go, a lot of people expect the certification to do all the work and expect to get a good job because they're a ccxx. This did used to be the case but in the last 5 years the certification industry has taken a hammering with foreign braindumpers and as a result some employers are steering clear of people with "CCNA, CCDA, CCNP, CCIP, CCSP" on their CV as it looks suspect.
You have to take a look at what you want to achieve, if you want to work in networks then Cisco is a great route to take, not only because a lot of places use Cisco gear, they teach a lot of theory and IETF and standards technology, not just Cisco specific. Also if you have been on Cisco training, you are useful because you can actually configure the kit to a basic degree.
I think that the certifications are definitley worth having as they show you have a level of knowledge, but certs are completley useless without any experience, a CCNA may help you get a very low end networks job for which you could get experience, but it would be low paid. a lot of people would be annoyed by this but they fail to realise you have to start somewhere and the next job you'd double your salary.
The problem is in the last few years networks have quadroupled in complexity due to demand, security and growth, there is a huge gap in the skills set of most engineers, the average medium sized network will nowadays contain a reasonable amount of multilayer switching, ip routing, qos, VPN, tunneling, ip telephony, multicast.. All of which are way beyond what CCNA can offer.
the crux of what im saying is that you need experience, or no one will hire you.
If your gonna go down the route of getting a cert be it the CCNA or CCNP, go ahead but the effort spent getting the certs will be required again in getting a job, and as I said above it won't be well paid to start with. It is right that a lot of people don't do the courses nowadays, but with all due respect all they do on courses is read whats in the book to people, and some hands on labs, all of which can be used online for £10 an hour, as opposed to maybe £2k which might be spent on a course...
Associate
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- 2 Dec 2003
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- Inverness Scotland
I have my CCNA Exam (640 - 801) next week.
Bricking it a little bit, but i'm getting on fine with my test exams (doing them from Freetests.com and my Cisco/Cybex books)
I enrolled with the open University who were offering it last year (and again this year for double the price!!
) and found it very informative and also challenging.
Basically students were given access to the Cisco Net Academy Website which was great as all out study material came from Cisco themselves. I imagine the reason the OU have bumped up the price has something to do with that. We also had to attend 3 seperate day Schools in Luton.
I have access to a home lab, Boson Netsim 6.0 (worth the money IMO) as well as a comprehensive lab at work in our office (we are a team of 3 network support staff)
I recommend Todd lammle's Cybex Study guideas a good 3rd party perspective on things
on top of whatever study methods you are using.
It's not a way to get right into the networking field. I'm under no illusions as to how difficult it is to get a job. For me it's a way to increase my knowledge in my current job, and make myself more usefull. The company covered travel expenses for me but the rest was down to myself.
Next up is Cisco Pix and Nokia Checkpoint Firewalls
Then perhaps CCNP
Bricking it a little bit, but i'm getting on fine with my test exams (doing them from Freetests.com and my Cisco/Cybex books)
I enrolled with the open University who were offering it last year (and again this year for double the price!!
) and found it very informative and also challenging. Basically students were given access to the Cisco Net Academy Website which was great as all out study material came from Cisco themselves. I imagine the reason the OU have bumped up the price has something to do with that. We also had to attend 3 seperate day Schools in Luton.
I have access to a home lab, Boson Netsim 6.0 (worth the money IMO) as well as a comprehensive lab at work in our office (we are a team of 3 network support staff)
I recommend Todd lammle's Cybex Study guideas a good 3rd party perspective on things
on top of whatever study methods you are using.It's not a way to get right into the networking field. I'm under no illusions as to how difficult it is to get a job. For me it's a way to increase my knowledge in my current job, and make myself more usefull. The company covered travel expenses for me but the rest was down to myself.
Next up is Cisco Pix and Nokia Checkpoint Firewalls
Then perhaps CCNPi got told theres 65k people in the uk and 900k over europe needed in this area of the market
i paid to do the course at home because they set it all up for me and i can log into live cisco networks and have a play around, they guarentee me a job at the end of it and if i fail they pay for the resits
MW
i paid to do the course at home because they set it all up for me and i can log into live cisco networks and have a play around, they guarentee me a job at the end of it and if i fail they pay for the resits
MW
Associate
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- Inverness Scotland
Did you sign up with Scheidegger?
Mr-White said:i got told theres 65k people in the uk and 900k over europe needed in this area of the market
i paid to do the course at home because they set it all up for me and i can log into live cisco networks and have a play around, they guarentee me a job at the end of it and if i fail they pay for the resits
MW
How can they guarantee you a job just because you got a CCxx?
Soldato
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- 7 May 2003
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- Away from here
Speaking as an employer, if you're going down the Cisco route, either continue past CCNA or don't bother doing it. I see so many CV's these days from people with CCNA's that they're devalued a lot, especially with a lot of colleges giving them out like sweets.
Man of Honour
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ditto the ccna being common as muck thing said before. it only stands out if you go further, if you find the ccna hard then you'll really struggle with a CCNP and theres stuff that doesn't cover very well (MPLS beign the obvious exception).
it's certainly worth doing but don't expect to make huge money with a ccna, it's not going to happen
it's certainly worth doing but don't expect to make huge money with a ccna, it's not going to happen
Domo said:Aren't there only a handful of CCIEs in the UK who can command a 6 figure salary - at least so I'm led to believe anyway
theres about 700 overall, in the uk... but thats total, including retired/expired...
6 figure salaries used to be the norm for CCIEs, not so much now unless you're really good... the most money can be made as a CCIE contractor (hopefully what i'll be doing next year!) its a hell of a lot of work though.
Also in response to the person who posted about there being a 65k people shortage in Cisco... I spoke to a recruiter about this not long ago, and its the high end skills employers are struggling to find, things like Qos, security and ip telephony.. There are thousands of people capable of basic networking, but only a handful capable of deploying advanced stuff, hence why the outsourcing/consultancy companies are currently cleaning up in advanced networking like qos, ip telephony, security etc...