Do I need to do A+ before CCNA ?

Oh man! Ad-blocking software has been detected! :'(

This website is run by the community, for the community... and it needs advertisements in order to keep running. Blocking our ads means your killing our stats!
Please disable your ad-block, or become a premium member to hide all advertisements and this notice.

Hi all, I'm working in telecoms sales at the moment doing basic voice and some VOIP. I want to move away from the sharp end of sales to either a pre sales or engineering role. Overall my IT knowledge is ok for an amateur, and I understand VOIP etc more from a business use point of view

My plan was to self study for CCNA. Can I dice straight into this or would I be better doing A+ first ?

 

Oh man! Ad-blocking software has been detected! :'(

This website is run by the community, for the community... and it needs advertisements in order to keep running. Blocking our ads means your killing our stats!
Please disable your ad-block, or become a premium member to hide all advertisements and this notice.

If you want to get into IT the A+ IMHO is the best place to start, I only wish I had someone tell me that when I started on the cert track. The A+ is an entry level cert, it is not easy but it is designed for people that haven't studied any IT before. I would follow that with the N+ and take it from there.

If you don't have a solid theoretical foundation on which to build your knowledge you will inevitably find it a tough road. Start at the bottom and work your way up. The A+ and N+ are globally recognised certs that are not vendor specific. They will therefore be useful whatever you decide to do in the future. Also you might reconsider going down the CCNA route once you have passed these two exams because you will be in a better informed position to make the correct choice.

Good luck,

Pete

 

What he said.

 

Hi,

I agree with what has been said already. You will enjoy the A+- i haven't met anyone who has done it and didn't like it. It will also give you a good foundation to build on.

Think of your GP as A+ certified and a surgeon at your local hospital as CCNA. The surgeon could do the GP's job because he has done the A+, but the GP couldn't do the surgical without the relevant experience and training.
Hope you understand my wierd analogy

 

Hey, I've got an A+ but I'm not getting paid a GP's salary, what went wrong?

 

yeah, i heard they are on anything between 40 and 70K !

 

I would start with the A+ then Network+ for a good grounding in IT. CCNA is pretty focused on Cisco as you would expect.

 

Thanks for the advice everyone, A+ books on the way from Amazon. Are the Cisco exams the best way to go to make use of my telecoms / VOIP experience ?

 

I have had a brief look at the CCNA domains and i would say it is right up your street. I would still do the A+ first, if i were you