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There seems to be a lot of misconceptions about the CCNA qual these days.
Everywhere I look on a forum it seems to be regarded with a mythical difficulty level. With network+ knowledge and a bit of dedicated studying anyone with half a brain should be able to crack it in less than a couple of months.
If you're good at subnetting you should be able to do it in less.

As for doing your C.V harm. Well I agree with the post by paulp, it's not going to do your c.v any harm. Even if you don't work with Cisco equipment. The CCNA is not for those with experience, the CCNA is an associate level qual.


....And back on post, as far as training providers just do your research. Try to ignore any promise of a guaranteed job etc. Focus on the quality of there training product. As BM rightly said, they've got many a loophole to get out of the guaranteed job promise.

 

Based on what I've seen in the industry, I wholeheartedly disagree. It absolutely is for people with experience. Most companies simply aren't going to hire a certified-but-inexperienced CCNA to administer their routers.

Even worse, it CAN do your CV harm. A company with an entry-level position won't want to hire someone with the CCNA. Why? Because:
1) It's not relevant to the position
2) It will likely make the candidate more expensive to hire
3) It likely means that the candidate would be more interested in a more advanced job - meaning, he's a flight risk. Why hire someone who is going to leave within six months for something better, leaving the employer to find, hire, and train someone all over again? Not worth the risk... so the CV is likely to end up in the trash.

So if entry-level employers won't hire an inexperienced CCNA because of the aforementioned factors, and employers with more advanced jobs won't hire an inexperienced CCNA due to a lack of experience... how does the CCNA certification help someone without experience, when all it does is make you LESS employable and LESS attractive to employers?

A CCNA WITH experience, on the other hand, is quite valuable, and very worthwhile.

 

With the CCNA I would offer the following viewpoint.

Cisco Kit is expensive, and the one thing Cisco Kit does brilliantly is sit at the heart of your network, and in between your networks, keeping it ticking.

Any IT manager worth there salt would not let someone who has passed their CCNA (without on the job experience) loose on their network, as these are mission critical pieces of kit, as we all know, exams can be passed by a number of methods, but passing an exam and actually working in an environment knowing one mistake and 70 users are going to be looking for someone to hang, are two different things.

For me, if you pass the CCNA without real world experience, then my advice would be (this is also the advice of a cisco recruitment agent)then get looking for a junior role, apply to Cisco partners in the area and give them information on your situation, you may get lucky.

 

And there's the problem in itself.

A CCNA with no experience, but how do you get that experience. I know at our place the CCNA is a prerequisite for getting anywhere near any of the Routers or switches, and that's just for basic maintenance.
BM, you make sense with what you say and i'd say that is the general consensus of most of the forum.

However my opinion has always been that by doing the course and taking the qual then you at least show an employer that you are serious about wanting to work with the technology and that you are willing to put the time in to learn it.

Sure you're never going to be let loose on a production network on you're own, but as long as you're honest and don't try to pad out your C.V then maybe you'll get that lucky break.




edited to add: I'm not saying here that if you have no I.T experience and get the CCNA you should walk in to a job. What I'm really trying to get across is that if you've been sitting for a year or two doing desktop support and always though about trying the Cisco side then go for it, do you're CCNA. Show some aptitude, whats the worst that can happen.

 

In many places, a tech who is not yet to the "network admin" tier (whatever tier that is in your company) is often allowed to shadow or assist network admins. That's how I learned it. And since I was starting to get real-world experience, I studied for the CCNA and passed the exam.

Sure, some companies are going to want you to study for and get the CCNA before they'll let you work on Cisco gear... but when that happens, usually you're IN a job, and the company is asking you to get the CCNA so you can start helping them configure routers. But that's not what is typically asked on these certification forums... what's typically asked is, "Will the CCNA do me any good to get a network administration job even though I don't have ANY IT experience?" And the answer to that is, "No."

That's all well and good... IF you're currently employed, and your current employer wants you to learn it. In those cases, sure, it's fine to get the CCNA without experience, because your employer wants you to learn it and start working with it!

But an employer who hasn't yet hired you typically isn't going to take a risk on hiring you if you don't have experience... not when there ARE experienced people out there who can be hired. And there are. Sure, taking the initiative to learn the technology is great... but you HAVE to look at this NOT from an aspiring tech's point-of-view, but from an employer's point-of-view: an employer simply cannot afford take that risk. A Cisco problem doesn't mean one person isn't able to do his/her job... it means an entire office (or worse, an entire company) isn't able to do their jobs. When downtime means lost revenue AND lost production... it's just not worth it.

That depends on where you are on the IT food chain. As an entry-level tech or as a desktop support tech, it does more harm than good (because of my earlier points). But as a senior 2nd line tech, or as a server admin who is starting to venture into the network administation realm, sure, it's worth picking up, because that's the next logical step in their career. You don't go from 0-100 in one jump... you take logical steps to get there.

 

Agree with the edit, if you are working in IT you should always be learning, I read my book on every bus journey I can, and also keep up to date with this forum and any websites I can find.

The key to success i think is to get a role, and show the management you can do more, and build up your responsibilities. By being as proactive as possible, and making sure you get credit for it you will become a "superstar" (or let your line manager get the credit), I heard a fable about a line manager taking his best employee with him all the way up the food chain thanks to this sort of tactic, he realised he needed this person to stay in his own role so he made sure he was there beside him

 

see below

what she said

what he said.