On the fence

The Silent Assassin

Hi all.

I recently passed INCD1 and made the choice of targeting CCNA Sec. In the past year I have gained the Net, Sec, and A+ and got my BS in Info Sec Systems back in 2010. When I made the choice to target CCNA Sec I heard many opinions stating the R/S would prepare me for the Sec exam. Now like I said I got the Comptia Trio last year but Net+ was the last of the three because I didn't care for networking in general and it was the hardest of the three, despite people claiming Sec+ is the hardest of the trio.

Side note, my ideal job would to be in the Identity Management field and after CCNA S I plan to get the GSEC.

My question is to those who have the CCNA Security, what route did you take?

ande0255

I would highly, highly advise route and switch be your first associate level cert if your going into a field that has anything to do with network troubleshooting, so if your going into a non-technical security role skipping the NA R&S might be okay for you.

Would really advise getting the CCNA R&S first though, I was surprised to learn that Cisco took it away as a pre-req to other tracks, as it is very seldom you will find a role where you are troubleshooting VoIP / Wireless / Network Security without running into some R&S work.

Jamm1n

ande0255 wrote: »

so if your going into a non-technical security role skipping the NA R&S might be okay for you.

Just like ande0255 said it will probably be alright to skip if the position you want is not technical.

The Silent Assassin

ande0255 wrote: »

I would highly, highly advise route and switch be your first associate level cert if your going into a field that has anything to do with network troubleshooting, so if your going into a non-technical security role skipping the NA R&S might be okay for you.

Would really advise getting the CCNA R&S first though, I was surprised to learn that Cisco took it away as a pre-req to other tracks, as it is very seldom you will find a role where you are troubleshooting VoIP / Wireless / Network Security without running into some R&S work.

That's what I am having a hard time wrapping my head around, why Cisco made that change. I think I will end up doing the RS because right now I work on a service desk so I need to find something to transition to before making the leap to the security side. That could either be desktop or network admin because it's rare that a person makes that kind of jump in an organization, too many pay grades in between.

rowelld

CCNA R&S will give you a great fundamentals on R&S. It's good to have but if you're not going to be in a technical role utilizing that cert that I almost want to say go for the CCNA Sec. It's not that technical at all and only studied for 3 months to pass that exam.

I felt that it was easier than the CCNA R&S. They have you using a GUI (CCP) to manage devices and to configure security. The meat of that track is in CCNP Security where they really teach you how to configure many components of an ASA.