Cisco graduate scheme

One of my work colleagues just got a cisco graduate job... He starts in a few weeks I think. He cannot wait :D He went over there and said the offices he will be working in are amazing (the last interview they fly you over there and pay for accomodation etc).

I will point him to the thread - maybe he could give more input :)
 
Looking for similar information myself. Graduated last July with a degree in Sports Science but looking to do something else, realised it's a hobby and not something i want to do as a career.

Looked into Cerco Training (as seen on the adverts) and don't really want to be paying out another £4k on top of my 6k debt i already have to go through a training programme that some companies don't even recognise as a qualification.

Obviously computing has been a hobby so i do have a background in it, although no formal qualifications other than a 'C' at A level.

Like the sound of Cisco as it's a recognised qualification. Any more details much appreciated.
 
CCNA and the rest are freely available to anyone. However the exams are at set times and locations and will cost you money.

I am looking to go with the OU to do my CCNA as not only do I get the learning materials they also do lab sessions for practical experience [not everyone has a Cisco router they can screw around with :D]. Sure it will cost me money but having access to OU resources will be a great help.

The only thing with the Cisco qualifications are they only last 3 years. If you wish to maintain that qualification you need to take another exam. This I think is a good idea as it makes sure your qualification stays up to date.
 
CiaoBelo said:
Has anyone ever applied for this?

Does anyone work for Cisco?

How is the initial training in Brussels?

Any tips? ;)

Much appreciated.

Ciao!

I've been to brussels once for the CCIE lab and it was a nice place... thats all I can tell you! :D
 
dobbsy said:
Looking for similar information myself. Graduated last July with a degree in Sports Science but looking to do something else, realised it's a hobby and not something i want to do as a career.

I think the major problem your have is the are loads of IT/Computer Science Degree people that would give their right arm to be employed by Cisco so you'll be up against it!

HEADRAT
 
HEADRAT said:
I think the major problem your have is the are loads of IT/Computer Science Degree people that would give their right arm to be employed by Cisco so you'll be up against it!

HEADRAT


Cheers for the reply mate, probably could do with my own dedicated thread here.
 
I'm not saying it's impossible, just that the competition would be pretty fierce from people with "relervant" Degrees, I've worked in the "Networking/Internet" arena for the last 10 years and I do know people that did well in "Networking" but didn't do a "Computer" related Degree.

HEADRAT
 
Homer-Simpson said:
One of my work colleagues just got a cisco graduate job... He starts in a few weeks I think. He cannot wait :D He went over there and said the offices he will be working in are amazing (the last interview they fly you over there and pay for accomodation etc).

I will point him to the thread - maybe he could give more input :)

Thanks I look forward to hearing what he has to say!
 
dobbsy said:
adverts) and don't really want to be paying out another £4k on top of my 6k debt i already have

6K isn't that bad in terms of debt for a degree, i know poeple with 3 times that, if it takes 4K to change to something unrelated to your original degree than so be it, if its what you want, remember you will need these new skills as they were not part of your original degree.
 
Originally Posted by dobbsy: don't really want to be paying out another £4k on top of my 6k debt i already have
If you spend that 4k on taking the CCNA course and maybe CCNP then you will just have to find the 3 years experience mate. CCNA should get you a job around the 35k mark but as long as you have the experience and CCNP around 45k+.

But overall its a massive catch 22 if you spend the money on them, as mentioned above, experience is what you need to acompany them.

A good example of this would be the grad scheme with Cisco I have just landed. I applied twice whilst at uni with an estimated grade of a 1st and even when i finally got my 1st they said NO!!!

I then landed a job working for a company in Brum with Homer-Simpson (Above) as a network engineer yet this time I got an interview.

When I start there in 4 weeks time I go on a boot camp for 4 weeks and in those 4 weeks they reckon I'll be upto around CCNP standard in 4 weeks. Now for those who have already posted, to get to that is pretty impressive in 4 weeks as on average I'd say that it takes someone around 3years to get to CCNA and then another 2years for CCNP. The reason I quote those number of years is because you have to work and study, the good thing with this Cisco job has to be that I'm working with some of the best Network Engineer's in the world and will be working with the stuff everyday so that definately makes things easier I think.

I must have just landed the best start to a career in networking by a longggg shot and its definately a lottery ticket winner in terms of my chances for the future.

But the point of this long post was to say . . . . . . . YES Cisco qualifications are probably the best way to go if Networking is what you want to do.

Any other questions regarding the interview and assessment centre ill be happy to answer.

Finally as to anything I've said above if any of it seems a little far fetched I apologise as I know there are real network engineers in this post whereas Im still a nOOblet at the moment :D and they should be able to shed some more light on the work side and things.

p.s. Oh just to make you other grads on here mouths water, if you can land on the Cisco grad scheme it is well worth it in terms of benefits and PAY!!! ;)

I have just leap frogged my whole networking team from my old place in terms of pay and things and its a goldmine!!!
 
Hey Nero, good job on getting accepted mate :)

I'm going to try and add a few more items to my arsenal before applying, I'm hoping they will at least give me and interview and I can go from there.

Atm I've got the CCNA already, cisco academy trained also. 3 years experience in net admin roll.

Fingers crossed I'll have that 1st in Network Engineering from Stafford, or a 2:1 at least.

I'll be CCNP academy trained too :) If I really push myself I could pass the CCNP before the end of my final year, but it might take a bit out of me mentally - I've already had a few weird dreams about cisco routers ;)

I want the cisco grad job more than anything, I'm hoping this hunger will come across when (if?) I get to the interview stage.

Is the structure telephone interview > assessment center > final interview?

Cheers fella.
 
SiriusB said:
I am looking to go with the OU to do my CCNA as not only do I get the learning materials they also do lab sessions for practical experience [not everyone has a Cisco router they can screw around with :D]. Sure it will cost me money but having access to OU resources will be a great help.

just as a note, the OU CCNA course isnt available everywhere yet, also, it doesnt give you a CCNA certification, it just allows you to learn everything needed to just take a proper ccna exam, also, even though the course doesnt make give you a cisco certification, it does count towards a OU degree (which is why im eventuly going to take the course as one of the optional level 2 courses, to count towards my ICT degree, and once i finish the CCNA course, ill do an exam outside of the OU to get the officaly certified)

As for the cisco graduate scheme, i would LOVE to be able to take part in it some day, but more and more people are taking degrees in networking/computing every year, and so by the time i finish my degree and get some experience, ill have no chance of being accepted. Thats one reason im still considering if i should go for a masters degree in networks and distributed systems after i finish my undergrad degree, so that i have more chance of getting accepted to a cisco (or similar company) scheme.
 
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CiaoBelo - I take it you are a lot older than me then? i.e. ive only just turned 22, infact I turned 22 on the day of the assessment centre so maybe they felt sorry for me :D . lol.

In terms of adding stuff to your arsenal, I wldnt take too long, I know most grad schemes you can apply upto 3 years after graduating however ive been told (dont quote me on this) that Cisco only accept ya upto 1 year later.

As for the structure, its telephone interview > assessment center and thats it. The assessment centre though is not just a strole in the park. I got there at 8am and left at 7pm. The day consisted of two role playing exercises (obviously networking related). If you passed those then you got through to the second half of the day. This involved 2 interviews (1 HR, 1 technical) and a presentation.

Hope this helps you out CiaoBelo.

As for Dist - Depending on the title of your degree I wldnt do a 4th year. Look at me (OK I may have been lucky) I got the cisco grad scheme with 4 months experience, 1st class degree from top uni and sheer guts n determination. They offered me a 4th year and look at where I am now, I wldnt b where I am now if I was at uni.
The reason I say the title of your degree is because the people who do Cisco's recruiting is Hobsons. Now the only thing that has changed since I got rejected twice and finally got an interview was my experience. I think what happened was that they looked at my degree title and said "Its not an engineering or computing degree, so Cisco wont want him" (Cisco wld like Engineering or Comp Degrees you see). However if they actually took the time to check my modules (Which were listed on my CV) they wld have seen that my degree was networking and computing related MOSTLY ;)

I think ive covered most questions and things, let me know if any of the above doesnt make sense coz i tend to miss sh!t and not read over things lol.

Ill give you some more info in a few weeks once I start but this scheme is for you if you want to do networking thats for sure.

Just so you know though, the people they accept are not just from england, they are from all over Europe. I was the only English bloke there on the particular assessment day I went too. In total I was told there were over 1300 applicants and they only took 45 for Brussels and 15 for Reading. I think I did pretty well really considering the figures. :)
 
[TTP]Nero the degree im going for is a Degree in Information and Communication technologys, i hope to get a 1st class honours, but realisticaly im expecting a 2:1.

the degree is with the OU so may take a bit longer then if i was at a university, but its my only choice since i dont have any gcses or a levels, which is also the reason why i was considering the extra few years work for a masters degree. because without gcses or a levels i have basicaly 0 chance of the sort of job i want, so hopefully a masters will make up for that.
 
ah ok, apologies Dist, didnt click that you put OU. Told you in my post I miss things didnt I lol :D But my degree was from Lancaster which is a top 20 uni and it was in Communications & Computer Systems which is a degree orientated around numerous types of communications like Optical, Space & Mobile and loads of other stuff so it involved quite a bit of physics aswell as you can imagine.
maybe the masters would be a good thing then, but I wld still find out just incase.
good luck and all and maybe ill see some of you around at Cisco sometime. . . . .
 
Hey nero, I'm only 22 myself, 23 in the summer :) I've just crammed a lot in the past few years (on a year out for my sandwich degree atm)!

Are you starting in reading after the first 8 months then ?

I've heard on the grapevine starting salary is 26k, is that about right?

Best of luck with the job.
 
im goin to Brussels as my permanent place of work as this country is gettin worse all the time :mad:
its jus more than 26k but with bonus' it works out bout 28,100 which for a startin salary is pretty good :D plus all the perks and things you get make it probably around 30k again i cannot complain at the age of 22 ;)
 
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