hi, new to forums

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 there.

am new to these forums and hope to learn and contribute where i can. Im currently studying for my cisco CCNA, have passed the ICND1 exam and hope to take the ICND2 exam at the end of may. Im more interested in networking than anything else however realistically think il need to cert in something more rounded to enter the IT field, and without industry experience dont think a CCNA on its own will get me too far.

looking foward to browsing the forums !

daave

 

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.

Welcome!

Studying for the CCNA minus experience? prepare yourself for a slap in the face (not from me)

 

Hi Welcome

You are indeed correct that the CCNA will not help you on it own. Infact the CCNA may hinder you and thats because the CCNA is a cert designed for people who have job experience in supporting cisco hubs and switches it is not a cert for someone who wants to get into IT.

There are certs for begginners and certs for people with experience so you need to get some entry level certs such as compTIA A+,Network+, MCDST and MCITP windows 7.

Unfortunately no one walks into a networking job reagrdless of how qualified you are so you need to start at the bottom and progress into networking.

You may also find that in order to get and entry level job you will have to hide that fact that you have the CCNA on your cv untill you have relevant experience.

 

I am under no illusion that i would get a job with CCNA alone. networking is where i want to get to and im aware that to get where i want to be il have to start entry level in a non-networking role. i know its going to take time and im fully prepared for that.

My plan is to work towards MCDST after completing my CCNA as my local college who im currently studying with are offering this aswell now on the same basis that im studying my CCNA. This is a self paced evening class so others cant slow you down and works very well. In hindsight yes i think it would have been more benefitial to do these the other way round, but at this stage it would be silly to halt what im doing now.

@ tortoise:

in what regards? im fully aware of what i need to do to complete this cert. do you mean in the same sense that greenbrucelee mentioned?

daave

 

Unfortunatley the MCDST is being retired on June 30th so you may not get time to do this.

So you should go for A+,N+ and MCITP windows 7 and yes tortoise does mean what I said. Experience is what counts and no network manager will hire someone without experience unless they are very lucky and manage to find a trainee role. But usually the fact is that you work your way up into networking after getting exposure in other areas first.

 

I have just ordered both MCDST books of ebay for self study. Should I just learn the material and not bother with the exam, or should I book an exam date closest to June and have target of completing my studies before exam time?

 

You should be able to get both exams done by June if you get cracking now. It took me 2 months to get my MCDST. Usually I recommend using two sources of study for every exam but for the MCDST I just used the MS press books.

 

yeah the mcdst isnt going to be possible for me, not in that time frame. im a but undecided where im going to go to be honest. i prefer actually going to college one day a week for studying, hands on stuff, and instructor guidence rather than jsut buying books, cbt nuggest and doing all home study by myself.

sense says to me after finnishing this is to do N+ ( whilst networking is very fresh ), then onto A+, however if college do a similar MCITP self paced format i would have to consider that greatly too.

were see what happens when the time comes.

 

Just be advised that having the CCNA on your CV when you're applying for your first IT job can do more harm than good. Employers with entry-level jobs are likely to think you're too expensive (due to your higher-level certification) or that you're a flight risk (because, if networking is what you're interested in, you're likely to leave for a better job sooner rather than later, leaving the employer to find, hire, and train someone all over again). Best to leave the CCNA off your CV until later in your career.

By comparison, entry-level certifications, such as the A+, Network+, and MCDST, are great for people who are just getting into the IT field.