Getting certs with no experience

McNinja

Hello all!

What is the general consensus on getting high level certs like the cissp or ccie security without much if any actual work experience?

Plantwiz

Why do you want to get certs without experience would be the question? If one does not work with the material (even in a lab environment) what's the benefit of a certificate saying the individual is proficient? It's a lie.

If you lack actual job experience, set up a lab. No reason to go into exams blind and you certainly will not be doing yourself any favors when it comes to the interview process.

YMMV

TechGuru80

Without at least lab experience...there is no way you can pass a CCIE exam. Certifications like CISSP require 4-5 years of experience to actual list the certification. These are not just papers you get and put on your wall. Certifications are meant to improve your skill set for real world situations. Basically, do not waste time getting high level certifications if you are not in the field. Why would you go after them when you are not in the field.

Once you get into the field you can go crazy.

brownwrap

I think the person is asking without true work experience, will the cert help them. That is my take anyway.

alan2308

Well, I would say that the general consensus is that the CISSP has a certain level of experience REQUIRED. And the CCIE Security without years of hands on experience? Not likely.

bigdogz

In general,

You need to lab to know the Security tools, networking and REQUIRED experience. You also need to have some experience to nail down the scenarios. Sometimes the answers may not be in the books.

Although this is possible with the CISSP, you would only be an Associate of ISC2 for the CISSP until you received the right amount of experience within 6 years. You can only waive one year using the certifications.

The CCIE series exams requires you to lab.
An identic /photographic memory may get you to pass the exam but it would be worthless and just another paper tiger. The interview would tank.
I have seen a few of these folks and when you place them behind a keyboard, well, it's not good.

You then have to re certify for the Cisco certification(s) if you want to keep them. Even if you work with the gear all of the time, It's like the high maintenance ex-girlfriend / relative that you cannot shake.

I know a good share of CISSP's and CCIE's and most of them are smart and great in their respective fields, but some I have had to interview were lost because of the lack of experience and direction needed to get the job done.

Regards.

McNinja

I should have clarified: security is my dream field. I have the the security+ and SSCP and am currently studying for the CASP. My issue lies with the vicious cycle of needing experience but not having any so I can't get the job to get the experience. I will be getting both the CAP and CISSP associate before March next year. After the Cloud+ and CCSK certs I plan on studying my arse off for the CCIE.

So I have no experience(current position is at a help desk), so I'm trying to gain certifications to make myself more presentable as someone they should hire in the field of cybersecurity/information assurance.

pevangel

How long have you been at your current job? Do you have a security team at your current company?

I'm curious what you're doing, other than chasing certifications, to break into security.

joelsfood

To give some timeline for CCIE:
1996 - First computer job
1999 - First network admin job
2003 - first full time sys admin/some networking, BS in Systems network management
2006 - first time managing SAN/Fibrechannel
2010 - first time using Cisco UCS
2014 - CCIE Data center written pass
2015 - CCIE Data Center lab pass (fingers crossed)

You've got a long road ahead.

Jon_Cisco

I have used this site for over a year. I found it when I was starting my CCNA study.

Every few months we see posts about the inability to get into the field and the desire to skip straight to the top of networking. Your working in help desk and asking about the viability of passing the CCIE to advance your career. It may have seemed like a valid question but when you think about it you will know this is not a logical next step. As long as you are continuing to learn you will find opportunities.

If you search some of the boards and read the similar posts you will find that none of them pop back up to inform us of their successful CCIE. Maybe in 5 years we will see some of them but hopefully they will be working in IT before that.

Good Luck!

fredrikjj

My experience is that you will learn a lot, but it won't necessarily lead to you getting a job in the field unless you have other things going for you besides certs. Your miles may vary though. No one can predict the outcome of your particular situation, but realize that in both the US and Sweden where I live, the first screening for any job through formal channels is done by someone who isn't technical. They cannot evaluate how good you are at the job and will fall back on things like degrees and past job titles, and there are often hard requirements for one or the other. If you can't pass this stage, and "just certs" is probably not good enough, it doesn't really matter that you are a better technologist than whomever they end up hiring.

It's my personal (biased, admittedly) that "experience" is very overrated, but it's used as a metric because people generally aren't interested in finding out how much someone actually knows.

McNinja

Thanks for the comments everyone. I do have a security team at my current work... kind of. At any rate, I just today got my hands on a spare Cisco 5550 ASA that we had lying around, so thus begins my journey. In the next month I'll also be working with our McAfee ePO with our Sr. Sec engineer (which isn't relevant to Cisco, but it's something). Hopefully that'll also help me get that experience I need to back up my crerts.