Certification expiry?

MissionKap1001

Hi All. I am A+ and Net+ certified. I also hold an electronic technicians certificate. I'm interested in now earning a CCNA certifacate. My only concern is, unlike Comptia exams, I have read that the CCNA certification expires after two years. Is this true? Would I have to wrtie or upgrade this exam every two yrs to hold on to this certification? To me that seems like to much work and think I would lose all interest in getting this certificate if that were true. Please someone tell me I'm wrong and what is the right information concerning this matter. Thank you to all that reply.

D-boy

CCNA and CCDA certifications are valid for three years. Advancing to the Professional level or recertifying at the Professional level automatically renews all related Associate level certifications.

Taken from here

Webmaster

It's 3 years, and you can re-take the CCNA or take one of the CCNP exams to recertifiy for CCNA.

To me that seems like to much work and think I would lose all interest in getting this certificate if that were true.

If you focus on getting the knowledge instead of the certificate, and actually put that knowledge to work in a net admin job you will earn plenty and know plenty to take the CCNA exam every year. Re-certification is very common practice, just not for CompTIA exams...

MissionKap1001

Thanks again. O.K but what if I choose not to re-take every three yrs and just want the knowledge and for me to always have it on my resume. Will I be aloud to keep it on my resume or would I be lying if I did?

linuxguy

I have never heard of an employer caring if it was expired.
I have seen some resumes were they put: ccna (expired)

I do not plan on mine expiring as I plan on moving up to the next level continualy but if it did I would leave it. It is not lying, you have one. I would inform the potental employer if it was relivent.

Webmaster

When your CCNA expires you are not allowed to use CCNA on resumes, business cards etc. You can list it as education, but if it is expired you're no longer a CCNA, hence you shouldn't claim you are CCNA certified.

I've been in dozens of situations where the employer did care. If there are two candidates with similar qualifications and experience, and one has an expired CCNA...

Recertification exists to keep 'your' certifications valuable.

MissionKap1001

Thank you for all your help. I got my A+ right after college yrs ago and If I were to take the exam today I would fail with flying colours. I'll be dammed if I'm going to study A+ again. I know the material and it won't take long for me to remember if I need to learn it again, but I'm not going to keep studying A+ every three yrs, when I can/am doing new and better things. Why would I treat the CCNA differently? Thanks again for you help everyone, but I'm not liking what I hear. I don't know now If I'm going to persue. I think it's dumb that one day I can put it on my resume and another day have to take it off. I might come back to CCNA, but I will explore other options first.

Drakonblayde

Would it really put you out that much to spend a couple of hours every 3 years to recertify?

Think about it this way... the recertification policy is a way to make certain that those who hold it stay current with the technology that is going to be used/available in a work place. Unlike the CompTIA lifer exams, an employer knows that a candidate who keeps his CCNA current is going to be reasonably able to perform the job. If I was going in for a bench tech job, I'd expect the employer to test my skills and not simply take my A+ at face value because the A+ was a bloody joke in it's adaptive format. No certification test should take me 15 minutes for two tests + survey questions for each. Microsoft doesn't have a recertification policy either, and the MCP certs really are not that well regarded within the industry.

Honestly, the recert is not a big deal. If you plan to pursue CCNP, it's even easier... when you pass any Professional level exam, your CCNA recertifies. If you can get the CCNA, you're probably going to get a job within 3 years. Then you only need to worry about recerting if your employer wants you to, or if you happen to be looking for a new job at the same time. But everyone else is right.. if you know what you're doing (and the knowledge should be the primary pursuit for any certification, not the merit badge for your resume), then the cert exams are a cake walk.

garv221

MissionKap1001 wrote:

Why would I treat the CCNA differently? .

B/C the A+ is a joke & the reason its worthless is anyone with a pulse can pass...CCNA lets people know your up to speed on in Cisco gear in the fast changing network world. Thats like saying someone who passed an MCP for Windows 3.1 is current to todays standards...lol..A+ should expire every 5 years.

BryanM67

garv221 wrote:

MissionKap1001 wrote:

Why would I treat the CCNA differently? .

B/C the A+ is a joke & the reason its worthless is anyone with a pulse can pass...CCNA lets people know your up to speed on in Cisco gear in the fast changing network world. Thats like saying someone who passed an MCP for Windows 3.1 is current to todays standards...lol..A+ should expire every 5 years.

I passed the A+ just a few months ago and its no joke. Yes, I did hear it was a joke. so apparently CompTIA made it alot more difficult so that A+ certification would get more respect. The testing center staff did confirm that A+ exams were considerably more difficult than they used to be.

Drakonblayde

Good, it needed to be. The problem is, the market is flooded with A+'s who got off with the easy exam, and since it's a lifetime cert, it *still* doesn't mean that the person is going to be current on modern technology. All the A+ really does is say that you can open a computer without breaking it and maybe install an OS. A CCNA says you can configure and troubleshoot a small network using Cisco equipment. That's just a tiny bit of a learning curve, and a good reason why a Cisco exam and a CompTIA exam shouldn't be compared

TeKniques

The thing with the A+ is it is a lot harder than people think now, but they need to raise the passing score IMO. Although I do not know how they score it, but it seems a little too lean ... 505/900 for the Core and 515/900 for the OS.

MissionKap1001

Here's my point. IF I took the A+ say ten yrs ago, I'm not going to have known what a USB port is or how to install windows 98. So should I take the test again? NO! I learned it already, and I got the fundamentals to keep up with the new technology. It would be boring to read an A+ book every three years to stay certified. That's why I don't know if I'm going to take CCNA yet. I want to have it, I just don't want to keep going through it. I know theres other options to keep upgrading, but what if I don't want to do that eithor, I have to keep reading CCNA books forever to stay certifed. If your a Dr. 20 yrs ago, does that not make you a Dr. today? There's new medicines and illnesses that weren't around 20 yrs ago. Oh and regards to a reply, I believe if your certified for MCP on 3.1 then you are on 2000. You learned the fundamentals and that's what it is all about. You learned it and you have the ability to adapt to change (3.1 to 9.8...). Those are my opinions. After all this I still might take CCNA cause I do want it, I'm not decided yet though.

garv221

TeKniques wrote:

... 505/900 for the Core and 515/900 for the OS.

I wish passing scores were that low when I was in college. All there saying is get a 56% on the Core & 57% on the OS ( a little over 1 out of 2 questions right) and your a certified technician..lol what if that was the passing score to be a surgeon or Airline pilot? You honestly can't take something serious when its sooooo easy to pass.

TeKniques

Well, personally I don't have a problem with the idea of recertification. It actually makes total sense in a way because you need to stay current with technologies and procedures of doing things right.

On the A+ scoring issue, I can kind of see why the passing score is low because of the broad range of topics, but like garv said, with barely passing how can you feel confident to do the job? It would be a lot easier to understand if we knew the scoring system and how it works, maybe they could break it down for us ... Hello CompTIA, hello ... maybe they read the boards

Cherper

MissionKap1001 wrote:

Here's my point. IF I took the A+ say ten yrs ago, I'm not going to have known what a USB port is or how to install windows 98. So should I take the test again? NO! I learned it already, and I got the fundamentals to keep up with the new technology. It would be boring to read an A+ book every three years to stay certified. That's why I don't know if I'm going to take CCNA yet. I want to have it, I just don't want to keep going through it. I know theres other options to keep upgrading, but what if I don't want to do that eithor, I have to keep reading CCNA books forever to stay certifed. If your a Dr. 20 yrs ago, does that not make you a Dr. today?

That is why doctors are required by most states to keep current through CEUs. CCNA is the same way. Just because you have the fundamentals doesn't mean squat when the technology changes constantly. The Cisco IOS is always being updated, and what you learned 3 years ago doesn't apply much today. If you don't keep up with it you will be lost.

MissionKap1001 wrote:

Oh and regards to a reply, I believe if your certified for MCP on 3.1 then you are on 2000. You learned the fundamentals and that's what it is all about. You learned it and you have the ability to adapt to change (3.1 to 9.8...). Those are my opinions. After all this I still might take CCNA cause I do want it, I'm not decided yet though.

That is not even close. Huge differences between 3.1 and 2000, fundamentals aren't even close enough to carry you through. It is attitudes like this that make me glad that you have to recertify on Cisco. Makes sure that people are current, and not just up on the fundamentals as they were 3-5+ years ago, and makes the cert worth a lot more than A+.

MissionKap1001

Every three yrs I would have to buy a brand new CCNA book and pay to take the test. That equals a dozen CCNA books I have to buy and read before I retire. Yea! I wish it didn't bother me so much like most of you guys.

garv221

For a reply to anyone to lazy to recertify or keep up with technology: Non recertification decreases the certs value after time. A guy with an A+ from 89' (lol) gets hired & fired for not knowing jack because that cert is honestly worthless and holds absolutely no value because its out dated. About as worthless as a VCR repair guy. The least the Comptia exams can do is change the name a little bit for each new revision to represent a year & make it known that there would be a difference between A+ 89' (lol) & A+ 04....Right now A+ is A+ it doesn’t matter when you received it, it looks & sounds the same. If people don’t want to recertify or certify because recertify is enforced, - Good that will weed the posers & open up jobs for real determined people. God Bless.

forbesl

MissionKap1001 wrote:

Every three yrs I would have to buy a brand new CCNA book and pay to take the test. That equals a dozen CCNA books I have to buy and read before I retire. Yea! I wish it didn't bother me so much like most of you guys.

...Then don't take the CCNA every three years. Take a 642 series Cisco exam. This automatically renews your CCNA when you pass any test in this series. For instance, you can take the 642-501 SECUR exam (Securing Cisco Routers) and your CCNA will be renewed by passing this exam.