CCNP or CCIE?

Hi Everyone,

I have 10 years of Helpdesk/Support Analyst experience.
I am 1 year 4 months into my first Network Engineering job.
My job title: Field Technician
Over the course of my time at this job I have read the CCNA ICND 1 & 2 books cover to cover (Great Books by the way!).
I took the CCNA exam and barely Failed the first time.
I took the CCNA exam and barely Passed the second time.
I now have my CCNA.
I am part of a Team that provides 24/7 on-site Network support.
(We manage the Network only. Not the Servers).
We manage the following:
2 Cisco ASA 5520s
2 Cisco Nexus 7010s
12 Cisco 4948s
26 Cisco 6509s

At this point I feel that I have a solid foundation with Cisco.
I am debating wether or not to go for the CCNP or straight to CCIE.
Half of my shift I assist with the network but the other half I have available to read.
So my question is, being that I work on Cisco equipment at work, have time to read at work and have my CCNA, should I go for the CCNP or CCIE? I am not in a rush but at the same time I don't want to waste my time with anything.
Any advice would be greatly appreciate.
Also, being that this is my first job in a Network Engineering environment I was wondering if someone could tell me what the size of this network is considered? Small, Medium, Large?
I don't have a measuring stick to compare this job or network to since this if my first Network Engineering job. All my prior jobs were Helpdesk environment.

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Comments

Essendon

First off, welcome to the forums!

I aint no Cisco guru but I can confidently tell you that the gap between the CCNP and the CCIE is ENORMOUS. You will not waste your time doing the CCNP. Besides, it would also make a lot of sense to get a senior network engineering role while you are working away on your CCNP/CCIE. Nothing beats real world experience.

The CCIE aint no walk in the park...

mikej412

barquera wrote: »

At this point I feel that I have a solid foundation with Cisco.
I am debating wether or not to go for the CCNP or straight to CCIE.

Do you already possess professional level skills for the R&S Written Exam Topics, v4.0 and R&S Lab Exam Topics, v4.0?

The CCNP isn't required to attempt the CCIE R&S Written Exam (which you need to pass to access the system to schedule an R&S Lab Exam). But without the structure of the CCNP -- and the "professional level" milestones you'd achieve by passing the exams -- you'd pretty much be on your own to pick the important pieces out of the the Book List using just the exam topic lists. Plus you'd be making your best guess without much information about what gets you to the "expert level" -- unless youj've got a CCIE or two at work who are willing to poke and prod you to make sure you study up to the "expert level."

A bunch of people even add the CCIP Certification to their CCNP Certification before attempting the CCIE R&S because studying for the QoS, BGP, and MPLS exam covers a nice chunk of the R&S CCIE Written/Lab topics.

Ryan82

Do the NP. It will lay the foundation for your IE studies and you will have something at the end of it in case you don't ever attain your IE, which realistically is achieved by few.

barquera

Will the below book suffice for the Route & Switch exams?
"CCIE Routing and Switching Certification Guide 4th edition"

Of course I will have other materials to practice Labs but as far as theory, will this book be ok?

stuh84

barquera wrote: »

Will the below book suffice for the Route & Switch exams?
"CCIE Routing and Switching Certification Guide 4th edition"

Of course I will have other materials to practice Labs but as far as theory, will this book be ok?

I think you are better actually getting the CCNP guides for Route and Switch. The CCIE guide is going to go way above what you need. True you may learn more than you need, but its going to take a lot longer to digest the material which could be used to get the CCNP out of the way.

Based upon the fact you barely passed the CCNA the second time (and this isn't having a go at you, as it took me a couple of attempts to do it too), the CCNP is definitely a good route to go for you as it will provide more of a solid foundation to build on. Going for the CCIE straight away is just going to blow your mind apart after the CCNA.

barquera

Thanks Everyone for your valued input.
My main concern is to understand what I am reading and to build a solid foundation.
So at this point I am convinced that the CCNP path is the smartest thing to do.

Straight to CCIE will be to much for me at this time.

PsychoFin

Good choice! And welcome to the forums!

TesseracT

barquera wrote: »

Thanks Everyone for your valued input.
My main concern is to understand what I am reading and to build a solid foundation.
So at this point I am convinced that the CCNP path is the smartest thing to do.

Straight to CCIE will be to much for me at this time.

Good choice man, to get a solid foundatation the CCNP is definately the right way to go. Take your time and good luck.

GA1

Ryan82 wrote: »

Do the NP. It will lay the foundation for your IE studies and you will have something at the end of it in case you don't ever attain your IE, which realistically is achieved by few.

Excellent point.

Turgon

barquera wrote: »

Hi Everyone,

I have 10 years of Helpdesk/Support Analyst experience.
I am 1 year 4 months into my first Network Engineering job.
My job title: Field Technician
Over the course of my time at this job I have read the CCNA ICND 1 & 2 books cover to cover (Great Books by the way!).
I took the CCNA exam and barely Failed the first time.
I took the CCNA exam and barely Passed the second time.
I now have my CCNA.
I am part of a Team that provides 24/7 on-site Network support.
(We manage the Network only. Not the Servers).
We manage the following:
2 Cisco ASA 5520s
2 Cisco Nexus 7010s
12 Cisco 4948s
26 Cisco 6509s

At this point I feel that I have a solid foundation with Cisco.
I am debating wether or not to go for the CCNP or straight to CCIE.
Half of my shift I assist with the network but the other half I have available to read.
So my question is, being that I work on Cisco equipment at work, have time to read at work and have my CCNA, should I go for the CCNP or CCIE? I am not in a rush but at the same time I don't want to waste my time with anything.
Any advice would be greatly appreciate.
Also, being that this is my first job in a Network Engineering environment I was wondering if someone could tell me what the size of this network is considered? Small, Medium, Large?
I don't have a measuring stick to compare this job or network to since this if my first Network Engineering job. All my prior jobs were Helpdesk environment.

CCNP I think. You need a lot of regular daily study time to get up for the CCIE lab exam. I think we have had 7 or 8 passers on TE the last three years and all of them had significant experience and exposure to Cisco at work. I would say you have some going for you and although it's your first job, over a year in is something to work with. But I dont think it's enough mileage to be starting the CCIE. That isn't to say it isn't passable with your level of exposure because it is. I just think you will put the CCIE 'journey' if you like into much better context once you have 5 years in on this field, plus a few job changes and accellerated responsibilities particulary moving from engineering to design. The field is not awash with CCIEs. Since the lab version changed the numbers have slowed to a sane rate. The industry is however awash with non CCIEs, many of them timeserved in networking and holding down very responsible and difficult jobs. A newly minted CCIE has to work with these people and expectations are high.

ITdude

Sounds like good advice from everyone. If it makes you feel psychologically better, just pick up the suggested materials for Route and Switch start reading them (even with the idea that you are going for your CCIE).

I suspect that after some point you will decide to attempt the related exams, to validate your knowledge and therfore place yourself on a path to CCNP....

Most of all, have fun and learn!