Demand for CCIE?

pujan96

Hi all.

I was wondering if anyone out there could let me know if CCIEs are in demand. And If suceddfull at the peak of there career how much can they look to earn.

Thanks
Pujan96

Alex90

Yes they are in demand, but with the relevant experience. We are currently looking for a CCIE Collaboration or someone with the equivalent experience and the position is paying £500 - £600 depending on the skills you have. I think that is a standard sort of rate for a contractor.

trackit

Good specialists/engineers are always in demand (and that holds true not only for IT of course). Studying for CCIE is basically a way to get better at networking. Its a means, not the end. If you are very good, then you will be in demand, CCIE or not. If you just want to get CCIE and thats all then dont bother (you propably wount get it anyway) but if you want to get good at networking, then this question "is CCIE in demand" becomes kinda irrelevant.

techfiend

Nearly $1 million a year for CCIE collaboration? That's over double the highest paid IT position I've seen which was CIO.

gorebrush

That £500-£600 is a per day rate. You wouldn't get 365 times that.

It's about ~£150,000 per annum

techfiend

I was thinking it was annual salary. Still that's $910 a day... dreams. Is per day common in UK?

I think scandanavia only works 30 or so hours per week with months of vacation, annual is probably tough to calculate there but that probably plays a huge role on being the happiest countries.

gorebrush

£500-600 is quite a lot, but I'd expect a very well experienced CCIE to bring that in.

Not sure what it's like in Scandanavia - but you need to pay your own sick/holidays etc from that.

deth1k

That's common pay rate for contract type jobs and you don't have to be a CCIE... I've seen some horrible ones that couldn't tell 4$$ from an elbow :P

joelsfood

Yeah, if that's an hourly rate, 62.50/hr (96USD) figuring an 8 hour day, is low for a CCIE, at least around here. Now, if that's a full time job with benefits, probably about right.

To the original question, there's definitely still a demand for CCIEs

TheProf

I agree with what's been said already... CCIE or not, the most important thing that counts is the experience and knowledge. A highly skilled IT professional with the equivalent knowledge of a CCIE could be just as profitable as an IT professional who holds the CCIE certification.

One gotcha though, as a contractor (consulting), some companies want to see certifications, in fact some even require that the consultant be certified. CCIE certified being one of them, I've seen companies who only want to work with CCIEs. If you have multiple CCNPs, they wouldn't even care. Why is there such a strong emphasis on CCIE? because chances are, a CCIE certified professional is a highly technical expert or SME who's able to deliver complex projects. In the end, we all know you can't brain **** a CCIE (maybe the written only, not the lab), so the value is quite high

ccie14023

Yes, they are in demand.

How much you make depends on far too many factors to give an estimate. I know a guy who is a bit of a jackass and has a CCIE and is earning $0 because nobody wants to hire him.

jamesp1983

There is still a demand for CCIEs from what I've seen. I work for a VAR and we have 2 CCIEs on staff, and are constantly searching for more. We don't even meet with candidates anymore unless they already have an IE (RS/SP/DC) or are working towards it with a date scheduled.

I have several friends that are recruiters and they are constantly looking for CCIEs.

Alex90

gorebrush wrote: »

That £500-£600 is a per day rate. You wouldn't get 365 times that.

It's about ~£150,000 per annum

Yea this is what I meant. But there are other factors or course , I work for a large bank which would tend to pay more than a service provider for example. I'm based in London and the cost of living there is higher plus there is more demand for the best people - companies will try and 'out pay' each other for the best people if that makes sense?

Additionally this job role has requirements outside of the CCIE Collaboration scope, for example trader voice (being a bank), voice recording, UCCE (which in itself can pay £££). Some of these are pretty niche and the more niche your skills, and the more in demand they are, the higher the job will pay.

Sitting in on some of these interviews made me question perusing getting a CCIE. Most of the CCIE's we interviewed has no credibility whatsoever, they were the typical 'pay for a CCIE' guys that you get coming out of India. Virtually no experience, no real knowledge and not a f*** clue... but despite they they've got 5 CCIE's? You must be having a laugh... One guys was so bad I wouldn't have even trusted him to make me a cup of tea let alone anything else.

And these are the sort of people that completely devalue the CCIE, which is a shame considering how hard the 'real CCIE's' work for it.

Bardlebee

Alex90 wrote: »

Yea this is what I meant. But there are other factors or course , I work for a large bank which would tend to pay more than a service provider for example. I'm based in London and the cost of living there is higher plus there is more demand for the best people - companies will try and 'out pay' each other for the best people if that makes sense?

Additionally this job role has requirements outside of the CCIE Collaboration scope, for example trader voice (being a bank), voice recording, UCCE (which in itself can pay £££). Some of these are pretty niche and the more niche your skills, and the more in demand they are, the higher the job will pay.

Sitting in on some of these interviews made me question perusing getting a CCIE. Most of the CCIE's we interviewed has no credibility whatsoever, they were the typical 'pay for a CCIE' guys that you get coming out of India. Virtually no experience, no real knowledge and not a f*** clue... but despite they they've got 5 CCIE's? You must be having a laugh... One guys was so bad I wouldn't have even trusted him to make me a cup of tea let alone anything else.

And these are the sort of people that completely devalue the CCIE, which is a shame considering how hard the 'real CCIE's' work for it.

That is so depressing considering I am spending 4-6 hours a day every day just to pass it myself. Man, hopefully I can pass this and not be one of those guys.

trackit

You guys are funny. what do you depress aobut Are you spending 4-6 hours a day just to get those four letters on your resume? Me personally, i study to get the knowledge and be good at what i do. If i manage to get CCIE one day then awesome, if not, then no big deal. The fact that i study CCIE material and i might even not get/pass CCIE doesnt depress me at all. After almost every study "session" i feel like a learned something that i can apply at workplace to improve the network or gained some better/deeper understanding of what and why is going on etc... thats what makes me feel good.

joelsfood

Exactly right, Trackit. I haven't passed yet, but already have seen a ton of benefit from all the effort I've put into studying. Stuff I have learned in my studies have directly improved my ability to do my day to day work, and have already made the investment worthwhile.

JustFred

Alex90 wrote: »

Yea this is what I meant. But there are other factors or course , I work for a large bank which would tend to pay more than a service provider for example. I'm based in London and the cost of living there is higher plus there is more demand for the best people - companies will try and 'out pay' each other for the best people if that makes sense?

Additionally this job role has requirements outside of the CCIE Collaboration scope, for example trader voice (being a bank), voice recording, UCCE (which in itself can pay £££). Some of these are pretty niche and the more niche your skills, and the more in demand they are, the higher the job will pay.

Sitting in on some of these interviews made me question perusing getting a CCIE. Most of the CCIE's we interviewed has no credibility whatsoever, they were the typical 'pay for a CCIE' guys that you get coming out of India. Virtually no experience, no real knowledge and not a f*** clue... but despite they they've got 5 CCIE's? You must be having a laugh... One guys was so bad I wouldn't have even trusted him to make me a cup of tea let alone anything else.

And these are the sort of people that completely devalue the CCIE, which is a shame considering how hard the 'real CCIE's' work for it.

Well at least you are weeding out the best from the cheats. How the hell does one acquire such a cert without having a clue? What a waste of everyone's time.

joelsfood

The solutions are out there if you want to pay for them. Of course, even then, you'll often fail, as you'll likely not know troubleshooting, etc. Just like anything else, there's always a way to **** the system and people willing to do it.

Personally, I value my integrity too much. Though these retakes are getting expensive.

JustFred

I'm with you. I rather fail, fail and fail again and keep my integrity intact than ****. People forget the IT world is small and that cheating won't get you anywhere in the long run.

jamesp1983

JustFred wrote: »

I'm with you. I rather fail, fail and fail again and keep my integrity intact than ****. People forget the IT world is small and that cheating won't get you anywhere in the long run.

Agreed. It infuriates me when I interview a CCIE who clearly dumped.

We have had numerous recent v5 passers who couldn't tell me the differences between the DMVPN phases, complete a basic 5 ticket troubleshooting lab, etc. I am on my 3rd attempt at V5 so these guys really anger me.

DPG

"If you ain’t cheating, you ain’t trying."

This is no longer an exclusively American adage.

Bardlebee

joelsfood wrote: »

The solutions are out there if you want to pay for them. Of course, even then, you'll often fail, as you'll likely not know troubleshooting, etc. Just like anything else, there's always a way to **** the system and people willing to do it.

Personally, I value my integrity too much. Though these retakes are getting expensive.

That is how I look at it too. I've told people numerous times that "If I am going to get the CCIE name and plaque as well as the cape, I don't want it to be fake"

As far as me saying its depressing that other devalue the CCIE, it is, but I suppose you'll find that in every corner in every field. When I finally get my CCIE I will be crazy knowledgeable and I think that reward is better then the value of the CCIE. Because at the end of the day those who know you will get you great employment later on due to your knowledge.