Ccna

[Odpierdol_sie!]

Anyone know how easy it will be to get a job off the back of a CCNA cert?

Im not stuck for work so im pretty safe at the moment, but am gonna be looking to a career switch before im 30. Im 27 now. Been studying A+ and N+ material for the last couple of years and am making the step to CCNA and hopefully CCNP.
I dont have any industry experience or any other certs or quals.

Will the CCNA get me straight in or will i have to get my CCNP out of the way too?

and one more thing, whats the market rate for those 2 certs?

Cheers guys, your comments will be well accepted

[mavsluva]

Get your CCNA right away. The CCNA is the basic building blocks for the other various Cisco certs. What you then have to decide on is are you going to:

a) Be a hands-on guy
b) Be a hands-off guy

If you're going to pursue option A, then you need to take the CCNP Path. Option B would result in the CCDP path.

I would HIGHLY recommend that you one day entertain the CCVP path as well. Cisco is a driving force in the IP Telephony and VoIP industry and they're here to stay.

Good luck,
Mavs (CCIE #13894 - Routing and Switching)

[Odpierdol_sie!]

Thanks for the adivse, i am more hands on than anything and i have looked in to what is after the CCNA, i had pretty much made my mind up on CCNP to be hoenst. I have been thinking about IF i get there, what is next, VoIP has always got my box thinking. I will definatley be looking that direction thanks.

[zimmy]

they are certifications... alone... they are pretty much just something to get your foot in the door for some basic shit level job to get some experience. There are TONS of people with ccna's and experience... so don't get discouraged that it won't be as easy as get certified and have 100's of people offering you a job. The pay varies in states but 30 - 35 for a shit level job with ccna... ccnp is the same deal... nothing w/o experience...not trying to burst your bubble... just trying to say stick with it.

[Diamonite]

I did my CCNA a couple years ago for fun. It is the fundamental cert for networking. I also have to redo it already. Never really pursued a job that close knit with networking.

As for getting a job I would get one up from CCNA before you start looking. Like CCNP.

[Odpierdol_sie!]

they are certifications... alone... they are pretty much just something to get your foot in the door for some basic shit level job to get some experience. There are TONS of people with ccna's and experience... so don't get discouraged that it won't be as easy as get certified and have 100's of people offering you a job. The pay varies in states but 30 - 35 for a shit level job with ccna... ccnp is the same deal... nothing w/o experience...not trying to burst your bubble... just trying to say stick with it.

yeah cool, thanks for that. i was wondering what the score was with just the certs as i wont have any industry experience at all so i wasnt expecting to get a hot job straight off the bat, was wondering if id get in the door at all from all the adds ive seen in job sites.
I will probably start work in the UK before going abroad

[Odpierdol_sie!]

I did my CCNA a couple years ago for fun. It is the fundamental cert for networking. I also have to redo it already. Never really pursued a job that close knit with networking.

As for getting a job I would get one up from CCNA before you start looking. Like CCNP.

yeah thats what i was thinking would be best.

how did you find your CCNA exam, how long did it take you to study through ur material?

[zimmy]

i studied on my spare time and it was pretty straight foward. It's pretty easy to understand with just a little basic networking knowledge thanks to the fact that cisco stole there entire IOS off of unix. But CCNP will be alot more difficult.

[Diamonite]

Yeah CCNA is like an introduction really. I would give it a shot. Only bitch really I found was subnet masking. The exam wasn't bad.

[Odpierdol_sie!]

yeah i have heard that CCNP is much more difficult.
Im doing it in my spare time to broaden my horizons a bit.
I started messing about 2 years back and since then its kinda developed in to a bit more than just a hobby.
i dont think i will sturggle too much with the understandings of the CCNA, i have lookd up a few things and it seems pretty straight forward just some parts i think i will have to read like 20 times before i will suss it out if you get me?

[inevitable]

CCNA is the start/ building blocks if u will... its a must if u want to get into cisco
CCNP is the easiest to take and not really sought after
CCIE is another main one u want. top shit
keep in mind u have to get recertify every 3 years and I have talked to a few of my professors that have the CCIE and they told me the new CCNA cert test is hard and 1 of them only passed by 3 points lol. pm if u have any questions as i am currently in the cisco academy and my father works for Cisco hehe..

[spywizard]

depends, you said you want a career change..

if you want to work for a fortune 100 company.. a 4 yr degree in Computer science, with 5 years field experience..

plain and simple, without the degree.. the certs are worthless..

or you can contract with IBM, hell, they are paying big money right now here in Minnesota.. no degree required..

[brianfantana]

Get a degree as said above, it gives you a alot of knowledge - better still, if you want to walk into a job where you probably wont do much and end up fixing peoples e-mails do an MCSE - fairly good pay in the UK for holders and nothing else is asked for... a joke when i have a degree in comp sci and they ask me for an mcse...