Study CCNA Follow my efforts to get certified and employed

Since I decided to go for the CCNA route, a lingering question of mine has been: Will it be worth it? I don’t have any formal education, just a few years at university where I studied unrelated classes. It seems that most CCNA certified people come from a computer science background, which of course gives them a better chance of landing actual jobs than myself who is self-taught and trying to advance in the industry without getting a formal degree.

Yesterday I found this post on Reddit where a user asks that same question. The answers are indeed comforting, and the already certified people who replied so far seems to be united in the belief that it is indeed possible to get a career out of Cisco certifications alone. Perhaps we will not be able to land the exact job we want, but with a CCNA and a couple of years experience should get you an edge compared to the people who come straight out of university.

User kartoffelheinz writes:

My personal opinion is: Do it. Cisco certifications are great and you can still make use of them in 10 years (as opposed to for example microsoft certifications that are outdated after some years, just because there is no market for (for example) windows 2003 anymore). The networking stuff will work the same way as today in 10 years. ipv4 will change to ipv6, gigabit ethernet will change to 100gbit ethernet but thats it.

When you are going for the CCNA you will learn a lot of stuff (if you are a casual networker). That includes the current technologies, aswell as outdated technologies (serial links, rip and frame relay for example). Still, as framerelay is the grandfather of MPLS its really not bad to learn how it works because the current technologies are based on it (MPLS isnt part of the CCNA, don’t be scared).

As for the busines hiring, I doubt you will be hired because you are a CCNA, but it will definitely raise the chance they will choose you. Still thats different from company to company, there will be some that say you need to be atleast CCNA to work here, others dont give a coitus.

Granted, going for a CCNA alone will only get you so far. My personal goal is to become a network administrator for a large company, which would require a lot more hustle if my knowledge is based only on the first step of the Cisco certifications. I think that those of us who are serious about networking should definitely go for CCNP when we get into the industry. CCNP grants even more knowledge of the design process of a company network, which enables the holder to be able to build a network from scratch. This will of course help you to get employed and to get hold of the positions which interest you most.

Money and employment is an important subject for most of us, and I do think that all of us have a responsibility to push these certifications to our employers. The industry does have a great deal of respect towards the Cisco training route, but we can go further to make sure that actual knowledge and skill goes before degrees.

It would be unwise by me to blog about my path to getting a certification on a specific subject before answering an important question first: What is CCNA? Of course, most people who will find this site would already know what CCNA is, but for good measure I’ll outline the basics here.

The basics

CCNA stands for Cisco Certified Network Associate (known in the industry as 640-802), and is the most popular entry level certification for network engineers. The certification deals with computer networking and, unlike what many people in the IT industry believe, is not very Cisco oriented at all. You’ll need to know how to install and manage a medium size network, using Cisco devices or not.

This is a highly theoretical certification, and the material which you’ll need to learn to complete the exam are widespread. Unlike some academic subjects, Cisco doesn’t really start from the top and work their way down to the theory behind computer networking. You’ll get thrown right into a myriad of technical terms, and presented with a quite well-balanced mapping of how these technologies interact with each other.

The exam

You can get a CCNA certification by completing a 90-minute long written exam, with 55-60 questions on the basics of networking. There are no prerequisites, but since the exam is so broad and goes into a great amount of detail, most people study for months before making their first attempt. The exam covers the following topics:

• How to design and manage a Local Area Network (LAN).
• The layered OSI network model, describing what devices fill what function in a network structure.
• IP-addressing, including subnetting. How to calculate the design of a network on a low level.
• Switching and routing, with questions on how routing protocols work and how to configure devices to make the network function the way you want it to.
• The design of Virtual LANs (VLAN) and how they assist in creating efficient switched networks.
• Often-used protocols in an internet environment, such as DNS, DHCP, ARP, and many more.
• Implementing and troubleshooting WAN links.
• Configuring Cisco devices, which includes using the IOS command line operating system which runs on most Cisco equipment.

Training

There are thousands of companies and schools who provide training for different Cisco certification paths. Classes are often expensive, and many people get their employer to pay for them. In some cases, schools offer the basic certification training, only requiring you to pay for the exam itself, which sets you back a couple of hundred dollars, depending on where you take it.

The training required includes theoretical studies, math exercises, and also hands-on training on Cisco devices.

In my case, and in the case of this blog, I’ll be doing almost all of my training myself. This is a challenge, since it requires discipline, books, and also a lab of real Cisco devices to practice on. I’ll follow up on this later on, with my own progress of getting a basic lab set up at my home. This doesn’t have to get expensive, but it takes some figuring out which devices to get, and so on.

What are the benefits of CCNA?

To describe technical certifications simply, you could say that they work as proof that you are trained in the right skills and that you know what the industry requires you to know about your field. They also ensure potential employers and customers that you have an updated skill-set, since most certifications require you to re-certify yourself every couple of years. CCNA is valid for 3 years, and every once in a while Cisco updates the exam to cover the latest technologies while also moving away from technology which is no longer commonly used.

And then what?

After getting your CCNA certificate, there are a couple of different paths to take. With the CCNA you could land a decent job in the computer field, managing and setting up networks for companies. However, since you’ve already completed a major hurdle in professional training, you could continue to pursue other certifications, from Cisco or from other academies. I have a gut feeling that I’ll try to move on towards the higher CCNP, unless a great job offering comes along which makes me forget about networking. You can read an earlier post on my plan to get Cisco certified. And always remember: every certification will potentially land you a higher paycheck, so if you’re working in the networking field there are few reasons not to go after these sought-after certifications.

If you browse the web for blogs focused on people studying for their Cisco CCNA certification, for some reason you won’t find much of value. Most seem to be focused on selling the latest answers to the exam questions, or a class which promises a CCNA certification with very little work required. For a price, of course.

Granted, there are a few blogs worth following, but they have either grown stale or moved on from CCNA to more advanced topics and certifications.

I do think there is a need for at least a couple of updated and content rich CCNA blogs at all times. Which networking certification is the most popular? Cisco CCNA. Why? This certification (including CCENT 1 and 2) is the first on the road to a new or broader carreer. Of course, people do begin with the basics and then move up, especially since the more advanced certs require that you’ve passed the basic ones first. The other reason behind the over representation of CCNA material is that lots of people fail to achieve their goals, or that they just loose interest. It’s really common for people to jump on the bandwagon and buy a few CBT Nuggets for CCNA and related topics, just to “drop out” a month or two later. This makes the profitability of the basic certifications a great deal higher than going for the advanced topics, if you want to sell books and other training.

This blog isn’t about profitability though. I want to create a resource where following my struggle with CCNA (and later on, CCNP) will help you as the reader with your struggles. The best outcome would be the creation of a network of blogs where we all cheer help each other out. This is probably too much to ask for though, the way things are looking at the moment, but it can’t hurt to have a goal, right?

I will be following this entry with a couple of more generalized topics, and then jump into the technical side of the road to becoming a Cisco Certified Network Associate.