Cisco Engineer / CCNA Exam
Discussion
Is becoming a cisco engineer worth it???
I need a change of jobs but obviously don't wanna take home less money and becoming a cisco engineer seems like the best route for me to go down.
I currently work for an isp so I'm sort of in that world already but don't have any cisco accreditation and there's 1% chance of progressing up the chain in my current role, I've been trying to move on with them for the last year and had no success.
Ive been reading up over the last couple of weeks and i'd like to go down the routing and switching certification route as well as the wireless certification. These are what I'm interested in at work and outside of work.
So is it worth it???
I need a change of jobs but obviously don't wanna take home less money and becoming a cisco engineer seems like the best route for me to go down.
I currently work for an isp so I'm sort of in that world already but don't have any cisco accreditation and there's 1% chance of progressing up the chain in my current role, I've been trying to move on with them for the last year and had no success.
Ive been reading up over the last couple of weeks and i'd like to go down the routing and switching certification route as well as the wireless certification. These are what I'm interested in at work and outside of work.
So is it worth it???
Routing and switching are a good foundation, if you want to focus on networking this is a good place to start but the long term future for specialists in this area is not looking too good as automation is spreading out of the DC, the days of the highly paid CLI-jockey are numbered. R&S specialists will still have a place but their role will increasingly be network design only, implementation will be automated.
CCNA is a good foundation but I would not recommend focusing on Cisco, they provide an excellent certification curriculum across a broad range of technologies but it is very easy to get locked in to the Cisco mindset (which is what they want) and there are a lot of other vendors out there. The best networking engineers I know have a broad range of skills and experience and are not focused on a single vendor's solution set. I wouldn't bother with CCIE unless I was being sponsored by my employer to do it.
You work for an ISP so that will be very routing and switching centric but that does not just mean Cisco, Juniper, Nokia, Huawei and others are all big in this space and long term I think ISPs will follow the big DCs and start looking at white-box solutions, particularity for edge routing and switching.
There are three areas that I would focus on if I was starting out now; wireless, security and scripting/APIs. I would advise on focusing one one area initially and making sure that you back it up with complementary skills, being dedicated to one technology will narrow your options too much at this stage.
For wireless there is the excellent CWNP certifications which are widely recognized and respected https://www.cwnp.com/it-certifications/.
Security is covered by the ISC and CISSP. I don't know too much about this but work with a couple of folks that have CISSP as part of a broad networking qualification set.
Scripting and API programming are becoming increasingly important, Python, PERL, Ansible, REST, etc. I don't know if there are any certifications in this sort of thing but for larger networks knowledge of these things is becoming more important as automation spreads.
Ultimately there is no substitute for experience, get a grounding in routing and switching and then build your specialization on that and look for a job that is going to give you exposure to your chosen specialisation every day, your skills and earning potential will grow quickly with real-world experience on your CV alongside any certifications.
I hope that helps.
CCNA is a good foundation but I would not recommend focusing on Cisco, they provide an excellent certification curriculum across a broad range of technologies but it is very easy to get locked in to the Cisco mindset (which is what they want) and there are a lot of other vendors out there. The best networking engineers I know have a broad range of skills and experience and are not focused on a single vendor's solution set. I wouldn't bother with CCIE unless I was being sponsored by my employer to do it.
You work for an ISP so that will be very routing and switching centric but that does not just mean Cisco, Juniper, Nokia, Huawei and others are all big in this space and long term I think ISPs will follow the big DCs and start looking at white-box solutions, particularity for edge routing and switching.
There are three areas that I would focus on if I was starting out now; wireless, security and scripting/APIs. I would advise on focusing one one area initially and making sure that you back it up with complementary skills, being dedicated to one technology will narrow your options too much at this stage.
For wireless there is the excellent CWNP certifications which are widely recognized and respected https://www.cwnp.com/it-certifications/.
Security is covered by the ISC and CISSP. I don't know too much about this but work with a couple of folks that have CISSP as part of a broad networking qualification set.
Scripting and API programming are becoming increasingly important, Python, PERL, Ansible, REST, etc. I don't know if there are any certifications in this sort of thing but for larger networks knowledge of these things is becoming more important as automation spreads.
Ultimately there is no substitute for experience, get a grounding in routing and switching and then build your specialization on that and look for a job that is going to give you exposure to your chosen specialisation every day, your skills and earning potential will grow quickly with real-world experience on your CV alongside any certifications.
I hope that helps.
This is helpful thanks.
Long term I would be focusing on the wireless side of things. And friends who already have there certifications have mentioned not to limit myself to just cisco so i won't be!
Ill be looking to get my CCNA first and go from there. Any advice on who to use to achieve this???
Thanks again
Long term I would be focusing on the wireless side of things. And friends who already have there certifications have mentioned not to limit myself to just cisco so i won't be!
Ill be looking to get my CCNA first and go from there. Any advice on who to use to achieve this???
Thanks again
Firebrand are good if you just want to get it done, they do residential courses which a pretty full-on but they are good if you can get you employer to pay for it https://firebrand.training/uk/courses/cisco I did some training with them and it was pretty intense but it was great to walk away with a cert at the end of it. I don't have any self study recommendations for CCNA but I know that this a route that a lot of people take.
For wireless I would recommend Marquest http://www.marquest.com/register/, I did some CWNA training with them and it was excellent but if you are doing this on your own then CWNP offer self-study books.
The best thing to do is to talk to as many people as possible that are working in the technology area that interests you.
For wireless I would recommend Marquest http://www.marquest.com/register/, I did some CWNA training with them and it was excellent but if you are doing this on your own then CWNP offer self-study books.
The best thing to do is to talk to as many people as possible that are working in the technology area that interests you.
Edited by TuonoPants on Thursday 21st November 15:42
I would say it's worth it.
Yes cloud and security knowledge will do you well but there are plenty of network engineers without that. CCNA is probably the minimum for network jobs in a lot of bigger places. It's not all cisco specific knowledge either so good grounding for networks in general.
I had 3 of their pro level certs but let them expire last year, learnt a lot getting them and it was well worthwhile.
Yes cloud and security knowledge will do you well but there are plenty of network engineers without that. CCNA is probably the minimum for network jobs in a lot of bigger places. It's not all cisco specific knowledge either so good grounding for networks in general.
I had 3 of their pro level certs but let them expire last year, learnt a lot getting them and it was well worthwhile.
Edited by wombleh on Thursday 21st November 22:20
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