CCNP or Multi Vendor Associate path?

Just a quick one but does anyone have a view on going down the CCNP route versus going back and working on other associate level vendor certificates like Juniper/HP/Avaya?

Find more posts tagged with

Save $250 on 2025 certification boot camps from Infosec!

Book now with code EOY2025

Button

Comments

OctalDump

CCNP for sure. Going deep is better than going broad. At a certain depth, they assume you can cope with the breadth, anyway (and likely you will).

However, the Juniper associate level should be much easier, so if time is an issue, do that.

My experience of the Aus job market is that they ask for experience much more than they ask for certifications, so if you have hands on with multiple vendors and CCNP, that should be good enough for most jobs.

dontstop

I'm just worried about getting bogged down in associate level stuff as most of the certs will just rehash the same stuff over and over. Like you said, the CCNP it is for sure.

negru_tudor

I can only talk from my own experience. I started wide on several areas (networking, old school Voice - Nortel -, VoIP etc.). Then started going deeper but one at a time...going deeper into Nortel/Avaya, then dug deeper into ShoreTel VoIP & Contact Center, then CCNP Voice, now doing my CCNP RS...

Just take your time, look around, see what the job market feel is and try to get your skills to match I guess.

Baby steps.