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Cisco before Comptia?

Knowledge82Knowledge82 Member Posts: 12 ■□□□□□□□□□
in General Certification
Will it be any good for me if I take Cisco classes before I even get an A+ or Network+.
And I have no experience, or would it be better to get an A+ Network+ then CCNA
I'm thinking about going to Tesst College for a CompTIA & MSCE course, it costs $ 2390
thats alot of money and I hear alot of ppl say that with an A+ or Network+ cert you'll only be making $8 - 15 an hour. What should I do because I do wanna get into Cisco eventtually, Should I go Straight for an Cisco Cert or get my A+ first
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    Kevin10686Kevin10686 Member Posts: 67 ■■□□□□□□□□
    A+ first
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    shednikshednik Member Posts: 2,005
    No need to double post!

    What is your background with hardware? networking? I would recommend atleast studying A+/N+/S+ material as a good foundation. So in essence I would say start with the basics and then move to the more difficult things. :D
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    Knowledge82Knowledge82 Member Posts: 12 ■□□□□□□□□□
    ok do you think $2390 too much for a NIT (Network Information Technology) certificate
    Suppose to train for CompTIA and MSCE
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    MishraMishra Member Posts: 2,468 ■■■■□□□□□□
    Knowledge82 wrote:
    Will it be any good for me if I take Cisco classes before I even get an A+ or Network+.

    You should take your A+ and Net+ before your Cisco certifications if you don't have an IT background. The study material is the foundation to start moving up in certs.
    Knowledge82 wrote:
    And I have no experience, or would it be better to get an A+ Network+ then CCNA

    A+, Net+, then CCNA. Your studies should contain a lot of lab work since you haven't been able to touch the equipment much.
    Knowledge82 wrote:
    I'm thinking about going to Tesst College for a CompTIA & MSCE course, it costs $ 2390
    thats alot of money and I hear alot of ppl say that with an A+ or Network+ cert you'll only be making $8 - 15 an hour.

    Don't waste your money on going to a college... Thats just my opinion. Home studies are much better because you create the cirriculem instead of it being handed to you. Home studying by focusing on every step is a great way to learn. It's just like if a math teacher shows you how to do a math problem, you wouldn't be able to do it again in 6 months... When studying for certs, your goal needs to be to RETAIN the knowledge instead of just remember it to pass a test.
    Knowledge82 wrote:
    What should I do because I do wanna get into Cisco eventtually, Should I go Straight for an Cisco Cert or get my A+ first

    lol 3rd time you asked this question
    My blog http://www.calegp.com

    You may learn something!
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    shednikshednik Member Posts: 2,005
    Knowledge82 wrote:
    ok do you think $2390 too much for a NIT (Network Information Technology) certificate
    Suppose to train for CompTIA and MSCE

    In my personal opinion if you don't want to goto a school to get a degree then I would just self study everything...I know in my town the local community college you can earn an AS in IT for I think it was under $7000. To me you my be better off doing something like that then looking down the road to cisco if you don't have a degree already. The degree programs will usually have courses for A+/N+/S+/L+ which will give you a solid foundation to go whichever road you would like. If I knew what I knew now I would have started there since 7000 was less then what my college charged for 1 full time semester while I lived on campus. If you do already have some type of degree and have no plans of continuing in academia I would self study for the certifications. Just my 2 cents.
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    empc4000xlempc4000xl Member Posts: 322
    If you plan on doing More cisco work you can skip the A+. I listened to everybody else and took the A+ route 1st then moving on to CCNA. It was a waste of 8 weeks. The only good part was meeting the people in class. If you are going to take CCNA it will cover everything you need to know for N+. My 2cents.
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    networker050184networker050184 Mod Posts: 11,962 Mod
    empc4000xl wrote:
    If you plan on doing More cisco work you can skip the A+. I listened to everybody else and took the A+ route 1st then moving on to CCNA. It was a waste of 8 weeks. The only good part was meeting the people in class. If you are going to take CCNA it will cover everything you need to know for N+. My 2cents.

    +1

    Unless you plan to use the CompTIA certs for your MCSA or they are required for a job I would skip them.

    That doesn't mean you shouldn't learn the basic materials, but the exams are just too expensive to justify getting the certification IMO.
    An expert is a man who has made all the mistakes which can be made.
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    TurgonTurgon Banned Posts: 6,308 ■■■■■■■■■□
    Knowledge82 wrote:
    Will it be any good for me if I take Cisco classes before I even get an A+ or Network+.
    And I have no experience, or would it be better to get an A+ Network+ then CCNA
    I'm thinking about going to Tesst College for a CompTIA & MSCE course, it costs $ 2390
    thats alot of money and I hear alot of ppl say that with an A+ or Network+ cert you'll only be making $8 - 15 an hour. What should I do because I do wanna get into Cisco eventtually, Should I go Straight for an Cisco Cert or get my A+ first

    You can take the exams in any order you want but I think you would be better off with that foundation in CompTia first quite frankly. Try the self study route before you commit to expensive colleges and academies. I have seen testimonials of people who seem to take up to two years to get the CCNA through networking academies which seems an expensive way to spread out studies at that level.
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    Daniel333Daniel333 Member Posts: 2,077 ■■■■■■□□□□
    Cisco is just fine for starting out. CCNA is perfect for a starting point. Cisco designs the exams for people with no background, although I would recommend certifying in XP (70-270), Vista (70-620) or Linux+ first just do you don't get stumped when they assume you can do certain things on client workstations.

    Self study, if you are choosing an IT career you'll be self studying the rest of your life. Better get used to having a home lab setup and running 24/7 like the rest of us.
    -Daniel
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    TurgonTurgon Banned Posts: 6,308 ■■■■■■■■■□
    Daniel333 wrote:
    Cisco is just fine for starting out. CCNA is perfect for a starting point. Cisco designs the exams for people with no background, although I would recommend certifying in XP (70-270), Vista (70-620) or Linux+ first just do you don't get stumped when they assume you can do certain things on client workstations.

    Self study, if you are choosing an IT career you'll be self studying the rest of your life. Better get used to having a home lab setup and running 24/7 like the rest of us.

    I think thats good advice. While you don't have to do Comptia or MCP before embarking on the CCNA I think it's probably wise to do so for the things you mention and also because so few people start out in networking in the purest sense.

    Desktop OS and application support seems to be the entry level so some background there before embarking on CCNA may be more beneficial if you are seeking a start in the world of work and should help your Cisco studies as well as provide a bit of context. CCNA materials these days (so far as I can tell) stand up on their own, but whatever networking basics are introduced in A+, N+ or MCP should serve to provide a helpful introduction.
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