Is it worth studying for a CCNA?

Gav888

Hi,

Im not sure if anyone on here is familiar with IP telephony but I have the option to study for a CCNA through my work but looking around for jobs with a CCNA qualification other technical qualifications are needed to go with the CCNA, so having that on its own wouldnt help as my back ground is Aspect, Cisco ICM and Verint, plus the fact that most, if not all of the jobs about are not local to me so I would have to relocate which I would prefer not to do....

There is also another issue to contend with and that is the fact that my team could be made redundant at anytime hence the need to look for another job, so I dont want to spend the next month or so studying for something that I potentially cannot complete, and potentially have no use for?

Does anyone have a CCNA that can shed any light?

freehub

I'd leave it until you know you CAN complete it.

Cleat Eastwood

The CCNA's have to be taken every three years dont they, well not retaken but kept up to date. I've got a friend who does IT in a uni and he's taken one, but it was paid for by the uni. Said he's neve rhad use for it but its something for the CV.

I think if your trade is in the IT router /installation /upgrade /maintenance then experience matters rather than an new award.

If your work is paying for it then go for it, least you gain is whats expected if you want to take it later on.

Good luck anyway.

northernneil

depends if you think you will definately complete it or not, I used to be fully microsoft qualified, then they started to say that you lose your qualifications for certain applications unless you take the next course - and to be honest if you know your stuff and can prove that you dont ever actually need them as long as you can impart your knowledge properly

good luck which ever way you go

secretsqizz

shhh I used to have it... as mentioned .. knowing thou onions counts for more ... but I know itsa pita when it comes to the agency and wot they see on a CV.....
dont give a monkeys now for all this certification bollox, a money making racket for other people.

freehub

I never completed mine, I gave up on it, found it so mind numbingly boring reading crap loads to answer a test, it's awful, I was falling asleep, I'd much rather do it hands on building and configuring networks, I'd learn it 10x easier and better than reading and completing CCNA, really.

antikythera

I wonder what qualifications are worth?

I work with an individual who can't demonstrate any critical thinking and is pretty well useless in almost any problem solving situation. Yet they go out and rote learning a bunch of practice exams and getting qualifications in the process.

rapid_uphill

Why would you employ someone who is unqualified?
Qualifications in any type of business should be essential as there are so many cowboys about.

antikythera wrote:

I wonder what qualifications are worth?

antikythera

rapid_uphill wrote:

Why would you employ someone who is unqualified?
Qualifications in any type of business should be essential as there are so many cowboys about.

I'm not suggesting that there shouldn't be some means to measure a person appropriateness. For example a person can be qualified by demonstrating real world experience to a level thats acceptable to those businesses.

What I am suggesting is that the proliferation of "qualifications for sale" has lead to an increase in qualifications which lack substance and are being used in isolation to any other evidence.

The nett result is there are a lot of useless dipsh*ts out there with a degree from the micro$oft pop-up picture book university.

Buckled_Rims

rapid_uphill wrote:

Why would you employ someone who is unqualified?
Qualifications in any type of business should be essential as there are so many cowboys about.

Are these the same type of qualifications that any idiot can braindump? I was an IT trainer and number of new employees that had MCSE, CCNA blah blah....who had no idea how to do menial tasks on computers was ridiculous. Try and explain to a manager why they have employed top qualified people who need "special" training.

Qualifications can only be good if it can be a practical exam. The top Cisco qualification CCIE can't be cheated as you have an instructor watching you. The basic CCNA can have the answers braindumped without even touching a router or switch!

The top 10 most important IT jobs weren't even around 10 years ago so how can their be decent experienced qualifications?

I would not study CCNA if you have no interest. It's hard work if you really want a job administering a router or switch. I have 3 times attempted to study CCNA, but each time it's taken too long by which time the exam changed. IP telephony is useful to know. But, now it's getting into IPv6 can you handle the long 128-bit addresses...it's number overload if you don't like the sight of numbers

As antikythera mentions, Microsoft qualifications are a joke. They are somewhat useful, but really in the real world situation.

thedirge

Personally I wouldn't get into the debate over the worth of exams.

It's a tick in the box as far as getting the CV past HR department. So yes, go for it, get it and then give yourself a pat on the back.

Practice exams are a very good indication of whether you are ready to sit the exam and not blow a load of your hard earned cash. But don't think they are ever 100% right, use them as a guide to show you which areas of the material your knowledge is lacking in.

z000m

What you will find is that those people who complain about the qualifications gcse, ccna, mcdst etc. are the same people who failed the exams.
And there are lots of cowboys in the i.t industry.

tom101

Gav888 wrote:

Verint

Woh! Are you some kind of spy?

http://verint.com/communications_interc ... l2a_id=232

northernneil

z000m wrote:

What you will find is that those people who complain about the qualifications gcse, ccna, mcdst etc. are the same people who failed the exams.
And there are lots of cowboys in the i.t industry.

somewhat disagree there, they are a massive money making exercise - my server 2000 qualification expired because I didn't pay another £800 to do the server 2003 course. How can they say it expired when people were still using the OS !! rip off

Buckled_Rims

northernneil wrote:

somewhat disagree there, they are a massive money making exercise - my server 2000 qualification expired because I didn't pay another £800 to do the server 2003 course. How can they say it expired when people were still using the OS !! rip off

Exactly right. I had MCSE 2000, but I was told to get 2003 then 2008 both of which I refused because I was still working on Windows 2000 servers!

IT courses are a huge rip-off. All you need today is a book or 2, and set up half a dozen virtual machines to engineer and destroy. Total legal cost is about £200. In fact, if you're studying Linux the cost would be zilch!

antikythera

z000m wrote:

What you will find is that those people who complain about the qualifications gcse, ccna, mcdst etc. are the same people who failed the exams.
And there are lots of cowboys in the i.t industry.

Or those people with enough experience to spot someone trying to polish a t*rd

Gav888

tom101 wrote:

Gav888 wrote:

Verint

Woh! Are you some kind of spy?

http://verint.com/communications_interc ... l2a_id=232

LOL nope, but you would be shocked at the some of the things I get access too!!

Thanks for the feedback guys, I will see how things go with work etc but given the responses I may give it a miss, after all I could study hard for this and pass, but I still have no practical experience to offer a new employer. I guess that is more important than having a certificate.