Expectations of freshly minted CCNA's

alias454

I plan on sitting for the 200-120 this coming Thursday (6-25) and am curious about the expectations for freshly minted CCNA's in the real world? I have been working in IT for a long time but none of my roles ever really had a focus on the network side of things specifically. I guess what I am getting at is there is so much material to cover for the CCNA that unless you are working with it daily, it is going to be hard to remember a lot of it.

I have learned a lot of valuble information and am glad I decided to get the CCNA in the first place but realistically, what value does it bring to someone in my situation? I have been doing mostly SysAdmin type work, Linux, VMware etc. I think it will make me more versitile and more of an asset with a greater depth of core knowledge (until I start to forget it) but is that what employers are expecting?

Thanks for your thoughts.

Simrid

Good luck for your upcoming exam.

Your CCNA will definitely will help in all types of jobs, especially if you're working for a smaller organisation where you will be supporting SysAdmin stuff and networking.

If you're passionate about networking and you really want to get into networking, stick with the networking certs - perhaps mix it up with a bit of VMWare too. If you're looking at doing SysAdmin stuff, look at Red Hat or something, but your CCNA may still come in handy.

Hope this helps.

Deathmage

I agree with Simrid, I think networking from say Cisco (in general too networking can be reverse engineered more easily too) and VMware go hand-n-hand as-do I think Microsoft's MCSE: SI does as-well (if your Windows) or Red Hat (if your Linux.) I can safety say that since I personally just got done with a network re-design at my current employers the performance of the previous network was masking issues as networking but now that I've re-did the whole network the network is no longer the bottleneck and it works super fast now. The network just now shows the true cause of the problems or it could just be a bottleneck, but isn't that the nature of IT always pushing the envelop to make it go faster?

To be effective in IT, these days, you need to be a well-round engineer knowledgeable in multiple facets of the trade. It allows you to approach problems from many different angles instead of being narrow minded to just one specialize branch of the massive specializing tree we call IT.

Jon_Cisco

When I studied for my CCNA last year I found myself understanding problems I had in the past. The knowledge gained helped me understand past mistakes and I assume will provide me with a better understanding of future problems.

I don't think a CCNA comes with any expectations. It will be up to you how you utilize it.

Good Luck!

theodoxa

A CCNA will get you interviews.

FloOz

A CCNA will definitely get you interviews. As long as you show that you understand the topics and can perform the basic network configurations, you should not have any issues landing yourself and entry level networking job.

MTciscoguy

It will get you in the door, the rest is up to you...

NetworkNewb

Isn't it the same with every certification? It can get you an interview, but won't get you the job alone.

Deathmage

I come to an interview with ice cream, everyone loves ice cream.

alias454

@deathmage Smooth and creamy

I am not looking for an entry level networking job (I get that it is a good way to hone my skills). To be clear though, I am not looking for a senior network engineer role either. Most of my experience has been on the systems side; managing VMware, Linux, and countless Windows applications throughout the years. I don't expect my boss (or the network guys at work for that matter) to ask me to build out a branch network on Friday. I was just curious how others in non-network centric roles put their CCNA to good use. I don't want to lead with "Hi I'm a CCNA" when my real world exposure is limited.

Thanks for the feedback.