Cost to get CCNA

neo468

Roughly how much does it cost to get your ccna. From text books, routers, tests, etc. What would be the total rough cost. Would like to have an idea before I start out buying everything.

Thanks in advance

keenon

i think i spent something like 500 bucks

100 on routers
100 on a switch
115 for voucher
100 on books
the rest was spent on misc items that added for studying

not mentioning the time which has no calculatable cost

Slowhand

It all depends, really. All in all, with all the labs, books, and equipment I'm working with for different certifications, I'll be spending $0 when it comes time for the CCNA. I get to spend time working on both the production and lab equipment at my job, I obtained the TestOut and CBT Nuggets training materials through my school, and the cost of my books and exams are compensated by my employer.

If everything wasn't paid for, and I had to buy all of this stuff, myself, I'd go bargain-hunting. You're looking at about $45 - $60 per book, maybe $350 - $800 for lab equipment (depending on where you're shopping,) and $125 for the exam, itself. I probably wouldn't shell out the cash to buy the training software, and would make do with my own lab setup and books, along with sites like this one and the study help you can get form Cisco's website. I would reason that you should absolutely not be spending more than $1,000, out-of-pocket, to take this exam. And that includes buying equipment you could potentially use for future tests on the Cisco track.

boyles23

I just started my CCNA study and I spent $60 on the two books by Cisco.(Intro and ICND) I got them at Barnes and Noble in a box together. I haven't gotten my home lab setup yet but I am fixing to buy the equipment off of Ebay or Ciscokits.com. I am gonna price both and find the best deal but you would be looking around $300 and up depending on what you want to start out with. There is a lot of information on this site and a lot of helpful people who will guide you in the right direction. There is also recommended lab setup info in the CCNA forum here.

Good Luck and I hope I helped as I am new to Cisco studying myself!

ally_uk

As I seem to only learn best from being taught by somebody else

I have laid down nearly £2000 for a CCNA 40 week course

I don't mind though as it's a investment for my future

Kaminsky

Does this include time spent pulling hair out and cost of repairs to the wall with the new dent in it ?

malcybood

ally_uk wrote:

As I seem to only learn best from being taught by somebody else

I have laid down nearly £2000 for a CCNA 40 week course

I don't mind though as it's a investment for my future

That's ALOT man to do a CCNA course!........Is it through a training company or a university/college?

the stranger

I am thinking of starting a ccna at a local college, it's going to cost £800 for a 3 month course, is it worth it?

Also I dont have previous experience in this field, whats the possibility of finding a basic job with it, and then working my way up with other certs?

cheers

malcybood

the stranger wrote:

I am thinking of starting a ccna at a local college, it's going to cost £800 for a 3 month course, is it worth it?

Also I dont have previous experience in this field, whats the possibility of finding a basic job with it, and then working my way up with other certs?

cheers

Do you have any IT Experience?

I done the CCNA at college about 6 years ago but never sat the exam and looking back if I had sat the exam and gained the cert back then it would have expired (after 3 years) and I would never have touched a router in those 3 years in commercial environment.

Saying that though doing the CCNA course is an excellent course and it gave me a solid understanding of networking and the Cisco IOS before I had any IT experience, which has benefitted me in my current job and working towards my CCNA which I have booked for March this year.

I think if you have the £800 and are looking to get into the IT field then do it, as I've seen some posts on here from people saying they paid £2000 for the course. However, it depends on your knowledge of IT and networking as 3 months isn't long to cram 4 CNAP semesters in unless you were doing it as a full time college course.

I done the CNAP (Cisco Networking Academy Program) over a year at college additional to a HND initially and now doing self study since Nov 06, originally booked my exam for Jan 23rd but have put it back a couple of months as I don't think I'm ready and want to pass it first time. It costs £100 to sit the exam in the UK.

I will have done 5 months self study when I go to sit the exam but I have almost 4 years support experience and a home Cisco lab of 3 routers and 3 switches so practicing for me is easy.

Getting a job - When CCNA certified the type of position that will get you exposure would be 1st line Helpdesk support in a Network Operations Centre (NOC). Search the UK job sites www.jobserve.co.uk and www.cwjobs.co.uk for CCNA or NOC and you should see a fair few results come up. The majority of these types of jobs are in London!

If you have any more queries then send me a pm or reply to this post

Cheers

Malc

the stranger

Nice one malcybood, much appreciated advice. If I do, I'll probably do the course full time, which is 3-4 days a week.

To be honest I dont have much IT experience in a work environment, this is one my major problems. But Im sure I cant land a 1st line job somewhere I'd prefer knowing what I'm talking about, hence the ccna.

cheers

malcybood

Remember that a CCNA would not only limit you to Cisco work esp if you are looking for an entry level IT position....."Normal" IT Helpdesk/Desktop Support opportunities would be an option if you have a CCNA and know your way around XP......You could always start in 1st line Helpdesk/desktop support role and the progress up to a network engineer/sys admin/cisco specialist.

This is how I've done it and why I've taken almost 4 years of working in IT to get off my backside and start the CCNA again!

For these type of helpdesk/desktop vacancies there are thousands across the UK contract and permanent.......On the same jobsites I posted before search for support or helpdesk and you'll get about 20 odd pages of jobs to give you an idea!

Good luck

the stranger

Thanks alot for the much needed advice. I'll take what you said on board and have a think.

You could always start in 1st line Helpdesk/desktop support role and the progress up to a network engineer/sys admin/cisco specialist.

This is probably a similar route to what I had in mind, hopefully all goes well, but I've learnt it doesn't always go according to what you plan.

Once again cheers mate

malcybood

No worries, all the best

Malc

ally_uk

the £2000 is for a university CCNA course

40 weeks worth of cisco lectures and hands on experience using labs

The cost ins't a issue for myself as it's a investment for my future IT Career