Need to choose specialty (Networking / Virtualization / Linux / AWS)

Jacktivated

Kreken wrote: »

Five years of hard work studying networks and only CCNA? Granted that certifications don't necessary judge the knowledge acquired but still, the progress isn't visible to outsiders like me.

You are coming from a small network environment. To be a network engineer and not a joat, you need to transition to large/enterprise environments which have dedicated networking teams. In the process of transitioning, you will have to acquire experience with high end equipment used by them. This will take some time and you will be required to get CCNP, maybe some other certifications.

So now back to certifications again, if it took five years to get CCNA, how long will it take for CCNP?

Thanks for the reply, Kreken. Well, since you asked, I'll tell you. I first got my CCNA in early 2012 and a year later, took the CCNP [SWITCH] exam, fully intending to take the other two exams. During that time, I started working where I am now, and while they were running a Cisco 4510R, they was a lot more focus on VMware vSphere, Windows, etc. and I spent a lot of time working with that. Two years later, my company replaced the 4510R with two more 4510R+E switches and I set them up in a collapsed-core config, L3 switching, HSRP, etc. which was a lot of fun and reminded me why I was interested in Cisco to begin with. However, my CCNP switch exam expired, and since they were in the process of changing to the new 300 series exams, I decided to just renew my CCNA and figure out which direction I wanted go from there.

If I were to decide to go for the CCNP, I figure I could do all three exams in about one year's time.

Remedymp

Sticking with Cisco only makes sense if that is your bread and butter. Having the LFCS or RHCSA is like basketball playing with a nice dribble as opposed to someone who can just bounce a ball without it.