Network+ Certification

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Hello everybody,

I have been working as a systems programmer for a while now but i would like to concentrate on a career in networking. My experience has been varied and i have not concentrated on any one area of IT which i think is a drawback. "Jack of all, master of none" sort of thing.

I believe my best bet is to obtain the network+ certification which would give me a leg up in this direction. I had signed up with Scheidegger to pursue this but having read so many bad reviews i decided not to go with them.

I would greatly appreciate any advice on study material, how best to study ie self study or training courses.

I have considered starting with the A+ certification but having looked at the Objectives it seems that there is a lot of hardware knowledge required. I have little hands on experience with hardware.

What should i do..

Thanks in advance...

 

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Greetings honeydip. Welcome to CertForums. I don't think the A+ is necessarily a prereq for the N+ but in my opinion, having a background in hardware and basic OS would be pretty helpful. There will always be a hardware component in networking and you never know when you might have to change out a PCI NIC or manually configure a NIC's IRQ. Both certs are pretty basic and if you have a background in IT, you could probably pick up what you need with self study.

If you are looking at getting "serious" as far as networking goes, after your Network+ cert, you might want to consider the CCNA. I learned a great deal about networking while studying for that cert.

As far as the Network+ goes, the 2005 objectives are about to be released (I'm the tech editor for a Network+ Study Guide that is currently being written so I'm somewhat familiar with the changes) and you'll want to go to CompTIA's site and get the update of you haven't already.

You can find the most current objective information on the Network+ here:

http://www.comptia.org/certification/network/default.aspx

Hope this helps some. Let us know how else we can help.

BTW, you might want to pop up to the New Members Intro forum and tell us a bit more about yourself. The rest of the gang would love to give you a welcome.

 

Hello Tripwire45,

Wow......... that was quick.

Thank you for your advice. I guess I want to complete my certification in the shortest time possible in order to help me consolidate my knowledge and to secure a better job.

I have read that I should expect to obtain a certification in about 3-4 months. That being the case this would mean completing both the A+ and N+ in the next 7-8 months before starting on the CCNA certification.

I suppose having completed the first 2, that should give me enough to get my foot on the networking ladder.

I will visit the CompTIA site.

There are so many books out there. I have read that the Mike Meyers and Sybex are the ones to go for?

Any thoughts??

Thanks......

 

IMHO, A+ and Network+ compliment each other perfectly, and many around here I know are of the same opinion. I'd also say they are of comparable standards in terms of experience required.

Myers for A+, Sybex for N+ - my personal opinion again.

Good luck

 

There's about a billion books out there. I used the Network+ book by Course Technology just only because my instructor was going to use it and asked me to evaluate it. I used it in conjunction with of of Meyers Passport series books to nail down the key concepts. Made the pass the first time.

One important piece not to forget is to do the hands on work. I had enrolled in a two year program at my local college that included a strong networking component and labs. Got to play with hubs and switches and configure and troubleshootnetworks so I had more than just "book" knowledge. Bought myself a cheap IBM 12 port 10 MB switch and some cheap PCs just to practice at home. If you can swing it, I really recommend trying to build a home lab to work with. You'll learn more in the long run.

 

Thanks guys... really appreciate the advice.

I'll get the Mike meyers book for A+ and see how i get along...

Honeydip.....