A.A.S degree and CCNP would it get me anywhere??

Alex93

Hey guys I'm almost done with my community college and want to choose a path for my carrier. I'm studying IT and I'm interested in doing networking and I wants to finish college and studying to get a job soon as possible, I'm planing to get a CCNA and CCNP certificate. My question is would these get me anywhere with good salary?? Has anybody done that?

BuhRock

Depends on your location and also your definition of "good" salary. With my experience with interviewing, if I see someone has a CCNP with no experience on a resume then they will only be getting a junior role at best. I believe with anything you can eventually get a high salary if you try hard enough though. So yes, eventually with experience, you can get a good salary with CCNP.

I don't have the CCNP, but I have taken and passed both route/switch exams and being too lazy to get the tshoot. I usually grill people in interviews that have their ccnp because I want to know just how much they know when **** hits the fan.

Priston

An A.A.S. degree and CCNA (or CCNP) will help you get a interview. Your ability to interview will get you a job. Experience, proven ability, and showing your value to employers will get you a good salary.

networker050184

Those credentials can certainly help. Getting a good paying job has a lot of other factors involved though.

CryptoQue

An associates degree and a CCNP will get you into the door, but it's up to your ability to elaborate on your knowledge and experience in networking that will land you the job. Every situation is different, so you may not get the high anticipated salary until you have a few years under your belt.

stlsmoore

CryptoQue wrote: »

An associates degree and a CCNP will get you into the door, but it's up to your ability to elaborate on your knowledge and experience in networking that will land you the job. Every situation is different, so you may not get the high anticipated salary until you have a few years under your belt.

+1 I have A.A.S from a defunct for-profit college (ITT) and CCNP, it'll largely come down to your experience more than anything. You'll have to most likely start from the ground floor just like everyone else unfortunately. However with your certs and some drive you should be able to climb up the ranks rather quickly.

Alex93

Thank for the reply, I live in Dallas FortWorth, Texas. I'm planing to apply for a job toward that path to gain experience, and hopefully finish those Certificates and land me somewhere!

Alex93

BTW when I said good salary, I mean at least above the national median house hold income

CryptoQue

As stlsmoore said, you can definitely climb the network engineering ranks with determination and obtaining the right certifications. I went from a NOC Engineer 1 to a Network Engineer III over the course of 4 years. I sought out the top CCIE in my division to mentor me...best decision I ever made because it truly jump-started my career. Texas has a good IT market with a lot of big companies setting up campus facilities.

stlsmoore

Alex93 wrote: »

BTW when I said good salary, I mean at least above the national median house hold income

I've been in the six figure range for some time now...if that helps.

Danielh22185

I can pretty much speak directly to you on this. I live in the DFW area, have achieved a great salary (100k+), and only have an A.A.S and CCNP. However I did not start this way. I started in a help desk role with a CCNA (my 1st ever IT job). Did that for nearly 2 years and branched off into networking. Now 5 years of experience doing networking, but I still have a TON to learn.

Experience is everything. Although I don't have the pretty formal education credentials it's clear that not having them will not limit your success,

It's 100% achievable. You just have to want it, work hard, constantly be investing in yourself, and setting goals to growing your career to new heights. It will just take time to get there.

Hondabuff

I went from $32k to little over $100k in 7 years with AS and CCNP. If you prove you can do the work then companies will pay for loyal Network Engineers.

Danielh22185

Hondabuff wrote: »

I went from $32k to little over $100k in 7 years with AS and CCNP. If you prove you can do the work then companies will pay for loyal Network Engineers.

That's basically and literally my story as well. My first IT role in helpdesk I was making $16/hr... Back in the days of old junker cars, living in a tiny 1 bed room apartment, and no kids

Alex93

thank you, that builds confident

Alex93

Thank you so much, hopefully i can get there in few years

Alex93

thank you everyone appreciate it!

shimasensei

Lots of good advice here Good luck!

Danielh22185

Also check out the local Cisco Users Group in Richardson.

DFW Cisco Users Group - home

I try to go as often as possible and plan on attending the upcoming one in August. We can chat all you want about career stuff if you like while there. These meetings are a great setting for tuning into new tech for industry, networking with people for jobs or study, and overall just giving you a good motivation boost to do more and invest in yourself more.

hurricane1091

I struggled to find any network roles with CCNA + two AS degrees. Once I enrolled for my BS, I found a job. Switched jobs after a couple of years with the CCNP and BS degree. Eventually went on 3 interviews. Got offered and took one job, one job I made the final cut but did not get the job, and the other job was phased out due to company restructuring. For what it's worth anyways. I think I could have been OK without the BS degree, but I think I fast tracked it a bit (3x salary from first full-time IT salary in just ~3 years).

DatabaseHead

IMO The Associates degree alone can get you a job assuming it's in IT or a subset of IT.

You could build up experience while studying for your CCNA. That's what I would do.

Alex93

I registered with the group, I'm gonna make sure to attended that meeting and hopefully i will see you their. Thanks for the info!

viper75

A degree and CCNP will only get you an interview...MAYBE....

You have to learn to walk before you can run. A degree and CCNP will only prove that you have the ability to retain material long enough to pass tests.

What is a degree and certification going to do for you when sh!t hits the fan and you have no clue what to do? What will get you hired is enough experience to get you going on the job.

Also, don't expect a $100k+ job from the start. You'll go in at a Jr. salary. Also like others have mentioned, depends on location. Where do you live?

In a nutshell, this is what I will tell you. Your degree and certs will not do a thing for you if you can't back them up. You will end up doing a hairpin turn with your jobs.

Good luck!

scaredoftests

..and experience!

viper75

scaredoftests wrote: »

..and experience!

Correct!

Degrees and certifications will get your foot in the door. Your experience and ability to sell yourself during the interview will get you the job.

Legacy User

An AAS, a strong CCNA and a great personality should be enough to get you into a network tech/noc role. Don't think having a CCNP would add much value but having that knowledge while going on interviews for CCNA level jobs would get you through interviews. "Good Pay" is relative to your location, current financial responsibilities, and what you think is "good pay". A new grad living with their folks would think 40k is great while someone who lives on their one would think 60k is great and 40k isn't livable. If you are looking for 100k because you have the CCNP you need to give yourself a reality check. I say look at the job boards for your area to get a general idea of how much an entry level job pays.

ITSpectre

Creds will get you in the door....
experience will keep you there....

creds without experience is like a car with no gas.... you wont go far.

mbarrett

The original post in this thread is over a month old, does that qualify as thread necro?
Anyhow, I just wanted to throw in my $.02 - most CCNP jobs I come across don't care about your degree. That will help (obviously,) but configuring Cisco devices and acting as a technical engineering resource are not things you develop in a college classroom, in most cases. If you want to work for a top company, it will be (obviously) more competitive but for most other places you are fine with a 2-year degree to get started. As others pointed out, it is mostly about the experience that you have.

Dakinggamer87

The certs and degree are a great start but what will get you the job is your drive and experience. A great personality would be the cherry on top!!

DatabaseHead

Alex93 wrote: »

Hey guys I'm almost done with my community college and want to choose a path for my carrier. I'm studying IT and I'm interested in doing networking and I wants to finish college and studying to get a job soon as possible, I'm planing to get a CCNA and CCNP certificate. My question is would these get me anywhere with good salary?? Has anybody done that?

First of all congrats on getting your degree (almost) that's a big time accomplishment. Don't down play that degree, an associates in something relevant is a big time accomplishment. Hopefully it's at least semi STEM.

You get that with the CCNP and you are in REALLY good shape.