How Valueable is CCNA

I've been given some mixed answers with this one. I've been told that many many many opportunities would show up when I put CCNA on my resume, and I've also been told that a CCNA on my resume will pretty much get it thrown away. I would assume this depends on where I want to go, so to answer that, I'm trying to get an internship as a network admin at a local school district. Do you think the CCNA would be good enough for somewhere like a school district to look at me? I don't want to have get a CCNP without actual job experience as I don't want to hold a "paper certification." What do you all think?

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E Double U

It was worth it for me.

I was working in the NOC when I completed the CCNA. That cert (along with experience) helped me land roles in the same company's configuration team and SOC since CCNA was required.

aftereffector

CCNA is exactly what you should have in order to get an entry level network admin job, in my opinion. You may not even need the CCNA if you have some experience and/or knowledge - the interview will determine whether you are a good fit for the job - but CCNA would definitely help get you that first look.

pinkiaiii

I'm trying to get an internship as a network admin at a local school district.

Now that is proper job for someone with ccna,since imagine classes would need to have subnets,vlans,wireless points,accounts for teachers,maybe some server-so that experience would come in very handy if working on cisco gear,thus something uselfull to progress into higher stages once completed.

Also can someone explain what is NOC/SOC since i know that term stands for other meanings as well,but see people mentioning it a lot.

Also ccna is sort of first stage cert into IT world either way so wouldn't consider it useless in any way,its like compTIA but more advanced since you get to know whole OSI model,thus afterwards you dont really need to pursuit networking if you dont feel like it,but with that cert you can pick any layer and study programming,linux,servers or just plain hardware engineering and you would know how that fits in in larger scale.

johnnyqt25

Silly rabbit, of course a CCNA would look good on your resume, especially if you're looking for a networking job. It's kinda like saying should I put college degree or no college degree on my resume.

danny069

CCNA has been relevant for a long time man. That's saying something about that cert.

ThomasITguy

CCNA is to Net+ as.... CASP is to Sec+

v1ral

CCNA is very good especially for those who are looking to get into networking or IT in general. It helped me get my first job out of school.

GDaines

pinkiaiii wrote: »

Also can someone explain what is NOC/SOC since i know that term stands for other meanings as well,but see people mentioning it a lot.

NOC = Network Operations Center
SOC = Security Operations Center

(Links are to Wikipedia).

ThomasITguy

LemonTimePartyX wrote: »

I've been given some mixed answers with this one. I've been told that many many many opportunities would show up when I put CCNA on my resume, and I've also been told that a CCNA on my resume will pretty much get it thrown away. I would assume this depends on where I want to go, so to answer that, I'm trying to get an internship as a network admin at a local school district. Do you think the CCNA would be good enough for somewhere like a school district to look at me? I don't want to have get a CCNP without actual job experience as I don't want to hold a "paper certification." What do you all think?

First... do you have any networking certs or experience? Before getting the CCNA I would start with the Net+. The people who told you that CCNA would get your resume thrown away do not know what they are talking about.... Do a job search for ANY networking job, most if not all of them say CCNA CCNP or Net+. If you have no networking experience... or you don't know what a LAN, WAN, VLAN, Bus topology, star topology, the difference between DHCP and Static, How to find and internal and external IP... then you need more experience before you become a Network Admin. Also Net Admins usually have around 2-3 years of Networking experience (speaking on jobs in my area)

Sy Kosys

I had the same trepidation and questions about what kind of place would hire a new CCNA guy. Job market was a bit rough for a fresh face such as mine, but within a few months of certifying I began work at a network security company. I won't tell you that I don't deal with Cisco equipment at all with this company lol, but the cert landed me here and it's been almost 3yrs

Now its time to re-certify and I'm going for CCNP because the concepts and networking knowledge have proven to be invaluable within the security industry.

Dooooo eeeeeeet

rj1790

Just came from Interview with just an A+, interviewer recommended me to get my CCNA. So I would say it is worth a lot.

Eotnak

In addition to these great responses, and your correct instincts as far as "I don't want to have get a CCNP without actual job experience as I don't want to hold a 'paper certification.'" I will add my experience working with government in the IT field:

My state government is at least 15 years behind as far as hiring practices go. Promotions and hiring is ultimately controlled by the agency's respective HR department. Your potential boss wants someone who will be able to perform the work, but HR wants someone who's paper qualifications match the required paper qualifications for the job.

Typically, the agency may want you as an intern with your CCNA. It's an internship so it's low pay or no pay, they are not looking for much in experience hence the internship, but HR says they can't hire you because, maybe for example, you don't have an Associate's or Bachelor's degree.

Then, HR produces an applicant with a Bachelor's in Computer Science who knows nothing about networking. He meets HR requirements, but the agency doesn't want him/her because they don't want to waste time training him/her how to do the job.

I would say that if you meet the requirements for the position (that are prominently written in the job posting) then anything exceeding those requirements will catch the attention of the people who you will actually be reporting to, and potentially lead to an interview.

Outside of the government work bubble, aka private industry, you don't have this problem as much. If you manage to get an interview, the people who need you to do the work want to make sure that you can do the work. If you are 18 years old with a GED and nothing more, and are able to convince the employer that you can do the job better than any other candidate, then you're hired. Disclaimer: large corporations are kind of like a blend between this and government HR syndrome.

And to repeat, stop listening to whoever told you that listing CCNA on your resume would be bad. Certs and degrees are good for resumes. Experience is good for interviews. You need a healthy blend of both, don't weigh yourself down on one without nurturing the other.

Mooseboost

The CCNA was worth it for me. It was one of the main factors that helped me move from ISP Helpdesk to my current position.

ITSpectre

CCNA is very valuable and worth it.

LemonTimePartyX

Sorry for my absence. Thank you all for the comments!!! It means a lot and I'm definitely going for the CCNA. I wanted to question its value as I wasn't sure if it was good enough to get me anywhere.

Thanks again!!!