CCNA Blog

# 01 Nicholas_CCNA

Is it a boring job or it gives you satisfacion?

# 02 Travis Newshott

That is a pretty open ended question. CCNA’s can have all sorts of jobs, especially depending on your experience. As a CCNA I was a Network Admin for a college district, whereas some folks with CCNAs merely monitor circuits in a NOC and do not get to do much actual networking/troubleshooting.

It largely depends on your grasp of networking concepts, your prior work experience, and luck – it never hurts for the planets to align in your favor!

What kind of work are you looking for? 

# 03 Nicholas_CCNA

I would like to be a network administrator but i dont know if i have to have a degree! or IS ccna enough?

# 04 Conwyn

It depends what you do. You could sit on a help desk all day.

You could work in a user environment preparing configurations ,ordering hardware, deploying at user locations. You could be putting telephones on desks.

All a CCNA says is you have acquired a body of knowledge and passed an exam.

Some companies associate the various cisco qualifications with specific jobs. For example if you are paying for a top technical consultant you expect a CCIE but a CCNA might have gained a very deep knowledge on a specific subject.

On CLN one frequently sees the CCNA today, CCNP next week and CCIE next month attitude. Would you be happy with somebody of such little experience making major changes to your company.

If you look at the CCIEs on the CLN they have a wealth of knowledge.

So CCNA should not be equated to a specific job and like all jobs it is your interpretation that matters.

# 05 BigBen

You don’t need a degree to be a NetAdmin. You don’t even need a CCNA, just the know how, experience, and a couple references will get you going.

In this market though, you need to hedge your bets. I’ve been in the IT industry for 14 years now, the last 5 or so primarily in the netwok discipline. I’ve never been to school computers, and until 6 weeks ago, never even had a cert of any kind (CCENT).

The certs really just mean that you’ve studied up, gained a certain level of knowledge, and passed a test. Ultimately, your real-work experience will dicate where you go and when. I did not start-out managing an ISP network. My first IT job was fixing PCs in the Winows 3.1/95 days. Later I worked in a NOC monitoring systems and circuits. Most recently I was working on the security roll-out for a major company that had a data-breach last year.

I’ve met CCNAs and MCSEs that know a fraction of what I do about networks/servers. I’ve met people with fewer years and no certs that can run rings around me. It all depends on how much work you’re willing to put in, and where you want to go with it. Just don’t expect that just because you have a CCNA, you’ll immedietly find yourself a position as a Sr. Engineer, unless you have put the real-work time in first.

I will say, that I love what I do. Networking is in many ways a DarkArt(tm). You can find Windows guys by the bus full. Linux techs, as it’s gotten more userfriendly, and more GUI centric, have become more common. Those who know networking (really know it) remain fairly rare.

Robin Lee :: Feb.28.2009 :: CCNA Q&As :: 1 Comment »

#01 ciscogeek

From the 640-460 IIUC syllabus, anyone have any thoughts/suggestions/recommendations on what gear you’d need for a home lab?

#02 Mary Ng

First, thank you for the relevant and direct questions in the last hour. It is very exciting to have a dedicated channel you!

If you are not able to attend classroom training via one of our many authorized training partners, I suggest that you self-study using the upcoming Cisco Press book supporting the “Implementing Cisco IOS Unified Communications” or IIUC exam written by Wendell Odum. The book will be available in the August timeframe.

http://www.ciscopress.com

As for practice labs, our learning partners have created hands-on labs using our validated designs. This is available by taking an authorized training class or renting lab time from a remote lab provider. You can search for these options on the “Learning Partner Locator” link from our CCNA Concentration Main Page (right navigation bar below the fold).

https://cisco.hosted.jivesoftware.com/community/connections/new_and_events?view=overview

Finally, our practice questions from the classroom courseware are posted on CLN. Have a try:

https://cisco.hosted.jivesoftware.com/community/certifications/voice_ccna/iiuc?view=overview

I look forward to seeing your presence again.

#03 Kailen Harper

Just using the listing in the Syllabus and my personal experience I don’t think you would need to get a ton of gear to get started.

A 2600 series XM router running a voice IOS , a 7900 series phone and a compatible FXO and FXS card should get you started with most of the voice basics. From there you can start exploring Dial Peers, dial plans and the different matching patterns. Adding a second router would let you work with VoIP dial peers using sip and H323. The hard part in putting this together is getting the DSP, NM and WIC combination right.

For the Unity express you would have to get a AIM-CUE. Make sure you get one that is supported in your router. There is a ton of material to cover that you really need to have access to a Unity Express to really get a good understanding of. Especially AutoAttendant configurations and troubleshooting between CUE and CME.

The UC500 is a self contained unit that has everything you need to get started. They are pretty new and used units are difficult to come by. The only advantage of useing this unit as opposed to getting a full CME is that it saves space and there is no worries about computing DSP’s and ports. Otherwise get an actual ISR router.

If you are buying new hardware the C2811-VSEC-CCME/K9 voice bundle is a good deal. The 2801 is less expensive but if you add in the additional DSP that comes with the 2811 you more than cover it. If you get it with an a 4 port fxo and 4 port fxs and an AIM-CUE once you are done studying it could be installed as a complete phone system in a small office of up to 36 stations. The CUE only comes with 12 licenses but can be upgraded to 50.

As for reading if you dont want to wait for the book coming out in August I highly recomend the Cisco IP communications Express book from CiscoPress. ISBN-13 978-1-58705-180-7 It was an excellent reference when I first got started last year.

I hope this helps.

Robin Lee :: Feb.15.2009 :: CCNA Q&As :: No Comments »

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CCNA Voice Official Exam Certification Guide is part of a recommended learning path from Cisco that includes simulation and hands-on training from authorized Cisco Learning Partners and self-study products from Cisco Press.

You can buy this book at amazon.com.

Robin Lee :: Feb.14.2009 :: CCNA Books :: 1 Comment »

# 01 Cisco_seven

I have 3 years exp in networking. completed CCNA 2 years back and now i am planning to take up new cisco certifications..,

What certification will be good in present conditions..,

I am planning to start with CCNP..,or will have to reach CCIE.

# 02 GSauls

The question you are asking is not an easy one to answers becuase it comes with questions you need to answer first.

Here are my questions to you and help will help me understand the way you would like to move forward.

1. What country do you live in? this will help assess if there is a shortage of a particular skill level.
2. what is your passion in networking? R&S, Security,Voice, Design etc.
3. Are you looking for more money in a different certification route?
4. Are you looking for a fresh start away from R&S (this is assumed) because the next logical step would be CCNP if there is still a keen interest.
5. Where would you like to find yourself in 3 – 5 years from now? in other words will you change countries? will you consult in the future?

You say you have 3 years exp. what particular experience? Implementation, configuration, Design

Let me know.

I can only give you advice from a cisco design side as well as Data Center side.

Guys like Conwyn and Scott Morri can advise you better on R&S, Security and all the rest. The best is probably Scott Morris as he is a 4 x CCIE expert. so his experience is priceless on this forum.

But let me know and i’ll do my best to advise you on the topics i know well.

# 03 Cisco_seven

Thanks for your reply.., i know it is very difficuilt question.
I have provided more info which will help for my first question..

1. What country do you live in? this will help assess if there is a shortage of a particular skill level.
-INDIA

2. What is your passion in networking? R&S, Security,Voice, Design etc.
-R&S and Security, Just thinking what will be best to do..

3. Are you looking for more money in a different certification route?
-For better career (good job and money  ).

4. Are you looking for a fresh start away from R&S (this is assumed) because the next logical step would be CCNP if there is still a keen interest.
-Not a fresh start.

5. Where would you like to find yourself in 3 – 5 years from now? in other words will you change countries? will you consult in the future?
-Something very important, looking for Sr network/security engineer Or a manager.

You say you have 3 years exp. what particular experience? Implementation, configuration, Design
-Implementation

# 04 GSauls

Thanks for your answers. Chetan is going through a similiar problem as you and he also lives in India.

Here is the best advice i can give you.

I would recommend you start with your CCNA Security first and then move onto your CCNP. This will really improve your credibility in the industry.

Once you have secured these certifications the next step is to make sure you improve your experience. Some where while you doing that i would really recommend you do your CCDA to really cement your experience an exposure to the industry. COMPTIA project+ would not hurt either.

Once you really confident with your knowledge and experience you can go for your CCIE R&S or Security or BOTH.

Maybe you should also consider looking into the Data Center market as Cisco occupy a big space of this with their 6500 series as well as the Nexus 5000 / 7000 and MDS 9000 series and once you have your CCNP with a sold background in BSCI and BCMSN, you should be very marketable with this variety of certifications behind you.

I hope this helps you, but like i said you not alone. May Chetan can share some of his experience with you as i’m not sure what part of India he is from.

Good Luck and don’t rush through things. Every experience brings new lessons and new understanding. Remember you can never be expert enough because new things come up all the time and technology as we know it never stops improving.B-)

# 05 Cisco_seven

As i said i finished CCNA 2 years back and again i need to do CCNA security ?

On a long run , yeah it is better if we have many certifications to cement the experience and gain creditibality.

What i understand is that “i would have to start with CCNA Security .. and start moving to CCNP R&S…,

# 06 GSauls

you don’t have to do your CCNA Security, you can move straight on the CCNP.

I was only suggesting you do the CCNA Security because you said you had an interest in Security but nothing is stopping you from doing both.

Remember you have 4 exam with CCNP and all you have to do is take the IINS (640-553) exam for the CCNA Security.

I hope this clears things up.

# 07 Cisco_seven

I will have to start preparing for CCNP .., one paper first, then will plan to have ccna security..,

My job timings and work load is not permitting to move a head… some how i will have to make it at least this comming year..,

First thing i will have to do now is, start hunting the training institute for CCNP..,

Robin Lee :: Feb.03.2009 :: CCNA Q&As :: No Comments »