MCSE VS CCNA

ironlung

My instructor for security the other day said and I thought this was pretty amusing that the CCNA Cert is equivalent to a MCSE.I know they are 2 different things but I dont agree. I know the CCNA is a diffcult test but how can you compare 1 test 640-802 to 7 exams?

Mishra

People have their opinions.

The MCSE is a great mark when dealing with the MS side.

The CCNA is a moderate mark when dealing with the Cisco side. You usually need to pursue more.

There is no comparison between certs.

techster79

There was another post comparing 70-291 vs CCNA. I have passed the CCNA twice without failing. I have failed two different MS exams once(70-270 & 70-291). Does this mean that 70-291/270 are harder than the CCNA...well yes and no.

MS tests are an exercise in weeding out irrelevant information used to get an inexperienced or hurried tester to pick the obvious right answer. This answer will be wrong based on a word or phrase contained in the multiple paragraphs in the question. MS tests can be difficult but the time given is much longer than the time for the CCNA. Also you can review each and every question, with the exception of the design exams, at the end of the test.

The CCNA is much more hands-on and requires the ability to come to the right answer quickly. I think on average no more than 1.5 min per question. I passed the CCNA twice because I did not take it lightly and studied for about 2-3 times the amount of time it took me to prepare for 1 MS test.

The MCSE and CCNA are completely different but if I had to rank them, I would say the MCSE is harder to achieve, but if you included the CCNP then I would say it is harder than the MCSE.

My 2 cents.

Slowhand

The "certification xx is equivalent to certification yy is really more of an HR thing than it is technical. For a lot of hiring managers and human resource directors, they see having CCNA as equivalent to MCSE simply because those are acronyms they recognize. I once saw two different job-ads from the same company, one for a mid-level network engineer's position and the other for Sr. engineer. The mid-range position stated that the certifications they looked for were "MCSE, CCIE, CCNA preferred". For the Sr. engineer position, only CCNA was listed.

It's all marketing, for some people, I don't know how often I have to explain to recruiters and hiring managers that I don't qualify to be a senior-level engineer just because I have the CCNA. If your teacher thinks that MCSE and CCNA are "equal", then he's probably not as familiar with the certs as the people you'll find on this forum. Not a knock against him, but he probably has more of a passing familiarity with what they are. To test the waters, I'd ask him of how he thinks MCSE: Security stacks up to the security track of CCIE. After all, they're both expert-level certs, right?

dynamik

Nah, one is engineer and the other is expert. I personally don't think either of those hold much weight anymore though.

I'm actually going to start working on the HDCNC certification.

ironlung

Your right about that slowhand he has no clue about microsoft.He asked how many exams do you take to become MCP?Oh yeah I forgot to mention he is a cisco guy a CCNA if I,m not mistaken so I'm thinking that has an effect on his way of thinking.