Certification advice please

deroni

Hi everyone,

I want to say i am very happy to find this website. Thanks to all contributors. This is a great website.

I am sorry if it is going to be a weird question. I have a bachelor degree from electrical engineering. But, even while I was studying i didnt like it. I wanted to work as a network engineer. Therefore, after graduation i came to USA to get a degree from IT. Now i am almost graduated. But I dont have any experience and hands on practise in this field. Thus, I am looking for some certifications. I have some theorical knowledge from my master.

I am very confused which certification i should start. i looked up CCNA books. I felt OK while I was looking OSI models or IP adressing. But that router staffs seems very tough. I also looked up network+. It seems i can handle by self study. But, some people say it is unneccessary for me.

Please help me which way I should choose and where i can start.

nel

If your working at masters level then you *shouldnt* really struggle too much with the CCNA/MCSE. There will be concepts which are tough b ut if you learn them like you have for your masters then you should be OK.

btw, dont expect a networking job straight away. it takes time. most have to start at the helpdesk level or desktop support. You may start slightly higher since you have a masters.

Ask yourself what you want to do. if its network then network+ is good if you have no knowledge at all then CCNA. Then you can continue with more specialised qualifications. remember vendor certs are specific to there products. The two most popular seem to be cisco/juniper. Both vendors have ther cert tracks on there website.

Good luck and welcome to the forums.

goforthbmerry

Be sure that you understand the terms you are using. I am not trying to insult your inteligence3 but it is not uncommon in IT for job descriptions to vary widely for the same job title. If your intrest is to actually become a network engineer (routers, vlans, wans, etc), I don't see much of a way around the Cisco certifications. They may not be as difficult for you as you imagine. A system engineer is different. It usually involves either the *nix and Microsoft tracks and often both.

What I find most appealuing about IT is that there are so many fields within the field that you can specialize in. Your first job should be entry level and allow you to see all the different areas that you can advance in. Most likely one will appeal to you specifically and you can start to chart your path towards that career. I have known many people that didn't actually plan to become there profession it just sort of happened. For instance, I have a friend who started working in a small company where you are expected to do many things. The company needed someone to set up a database. Next thing he knew he was the company DBA. He now does it full time for another company and makes very good money.

In my opinion that is just how it happens. Many may disagree. You have degrees so I wouldn't fret too much about specific certifications. You might want to take the Network+ exam just to show you have a technical skill set. After that, let yourself learn more about the different areas and decide what you are most interested in.

My five cents worth of advice

deroni

Thaks for your responses. they were very helpful.

Unfortunately, i got only a few courses from networking.Therefore, I may use some terms wrong. I think, i will start with network+. Then take a course for CCNA. I think i will need help for hands on stuffs on CCNA. Do you guys recommend any books for Network+. English is my fourth language, so the book's english should be clear and not tough.

Thanks again. Good luck to everyone.