CISCO Training

[DCS01]

Folk's,

I have been out of work for some time now and so am looking at re training(I am 48). Are CISCO qualifications a good way to go. I cannot find on thier website any links or giudes to course costs.

Many thanks.

[Kudos]

Experience counts greater. Have you any? Don't waste your money on a course if you don't, you'll not get much from it anyway

[eddie1980]

Word of warning. CISCO is not easy or cheap, and its only valid for a short time, think they are only 3 or 5 years before you have to do the refreshers to keep the qualifications.

[bogie]

Cisco is good if you work for a Cisco gold partner reseller etc, but you will struggle to get a job based on just having an exam

if you have 10 years of networking experience on different kit, then a manufacturer certification can open more jobs to you and be relatively easy to pass, but on the other hand, if you are new to networking, then even passing a CCNA is going to take a lot of study and preferably hands on

and then after all the hard work, cost, training, you are looking at an entry level job fighting with all the others with IT degrees, certs etc....

[jaybirduk]

Do you have a basic understanding of networking? what is your background with regards to IT?

this is the Cisco certification path

[Brother D]

I can only add what the previous posters have added. There is no way any company would employ you and let you loose on their network without real world experience.

Is this just something you saw advertised? And what do you really think it involves?

- Networking in a corporate environment is a million miles away from setting up your home router and pluggin in cables.

- If you consider yourself a serious geek then it might be for you...

[jaybirduk]

This is proper Cisco equipment, only the very skilled can operate it

(our canteen is closed this week so we had to order lunch in )

[Tallbut Buxomly]

Interesting is there a reason for the enclosed network cable? I mean is it wired directly into the cisco unit or simply plugged in in an enclosed housing. Also quite impressed with the cardboard housing which will undoubtedly lower the weight as most are sodding heavy.

[ffc]

The Cisco qualifications are the best you can get with regards to networking but they probably won't be much help in finding a job. The market is saturated with CCNA'a and CCNP/IP/VP/SP's with little or no experience owing to the prevalence of "study" material. If you have comms/network experience that may make a difference otherwise the return for your study effort may not be worth it.

[DCS01]

Folk's,

Thanks for that, I was thinking that a qualification in IT might help in getting into the industry,as a career change. CISCO does not look like the way to go unless you are already in the job. Have to think of something else to do - any one want an ex Customs Officer.

[Brother D]

Didn't mean to be negative in my previous post. I heartily recommend learning networking fundamentals, and having a ccna won't hurt in the slightest. I deal daily with application and server (guys both win and unix) who just don't have the slighest clue about fundemental concepts of neworking which is frustrating as I made the effort to learn a bit of windows os and unix/linux and continue to do so.
There are plenty of free courses and info on vm and storage which would be worth looking into - but for what it's worth I would recommend trying to find something you find really interesting.

[jaybirduk]

DCS01 said:

any one want an ex Customs Officer.

I would imagine you would be wanted in the freight industry, have you looked at that area? most large freight companies have a customs department.

Or are you specifically looking for a change? Good luck though

[DCS01]

Jaybirduk,

I have looked at the freight side of things and most companies want an import /export person. For my sins I was on the stopping people bringing things in bit.