Specific advice on courses/providers please!

Discussion in 'Training & Development' started by bertles86, May 4, 2011.

  1. bertles86

    bertles86 Bit Poster

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    Hi folks,

    So I want to get a Networking qualification and am tossing up between CCNA and Comptia Network+.

    I have a degree in Software Development and some background hands-on experience in residential networking (routers/switches/AP's/repeaters/Wi-Fi etc.). But am by no means a network professional and stumble when comes to Subnets and into the darker arts of networking!

    My understanding is that the CompTIA is a starter course and the CCNA more advanced. So from my brief description above, which is the better route for me?

    Being in London, with posts on here and Googling it I have come up with:

    Training Provider: commsupport.co.uk
    Exam Centre: Arrow ECS UK, nr Liverpool St

    Are these both reputable and backed up with good reviews on here?

    Any advice would be great!
     
    Certifications: BSc & MSc
  2. greenbrucelee
    Highly Decorated Member Award

    greenbrucelee Zettabyte Poster

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    The ccna is a cert designed to backup someones experience of working with cisco Kit not for someone who wants to work in networking, thats what network+ is for.

    There are certs for people who want to work in IT and certs for people who already work in IT and depending on the cert they are specific to a certain technology.

    Certs such as MCSA,MCSE and CCNA or fo rpeople who already work in IT having such certs without the required experience can go against you when looking for jobs.

    As for providers I have never used one I find there is no need because I self study using the books and required material and take the exams when I want not when a course deems I am ready. Biggest advantage of self study is cost. For the price some providers charge for say the A+ or N+ you can do the A+,N+ and MCDST and possibly more plus buy all the books.

    Some providers dont even provide the exams.
     
    Certifications: A+, N+, MCDST, Security+, 70-270
    WIP: 70-620 or 70-680?
  3. dmarsh
    Honorary Member 500 Likes Award

    dmarsh Petabyte Poster

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    Without wishing to be too pedantic, sounds like maybe he could work in IT, just not in networking.

    Are you newly graduated or have you worked as a developer ? Why the sudden interest in CCNA ?

    I wouldn't bother with the N+ personally, its expensive and it sounds like you'd not learn much from it.

    A CCENT cert or maybe just doing the Cisco discovery course without certification, you could even just watch a couple of CBT's and build your own lab.

    As mentioned there are drawbacks to certification, it will expire in three years and will likely focus heavily on some areas which might not matter to you as a non network professional.
     
    Last edited: May 4, 2011
  4. soundian

    soundian Gigabyte Poster

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    I'm doing the CCENT at work at the moment. I've completed about 65% of it so far and I don't see a lot of difference between the Network+ material and the CCENT material (apart from some Cisco specific stuff, but that's pretty minimal so far, initial startup configuration and some basic commands). With that in mind I'd say that as far as general networking knowledge goes there's not much difference between the Network+ and the CCENT.
    Since there is little difference between the two certs (pretty much the same material, same cert life) then I'd go for the CCENT.
     
    Certifications: A+, N+,MCDST,MCTS(680), MCP(270, 271, 272), ITILv3F, CCENT
    WIP: Knuckling down at my new job
  5. bertles86

    bertles86 Bit Poster

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    Thanks for the replies guys, I work in the Custom AV sector, which is heavily IT oriented and have worked in various branches of IT over the last three years. I'm no numpty when it comes to this stuff, but need to fill in the gaps like I said. So I figure the N+ (as it's readily available) is the best bet? Self study is great for some people not for others brucelee, and it just won't suit me to be honest.

    Is anyone savvy with that particular provider?
     
    Certifications: BSc & MSc
  6. 56mylar

    56mylar Bit Poster

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    Have you run them through certguard?
     
  7. bertles86

    bertles86 Bit Poster

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    I did yup, couldn't find much though.
     
    Certifications: BSc & MSc
  8. 56mylar

    56mylar Bit Poster

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    Hm, other than the certguard suggestion i have little to offer ya mate, have had no experience myself, but good luck to ya. Make sure you do your research on price though, there are a lot of good deals out there to be spending loads of money if you don't need ta ya know.
     

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