CCNA Question

[Abs]

Hi guys

I have been offered to do the CCNA course and I dont know weather to take it or not. Im a 25 year old guy who wants to get into the IT world eventually, at the moment I work as a printer for a communication company, I decided to get into the IT business a year ago, so I looked it up and found this forum a while ago, after reading it for a while I decided to start doing my A+, once I did that course I started studying for MCDST, now that I have studied that course, I went to my locol uni to take the MCDST test, after talking to one of the test guys for a while, i told him my interest at the moment is to eventually get into networking, and Im thinking of doing networking + once I finish this course. My plan was to do the A+, N+ and MCDST, then no more courses until I found an IT job. I have been looking for entry level jobs while I have been studying, but I cant leave my job as a printer until I have found something else. Anyway he told me they have decided to scrap N+ from this year, but they had the CCNA.....I told him I did not know to much about that course, but my understanding was that it was a course that you do once you are in the business, and I have no IT experience, so I didnt want to be over qualified for an entry level job. He said this is an entry level course and it would help me to get an entry level job. The course was offered for me free, because I earn under a certain amount. So should I take the course or would it become more of a hinder for my job seeking. I have heard those stories of people who are too qualified for an entry level job, but have no experience for the more advanced jobs, so they are stuck basically. Plz advice me guys....would you take it

[Luddym]

You could always do the course (as it is free) and leave it off of your CV when job hunting. If it were me, I would jump at it as it is a free course.

And... If you find it too advanced when you are on the course, then you haven't lost anything.

[wagnerk]

I'm in two minds about this:

1. Yes, because it's free
2. No, because I don't work with the technology

I had the opportunity to do the Juno cert for free (course & cert), this is Juniper's CCNA level cert, and while I started it, I didn't finish it. It was interesting but dry... I couldn't implement the stuff I was learning as I didn't work with the equipment. Not to mention that both of the above certs need renewing...

-Ken

[zcapr17]

If it really is free, then go for it!

[r.h.lee]

Originally Posted by Abs

Hi guys

I have been offered to do the CCNA course and I dont know weather to take it or not. Im a 25 year old guy who wants to get into the IT world eventually, at the moment I work as a printer for a communication company, I decided to get into the IT business a year ago, so I looked it up and found this forum a while ago, after reading it for a while I decided to start doing my A+, once I did that course I started studying for MCDST, now that I have studied that course, I went to my locol uni to take the MCDST test, after talking to one of the test guys for a while, i told him my interest at the moment is to eventually get into networking, and Im thinking of doing networking + once I finish this course. My plan was to do the A+, N+ and MCDST, then no more courses until I found an IT job. I have been looking for entry level jobs while I have been studying, but I cant leave my job as a printer until I have found something else. Anyway he told me they have decided to scrap N+ from this year, but they had the CCNA.....I told him I did not know to much about that course, but my understanding was that it was a course that you do once you are in the business, and I have no IT experience, so I didnt want to be over qualified for an entry level job. He said this is an entry level course and it would help me to get an entry level job. The course was offered for me free, because I earn under a certain amount. So should I take the course or would it become more of a hinder for my job seeking. I have heard those stories of people who are too qualified for an entry level job, but have no experience for the more advanced jobs, so they are stuck basically. Plz advice me guys....would you take it

abs,

The thing you need to understand is the difference between CCNA training/education and CCNA certification. Anyone at any time is more than welcome to expand their knowledge about topics that they do not know at the current time. Cisco specifically does NOT have a required pre-requisite for even their Cisco Certified Internetworking Expert certificate so you're more than welcome to learn and study to that level. The concerns about being overqualified on your CV is if you are CCNA certified or not. Currently, to become CCNA certified, you can take and pass the 640-802 CCNA exam. So the exam and the subsequent certification is where the borderline for qualified and overqualified lies.

Although, as the saying goes, sometimes you get what you pay for. You may have an unqualified Cisco instructor using an unapproved Cisco curriculum and has no instructing credential or even experience being an instructor who is supposed to help you through the course material. In that case, this "free course" might hurt you more than help. Then again, you've got the benefit of being a CertForums member so you can ask for verification of what your instructor might have told you. Then again, if your learning style is helped by a structured course format, then go for it.

Ultimately, no matter how much advice we try to give you in this thread, the choice will have to be your's.

[BosonMichael]

Originally Posted by wagnerk

I'm in two minds about this:

1. Yes, because it's free
2. No, because I don't work with the technology

I had the opportunity to do the Juno cert for free (course & cert), this is Juniper's CCNA level cert, and while I started it, I didn't finish it. It was interesting but dry... I couldn't implement the stuff I was learning as I didn't work with the equipment. Not to mention that both of the above certs need renewing...

-Ken

Exactly this. Take the training, if you want... but realize that it'll likely be a difficult slog.

Also, the CCNA certification itself won't do you much good early in your IT career. People with CCNA-level jobs won't hire you without experience, and people with entry-level jobs don't need a CCNA-certified person to do entry-level work. In truth, it can make you LESS employable, not more employable, early in your career.

Yes, the knowledge you can gain from a training class might be useful... but without the opportunity to actually work with Cisco gear in a real-world business IT environment - something you're not likely to get if you're like the other 99.9% of people starting out in IT - if you don't use it, you'll lose it.

Whichever way you decide, I hope you do well!

[craigie]

Originally Posted by r.h.lee

abs,

Currently, to become CCNA certified, you can take and pass the 640-802 CCNA exam.

I think the information you have provided has changed. According to the Cisco website to become a CCNA you require:

640-802
640-822
640-816

As per this http://www.cisco.com/web/learning/le...type_home.html

I think you meant that once you pass the 640-822 you become a CCENT you require:

640-802

As per this http://www.cisco.com/web/learning/le...evel_home.html

[Sparky]

Originally Posted by craigie1977

I think the information you have provided has changed. According to the Cisco website to become a CCNA you require:

640-802
640-822
640-816

It looks like you can take the 640-802 to become CCNA or take the two exam route (640-822 and 640-816) if you have already completed the CCENT (640-822)

[craigie]

Originally Posted by Sparky

It looks like you can take the 640-802 to become CCNA or take the two exam route (640-822 and 640-816) if you have already completed the CCENT (640-822)

Yep your right Sparky, just re read it after my head wasnt in trying to sort out my Server issues

[Abs]

Thanks guys for all the answers. Im thinking of taking as its a free course, and even though I know it wont lead to a Cisco job, the knowledge that comes with the course can be useful. But how basic is CCNA in the networking world? Can someone like me who only got the minumum basics of networking, the small parts A+ and MCDST touches hang with this course?

[BosonMichael]

The CCNA is very hands-on. Personally, I wouldn't recommend it unless you've worked with Cisco gear in the past, even a little bit... otherwise, you'll be struggling with learning how to log in while everyone else is busy configuring.

[FlashDangerpants]

Is this at your local community college? If so, my experience of that was that they will try to get anyone they can onto the course in order to make up the numbers. The college I went to shoe-horned everyone who wanted to learn how to maintain a PC and use Excel or whatever into their CCNA course. Some of them had never seen a UTP cable before. The truly amazing thing was how tenaciously some of those guys stuck to a course that they couldn't make head nor tail of.

Inevitably though, most of them came to realise that they had been sold a lemon at some point and dropped out. Which meant that the course kept stopping so they could combine the survivors from various classes into a coherent group with a chance of passing. In the end I lost patience and used a book to do the new course.

That said, I would have thought it would be a good idea to take the course and get a CCENT cert myself. The full CCNA is not only a giant PITA for anyone without real world experience, but it also doesn't teach you what you need to know to be a good network engineer. For that you would be better served by a general guide to TCP/IP networking*. You may not get a cert at the end of the book, but you do get the answers to the questions you will need to answer in an interview.


* I totally recommend this one:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Practical-TC...0259159&sr=8-4

[Abs]

FlashDangerpants

The course in run in the uce innovation centre in birmingham. In all honesty that I got the same filling that they were just looking for numbers, as they said this is a beginner course and anyone can make it. I asked what about someone who doesnt know anything about networking, they said no problem.

Whats the difference between CCENT cert and N+? All I want is to learn some basic networking, just the foundation, so I can build on once I get experience, my understanding is that CCNA is not that.

[FlashDangerpants]

All I know about the N+ comes from flicking through a text book once out of curiosity, it looks like a sensible introduction to networking, with a limited degree of crossover with Cisco and Microsoft courses, and would definitely be a better strting point than a CCNA.

The CCENT is Cisco's new entry level networking course and represents roughly the first half of the CCNA. Again, I only did CCNA in one hit, so I'm not sure exactly what goes into the CCENT and what is reserved for the later exam, but I could hazard a guess that the CCENT conforms to the first two semesters of the CCNA. If so, basic ethernet networking and IP routing would be in, but VLAN trunking, OSPF etc would be reserved for later. Which seems like a decent balance for an entry level cert to me.

[Abs]

FlashDangerpants

thanks.....Im gonna look into the N+ more, as it sounds more of my level.