Quick win certs after ccna?

I'm due to sit icnd2 at the end of this month and am looking for suggestions on a cert I can complete in around 2/3 months.

I'm asking now as I'll order the books in preparation.

I'm currently employees in helpdesk/support and am due to transition to the network team in mid February. I wanted to stay away from ccnp until I'm in my new role and start gaining experience working with network devices.

Any suggestions for quick win certs I can complete in between December and end of February?

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koz24

Ask the network team which certs among the NA's would be most beneficial to them. You can go many different routes--DC,Security,Collaboration,etc depending on the environment. You can bang out those NA's very quickly if you are dedicated.

NetworkNewb

Agree, depends what your network team uses. Maybe learning VMware is something that would be beneficial.

Welly_59

Vmware is definitely something that interests me. Possible to do in 2-3 months though?

stryder144

How about Wireshark Certified Network Analyst?

E Double U

CCNA Security was very easy. I knocked it out in two months.

Welly_59

How many hours of study roughly?

E Double U

Every free minute I could spare. Some days I had more time than others.

Honestly, I don't see why you want to postpone CCNP if you know you'll go for it in your new role which begins soon. Nothing wrong with some light reading before your new duties begin.

thatguy67

If it's just low hanging fruit you're looking for, have you considered the JNCIA-JunOS? Shouldn't comment too much but the overwhelming feedback I've heard is that it's an easy cert to get after CCNA. I would personally go after the Wireshark cert.

Welly_59

the juniper cert is very interesting. I have looked at the wireshark certificate but $299 for the exam has put me off a bit tbh

OctalDump

Juniper is a good option for overlap. There's also the Brocade certifications.

CCNP SWITCH exam might be a good option, too.

A few of the CCNA's are CCENT (which you have) plus one exam. Wireless, Security, Industrial and CCDA.

VMware has the VCA level if the VCP looks too big. They have also a specific track for network virtualisation.

mbarrett

stryder144 wrote: »

How about Wireshark Certified Network Analyst?

+1 for good in-depth understanding of troubleshooting

DatabaseHead

What market share does Juniper have for routing and switching?

If I was to consider a product certification it would either have to tie directly to a position I wanted OR have massive market share.

OctalDump

DatabaseHead wrote: »

What market share does Juniper have for routing and switching?

If I was to consider a product certification it would either have to tie directly to a position I wanted OR have massive market share.

It depends on the market segment. But for carrier grade, service provider, I think that Juniper is about 15-20% vs Cisco at 35-40%. For regular l2/l3 switches it's more like 5% vs 60%. I think Cisco still has far superior ASICs that allow them to put much more through their L3 switches.

I do see Juniper and HP come up in Networking roles, usually named by technology rather than certification. It also shows some breadth and flexibility, which can be useful. I think in smaller organisations there's more chance that they will have mixed technology (to save money), so being able to show that you aren't a "Cisco only tech" can be useful.

But it's the same old thing: research the roles you are interested in to see what skills are in demand.