CCNP Value

cabowabo

From a VAR's perspective what is the value of a CCNP? How much money does it save them per yer once they are at a partner level?

anushkasinha

For this question, I’ve noted two ways to quantify the value of a certification by focusing on the value of the labor spent to study for a certification.

Valuation 1: One-Year Part Time Job Vs. Cert Study

 The first paragraph of this blog post set the stage for the first way to value a certification. Basically, you have to choose between an appealing part-time job and studying for your next certification(s). You set a value on the certification by deciding how much that job would have to pay to make you choose the job over the study.

To proceed, do an exercise in introspection, with these rules:

• You will between two options, both of which last 1 year: work an extra part-time job, or study towards passing Cisco certs.
• Both the job and the study options require the same amount of time each week – that is, the two competing options are equal in regards to time (labor).
• You can choose the number of hours/week (write down this number).
• You cannot split time between study and work.
• The work content does not overlap with your certification goals. That is, the job does not give you on-the-job training to help with your cert. Why? Just to keep this exercise as an either/or exercise.
• The work is interesting and you are qualified.

Background: Time Spent Studying

 Before discussing a second way to put a value on a Cisco certification, I need to lay a little groundwork. To do that, let’s drill down a bit on a fictitious hopeful networker named Fred. Like many folks getting started, Fred has excitement and energy about starting out in networking, 

To be clear, here’s a little explanation of the figure:

• Starting with no Cisco certifications, I estimate about 250 hours of study to achieve CCNA R/S.
• After getting CCNA R/S, the additional study time to achieve CCNP R/S is 450 hours.
• After getting CCNP R/S, the additional study time to achieve CCIE R/S is 1000 hours.

So, to march through these certifications takes a total 1700 hours of study.

Yes, feel free to comment away at my estimates! While these estimates are not the purpose of this post, they’re here, so feel free to comment. I know you have an opinion. For the purpose of this post, we need a reasonable number to start, so we’ll use the numbers in Figure 2. Your mileage will vary.

Valuation 2: Value of Study Time

 What is the value of those estimate 1700 hours of study from having no Cisco knowledge to getting a CCIE? Not the value once you achieve CCIE, but what’s the value of that time? That’s the question that this next method attempts to answer to give us another value to put a value on Cisco certifications.

This method uses a few contrived scenarios that let us include part-time job income as a way to put a numeric value on a certification. To study for a Cisco certification means that you take time away from some other part of your life. It’s hard to quantify the value of spending time with family and friends versus spending that time studying. However, if we again compare that study time to working a part-time job, we can quantify the value a little better. What’s the opportunity cost, in lost wages, if instead of studying you spent that same time working a part-time job?

Now pick any two workers, and compare them for your own goals. Which worker would you prefer to be? Some examples:

1. Worker 2 versus 4: Would you prefer to have a CCNA R/S with $29,000 extra cash, or a CCIE R/S and no extra money?
2. Worker 1 versus 3: Would you prefer to have no certification and $17,000, or CCNP R/S and $40,000 cash?
3. Worker 3 versus 4: Or the toughest choice: would you prefer to have a CCNP R/S and $40,000, or a CCIE R/S and no cash?

To be clear, I’m not suggesting that anyone would go out and follow the plan of getting a cert and then getting a part time job. It’s just a mechanism to put a value on the time you spend. If four people spent 1700 of their precious time, away from the more fun parts of life, where would you want to land? Which of those workers would you choose to be?

All The Best!!!