Tips and motivation needed, please

dreambigccna

hey everyone,

I'm a newbie to this forum and I read a lot of topics which are very interesting.

To say, I'm a CCNA aspirant but I really have no idea how to start. I talked to few of my friends about it and they "attended" classes to pass their certification exams.

One of my friend recommended me to buy Todd Lammel, and I've few questions, please help me out as I'm very confused..

-How is Todd Lammel for CCNA?
-Are tutorial classes necessary for studying CCNA?
-Is it possible for me to study at home just with simulators?
-Roughly, How many months does it take to study CCNA and get well versed with its concepts?

I'm in my final year of my engineering graduation and I've no idea about the job market and its very intimidating.

Please, I want you people to motivate me and am ready to do whatever it takes.

-White.

kryolla

Getting a CCNA is like a downgrade from your engineering degree. If you are having a hard time getting a job with your degree, CCNA is not really going to help. There goes my motivation for you lol. What engineering degree are you getting

joey74055

Well you really need to ask yourself what you want to do. Do you want to go into engineering or would you rather go into IT? If you are getting ready to graduate with an engineering degree you will have a better chance of getting a job in engineering. A CCNA alone won't help you get a job in IT, many people have some sort of degree in IT plus additional certs like the CCNA or years of experience. If you would rather go into IT, you might consider a double major and stay in school to grab a MIS or CS degree.

dreambigccna

Let me first thank you for replying to my post.

I'm doing my graduation in Electronics and Communication Engineering. However, the communications part in my graduation fascinated me a lot. To say I had subjects like Computer networks and high speed networks in my curriculum. So these subjects were very much interesting that I wanted to further study in networking field.

Further, In my field they don't want to take freshers as of now(blame the economic situation! )

Poor ME!

Forsaken_GA

It is quite possible to study for the CCNA with sims and books. How long it takes really depends on your level of motivation, how well you learn, and how well you retain. It is very introductory material.

I went through the Cisco Networking Academy to prepare for my CCNA, which was a year long course, but I passed the CCNA 9 months in. I probably could have done it in 3 months if I had gone at my own pace instead of the pace of the class.

In this economy, the CCNA isn't enough to get you a job, especially with no experience. A CCNA paired with a degree is a bit better, but if you want to seriously make a career out of networking, you need to be thinking professional level cert at the very least (If you want do to voice, then the CCVP is what you should aim for. Security, you look at CCSP, routing and switching, CCNP, and so on).

captobvious

dreambigccna wrote: »

Please, I want you people to motivate me and am ready to do whatever it takes.

-White.

Drop and give us 50!

No really, Forsaken_GA hits it on the head. In this economy a CCNA alone will not get you too far. Unless you happen to luck onto a manager looking to give a kid a shot, but I wouldn't count on it.

I've been getting certs as I thought it would be helpful to change careers but I'm finding without experience I can't even get interviewed right now. So I do consulting jobs for now, anything for that little bit of experience until the dream job comes along.

sheikhasim

ok guys, too much for bloody motivation, dreambigccna go out there and get your CCNA, CCNA is the sort of a certification which might not get you a job straight away but will help you a long way in your career, to be honest in the IT industry experience counts more than qualification, CCNA will give you alot of insight into the IT industry standards, to start of with you'll find it very difficult but then as your progress further it'll all make sense with time, i have a degree in networking as well as a masters, but trust me my university has not helped me one bit, in IT you need experience and real world industry certifications like CCNA, CCNP, MCSE etc degree is just an easy with to be called for an interview. put it this way, after your degree you'll see for yourself how much you know about computers or IT as a whole, i can bet nothing. dont waste your time doing a masters unless you want to do embark on a non-technical IT career, else masters will be a waste of time. it'll just be whole loads of courseworks and assignments etc etc ... think about it , hope iv been helpful.

Forsaken_GA

For certain the CCNA can be of aid, and as the economy improves, it'll probably be enough to get an entry level job to build experience on.

But not right now. Now is the time to build your skillsets, and getting certification is the best way to do that, since getting an actual job doing the work is tough.

It's up to you, if you want to make a career out of networking, you go after it, simple as that. There's no magic bullet, there's no fast pass (well, not unless you know people... no matter *what* the state of the economy, who you know will do you more good than any degree or certification, but that's a separate issue all together). The downturn in the economy is a big signal to buckle down and improve your skillsets, either because A) You want to keep your job or You want to be at the head of the pack when jobs do come available again. If you want to make a career out of networking and you wait too long, you'll be kicking yourself later, the economy is already starting to show signs of life again.

As far as a master's degree goes.... I'll eventually go back to school with a master's in mind. Getting the CCIE preempts that for me, but after will be a different story. And when I do it, I'll be after an MBA, not anything technically related. I want the option of being able to bow out of engineering and take on a management role if I decide I've had enough. It's always best to round yourself off as much as you can, you make a much more attractive candidate that way.

SV

I found CCNA very useful. I did my MS in Management (specialization in IS) and wandered for an year without a job. We had a mixture of IT and Management courses for the MS. Every where they needed people with experience and technical knowledge.

After I started studying for CCNA my confidence shot up. I studied hard... and after clearing the exam I got a job immediately as sysadmin. It was easy to clear the interviews. Though new to the field I had a good knowledge based on what I got from the CCNA curriculum. Within 6 months I got promoted to Team Lead, and after an year and half to Tech Management. And I moved on ...

My advise... go for technical certifications. Make sure you know your stuff. These courses should give you enough technical knowledge to get started. Its later your degrees will become more useful.

apd123

Get certs you will make more money and find jobs easier now get to studying. Also if you have no networking experience get your hands on a 2950 switch and some cheap routers 2500's or much preferably 2600's. Nothing worse than being certified and not knowing where to plug stuff in. When I got my first NOC job through internal promotion I couldn't have told you what the difference was between a router and a switch. Todd Lammles book is good read it before the Cisco Press as it is a lighter read.

dreambigccna

Hey people, was a little busy with my tests. Sorry for replying late. Coming to the topic, am a little scared now..

From the posts above, I now understand how difficult it is to get a job even with certifications like CCNA during these economic situations. For sure am more confused on what I should be doing now, either to do masters in a non-IT field or do CCNA which is my interest. May be I should pursue my interest and give it a shot.

Sometimes I wonder where the 4 years of my graduation has helped me, I've put in a lot of hard work to study and get good grades in the exams and finally landing up at times where the economic situation is real bad. May be I should blame my fate.

Hoping to find a solution soon. Thanks again for replying to my post.

miller811

dreambigccna wrote: »

Hey people, was a little busy with my tests. Sorry for replying late. Coming to the topic, am a little scared now..

From the posts above, I now understand how difficult it is to get a job even with certifications like CCNA during these economic situations. For sure am more confused on what I should be doing now, either to do masters in a non-IT field or do CCNA which is my interest. May be I should pursue my interest and give it a shot.

Sometimes I wonder where the 4 years of my graduation has helped me, I've put in a lot of hard work to study and get good grades in the exams and finally landing up at times where the economic situation is real bad. May be I should blame my fate.

Hoping to find a solution soon. Thanks again for replying to my post.

never get comfortable, never stop learning, standing still or waiting for the economy to take off, is not a good plan. You will be well prepared for the future with your degree, and the technical certification will also benefit you in the future.

You are on the track, just carry on....