Discussion
Oh yes.
Work your way through the Cisco certification ladder and its open chequebook time.
It used to be the case that CCIE was the top of the tree, dont know if this is still the case though. Some years ago when I did the lowly Cisco course only 4 people in the world had both CCIE qualifications.
Everyone, everywhere uses Cisco in a commercial environment, its the defacto standard.
Work your way through the Cisco certification ladder and its open chequebook time.
It used to be the case that CCIE was the top of the tree, dont know if this is still the case though. Some years ago when I did the lowly Cisco course only 4 people in the world had both CCIE qualifications.
Everyone, everywhere uses Cisco in a commercial environment, its the defacto standard.
used to be buts its tailed off over the last few years - did it myself in the late 90's but never made CCIE
back then a good CCIE working for a gold partner could earn 6 figures easy, now you see CCIE jobs at £60K upwards
CCNA/CCNPs were from £40-70K then now you see them as low as 20-30K
What you really need is to be a CCIE with 15 years real world client facing work under your belt
as with any qualification you need the experience to go with it
saying that, good network techies generally get paid more than say desktop support, sysadmin type roles so its the way to go in IT other if you dont have a natural talent as a developer etc
back then a good CCIE working for a gold partner could earn 6 figures easy, now you see CCIE jobs at £60K upwards
CCNA/CCNPs were from £40-70K then now you see them as low as 20-30K
What you really need is to be a CCIE with 15 years real world client facing work under your belt
as with any qualification you need the experience to go with it
saying that, good network techies generally get paid more than say desktop support, sysadmin type roles so its the way to go in IT other if you dont have a natural talent as a developer etc
maxed said:
Son is looking at training with worktrain and getting into cisco, is this an area that has some potential?
Highly recommend that he does
Sky's the limit, worldwide
But, only if he's truly interested
>> Edited by maxed on Wednesday 4th January 21:11
agreed re the interest - its real hard to spend years learning all that stuff if youre not naturally interested/get a buzz out of it...Ive met a lot of 'professionals' over the years who got in it for the money when they left Uni, only to find themselves stuck at a particular level as they didnt have the motivation (or talent) to see it through.
Most of the top guys are genuine 'geeks' who are in it for the love of it and the money just comes along naturally
You can get CCNA from plain studying. A CCNP from just studying would be difficult, and useless. Best way is to get a desktop support job and do the CCNA alongside, then go into a junior netowkr job and work on the CCNP, then up the ladder from there.
Any qualifications without the relevent commrcial experience are worthless in my experience.
Any qualifications without the relevent commrcial experience are worthless in my experience.
Having just come away from working at Cisco for 6 years I have to agree with the previous post. CCIE's are dime a dozen nowadays. It may not be an easy thing to achieve (trust me its really not easy!) but there are so many out there that the market value has diminished. Now you will often find that even half decent jobs (not mega bucks) have a minimum requirement of CCIE. ANd there are now many flavours of CCIE so the top paying jobs have engineers who have multiple CCIE's (different disciplines) plus 10-15 years experience. The days of CCIE write your own ticket are sadly gone. Experience and CCIE is the only way.
Of course if you have a CCIE and the Juniper equivalent you can pretty much write your own ticket still ... not many of THEM about. Add on Huawei and you are back into big bucks territory.
Of course if you have a CCIE and the Juniper equivalent you can pretty much write your own ticket still ... not many of THEM about. Add on Huawei and you are back into big bucks territory.
puggit said:
Get in to Cisco SAN systems (storage area networks) rather then network routing stuff - they are working closely with EMC (how close? ) and really cornering the market with great products.
A sector with lots of potential.
EMC SAN kit is a scabby pile of fermented tapir dung. And that's on a good day.
agent006 said:
You can get CCNA from plain studying. A CCNP from just studying would be difficult, and useless. Best way is to get a desktop support job and do the CCNA alongside, then go into a junior netowkr job and work on the CCNP, then up the ladder from there.
Any qualifications without the relevent commrcial experience are worthless in my experience.
Go along with this
Plus, if company pay even better
Very expensive if doing it self-supporting
apache said:
Thanks for the replies guys, the course is a combo of hands on and study, he does CCNA, foundation, Intro and ICND then CCNP BCMSN, BSCI, BCRAN and finally CIT. He's gone for it so here's hoping
And then he can keep you when your old and grey
was your plan ?
>> Edited by maxed on Thursday 5th January 10:23
Its a tough call - as mentioned, the days of just having the qualification and getting paid shed-loads are long gone (thankfully). What is needed is qualifications and experience and maybe a little specialisation in a key area - then you can earn good money.
The problem is that the exams are not easy and certainly get tougher each time. You can download cheat guides and helpers to get you through the exams, but Cisco have invested a fortune in getting their education programme working well - which it does overall. Its carefully run, cleverly defined and rigourous in some details. Its NOT an easy ride. Also, you will need to look at in detail the "stream" that is prefered - it splits at key points, though that does not prevent side-stepping to other parts of the learning tree..... its just logical that going down one path leads to another module.
The best Cisco engineers that I have met have been serious techies (in the sandle wearing sense). The very good ones have had a good command of the english language and can be put in front of customers. The worst ones have just done the exams and expect to know everything. Fit in the middle and its £40k - £80k with experience and good career prospects. The tough one is finding an employer willing to be flexible on the training side. Pay for it yourself and its expensive, but its the time that is the problem.
Of all of the IT based qualifications - Cisco ones are the best (better than Microsoft). They might not have the best reputation overall, but given the crap that other vendors punt, its the best of the lot. That pretty much says it all really....
How come Cisco though? Would recommend Network Security or if willing have a look at CISSP (waiting to get flamed for that one
)
The problem is that the exams are not easy and certainly get tougher each time. You can download cheat guides and helpers to get you through the exams, but Cisco have invested a fortune in getting their education programme working well - which it does overall. Its carefully run, cleverly defined and rigourous in some details. Its NOT an easy ride. Also, you will need to look at in detail the "stream" that is prefered - it splits at key points, though that does not prevent side-stepping to other parts of the learning tree..... its just logical that going down one path leads to another module.
The best Cisco engineers that I have met have been serious techies (in the sandle wearing sense). The very good ones have had a good command of the english language and can be put in front of customers. The worst ones have just done the exams and expect to know everything. Fit in the middle and its £40k - £80k with experience and good career prospects. The tough one is finding an employer willing to be flexible on the training side. Pay for it yourself and its expensive, but its the time that is the problem.
Of all of the IT based qualifications - Cisco ones are the best (better than Microsoft). They might not have the best reputation overall, but given the crap that other vendors punt, its the best of the lot. That pretty much says it all really....
How come Cisco though? Would recommend Network Security or if willing have a look at CISSP (waiting to get flamed for that one
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