CCNA certification - anyone done it?

[MarcusGHedwig]

AKA Cisco Certified Network Associate certification - currently cramming for my final in the first of 4 courses, and man, it's some heavy but well-presented stuff. I have to imagine there are some networking people here, anyone have any thoughts on the program?

 

[RyanUsesThis]

Took the classes. Never did the Cert. Good luck fella, that's a whole lot of info to remember.

 

[MarcusGHedwig]

Haha, thanks man, and don't I know it - if I can, though, hopefully it'll improve my potential employability in one of the fastest-growing fields out there! (and I definitely prefer it to programming, blechh)

 

[P-E]

For what it's worth, my stepfather's done it.

It'll surely improve your chances of getting hired in anything related to networking, good luck for those huge exams.

 

[Scott Horner]

I deal with Cisco routers a bit with my job. They're all assholes. Yes, I just personified a piece of network equipment. But good luck! It will definitely help you out in the job market.

 

[Jind]

Thank God my IT cert days are pretty much behind me - about 10 years ago I left the direct support side of IT for the business side of things and while certifications got me where I am today, I don't miss all the training.

More power to you Marcus as I'm sure as a young man in today's IT world they will do you well - they certainly helped me get my foot in the door at a time when I had to change careers back in the 90's. In 92 or 93 I entered the IT world doing field service - I tested out for every cert I could get for every piece of software and/or hardware there was. All that work got me an opportunity in a contracted support role with the "big pharma" company I now work for - a few years later I was hired to manage the tier 3 desktop support unit, and then a few years after that I joined the business side as a Business Analyst focusing on future IT needs for the non-scientific groups, I've worked on the business side of things since. Certification however, did open those doors for me and hopefully they will do the same for you.

 

[DolphinSplatter]

I studied all four semester courses and did great on the little finals, but never took the cert.
You seem like a really smart dude, it shouldn't be too bad.
Good luck :]

 

[jangoux]

I was going to do it, but a few network professional discouraged me. All said there were not enough ´Cisco´ jobs in Brazil and the course covered a lot of unuseful stuff. But i am sure in the US there´s a lot more opportunities.

 

[timislegend]

i worked for a company called groundcontrol in slo, ca. they paid for my ccnp training... and it was a hell-of-a lab.

dude!!! ...firewall.cx (it helps a lot)

 

[arvoitus]

I've done CCNA, CCNP, CCDA and CCDP. I hope to finish CCVP, CCIP, CCSP and CCNP Wireless within 1,5 year.
Some days i love it and some days i hate it, but i mostly love it. It's funny, when i first started with CCNA i thought that was hard but now i can do that stuff in my sleep. And everytime i start a new course i go through the same "this shit is difficult" period.
On every new course you're jumping in a huge hole of unknown stuff, it's always hard but in the end i understand and love everything i learned.

Marcus, do you have the possibility to play with routers and switches?

Also: this is a very good advice when learning Cisco stuff: CBT Nuggets. Those guys can explain it very well, and its much more interesting then just reading.

 

[DolphinSplatter]

^^^
Playing with actual switches and routers is key to really learning this shit.

 

[arvoitus]

Yeah, its a good opportunity to learn the commands but you have to know the theory behind it as well. I mean, configuring a simple routing protocol like EIGRP is just 3 commands, but for CCNA and CCNP they require that you know every single step of every little progress. Most of the times thats fucked, but at least it means that people who have Cisco Certification know what they are talking about.

For every course I watch those CBT nuggets and perform the "cisco skill labs". Then i read the normal Cisco book to learn all the small details.

 

[NNotN-ENN]

I studied the first two semesters at uni and got the cert for that much but I never went and picked it up, so I don't even list it on my resume. I currently work as a business analyst for the government anyway so similarly to Jind, I don't think I'll ever need it again.
Definitely a good qual to have though and good luck for your exam!

 

[madbutcher]

A bit off maybe, but I looked a little into the cisco stuff and it looked like a pain in the ass, so I went the Microsoft route. Got an MCP a couple years back and need to get off my lazy ass and get MCSA at least so I can maybe get something besides a helpdesk job. The cert tests suck so bad though, read the entire encyclopedia sized book, had a course over it, and still only passed by like 2 questions above. And it was only over a client operating system that I use constantly. But not one thing on the cert test have I actually used.... so testing for networking and server stuff that I have barely any actual use of should be fun

 

[MarcusGHedwig]

Thanks for the encouragement and support guys, glad to hear some of you have had good results from/experiences with it! And yeah, overall I agree it's not too bad, and fortunately I do indeed have the opportunity to get hands-on since I'm taking it at my local community college - I'll check out those CBT Nuggets things though, certainly can't hurt to have the info presented in a different way!

However, it is a bit frustrating how they'll go on and on about legacy/outdated technologies; I don't wanna skip over anything, but it's pretty trying to read (and try to comprehend) page after page about, for example, CSMA/CD, only to next read that it'll soon be rendered pretty much useless! (with the increasing ubiquity of switches and full-duplex operation)

 

[::XeS::]

I'm actually working for a Networking company and my collegues got the CCNA some years ago. It's pretty tought but if they got it, you can too (also because some of them are morons).
We works as a networking support pool in one of the biggest italian financial groups, and there pretty much everything is Cisco.
(Anyway I'm not actually part of that pool, I'm at the end of my second project contract doing the census of every cabinet, server and network device installed in their main buildings, following also the input in a management software they bought)

 

[J.DavisNJ]

Marcus, are these classes you've taken outside of your Uni? I thought you graduated already for some reason. Would like to hear your thoughts/motivations on the process. Currently stuck in my job situation and curious to hear other stories.

Joe

 

[Executioner213]

I went to school for a networking degree and dropped out for a plethora of reasons. In the end, the school was teaching obsolete shit. I never finished. I've thought about doing it again, but I've also thought of just going to school for something else.

 

[rlcramer]

Hey Marcus - I don't want to sound like Mr. Sour Grapes, but I used to be all gung ho about certifications, and I went through a stint a few years back where I was going crazy getting every single cert that I could get my hands on. I got my ccna, mcse, rhce, Citrix, VMWare, etc. Did I learn a lot studying for them? Yep - TONS. But then one day, I was updating my 2003 MCSE to Win 2008, and my employer paid for me to go to a bootcamp. The class was about $4500, and I literally spent a week in front of a computer studying "sample questions" that when I wound up taking the test, I found out were the EXACT same questions on the actual test. And I mean EXACT. The multiple choice answers were even in the same order.

So now that I'm on the other side of the fence, and I get to hire IT guys as part of my job, I'll be honest when I say that I don't place too much emphasis on certs, because I know that anyone can plop down 5 grand and get one regardless of what they really know. And it's pretty easy to tell during an interview if someone has any hand's-on experience, or if they just paid their way through a bootcamp, or downloaded braindumps.

My advice? If you really want to get started learning networking - go on ebay, buy a CCNA POD (which was "way back in my days" 2 3600 series routers and 2 2900 series switches), connect them, configure them, break them, etc. Spend time learning how to write configs, back them up, set up a tftp server, make your own cables, learn ISDN, learn frame relay, know OSI like the back of your hand, and when you have your confidence levels up, then go take the test. If you pass, great. If not, at least you'll have learned some pretty decent hands on networking lessons that no one can ever take away from you. And who knows, maybe you'll feel more confident on an interview than you would if you only had a cert and no hand's on experience.

Just my 2 cents.

Bobby

 

[MarcusGHedwig]

I appreciate the input Bobby, and I can't deny there was a part of me that feared it would be regarded with similar skepticism by potential employers as the Pro Tools Certification (though of course that's a bit different, since being good at PT is only a small part of what makes a good AE). However, FWIW, I'm really reading in detail and absorbing the info, and taking detailed notes (I've been going through the curriculum on my own as well as taking the classes), so I'm getting a really solid theoretical background, and as my knowledge increases I probably will try to start getting more hands on. And, uhh, since you now are in a position of hiring IT guys, and as I recall are based in Westchester, you may be hearing from me around this time next year when I finish (if I may ask, what company do you work for?)

And Joe, yeah man, I got my Bachelor's of Science in Geography (conc. in Land Use Planning) in May '09, but haven't been able to find dick in the field and realized that I'd need to go to grad school if I wanted to pursue it - however, since there are few prospects more utterly sickening to me than that, I decided instead to just do a reboot and go to Community College for Networking, and so far so good I'd say! (and I've got my Radio Shack job on the side for money and semi-relevant experience)

And Michele, that's encouraging to hear dude, I'd like to think I'm not a moron