Cisco Cert after CCNA?

nel

Ok so im probably getting a little ahead of myself as i havent sat my icnd2 yet but im looking for some advice for where to go afterwards. im currently a sys admin with 6 yr IT experiance but im dying to work my way into the cisco field as i have no contact with it at work and no other production experiance bar what ive learnt at home in my lab. At work ive installed switches, cabling etc but have done no real config work.

At the moment i would like to work into R&S, design and security. Obviously thing being working towards each of those cert tracks. Initially i want to start on the r&s first with the others coming after but i dont know if its a good idea to go for ccnp after na (considering i will have only lab experiance and no real world experiance) or should i stay "level headed" and maybe work across the entry level track and do DA and NA:security? im unsure as ive really enjoyed icnd2 and would love to continue with np and get further into r&s as i feel icnd2 has only touched the surface and there's so many questions i need answering! !!

Keep in consideration i am looking for an junior role too but i dont want to appear over qualified for a job where i have no solid experiance too (if i go for np). Or i was even thinking of possibly doing bsci and bcmsn then stepping back down towards ccda to do? so that would give me a solind understanding of that part of the np but not appearing overqualified and having a better understanding R&S before going for DA?

Just wanted some advice as i am willing to relocate (again) if the right job appears.

What do you guys think?

networker050184

Just go for what ever interests you. You don't have to list any certifications if you think they will harm your chances of getting a job.

If I were in your situation I would wait to go to the professional level until you get a little more hands on and decide what you really want to do, especially now that they have the CCNA specializations you can "test the waters" in each area while still obtaining certifications along they way. You don't want to get half way through the CCSP and decide you don't like security and want to do voice.

hypnotoad

CCDP and CCNP overlap a bit. The R&S (composite) for NP is also needed for DP.

CCNP & CCDP seems like a powerful combination.

nel

Well i enjoy R&S so i know i want to do NP (pretty soon ) at some point and i know eventually i would like to design and implement networks aswell (so DP is prob a must) then i was going to decide what to do afterwards depending on my situation at the time. but at this point im more interested in R&S before i attempt anything else to be honest as i think it will give a very solid foundation to the other tracks.