Experience vs Certification

ViktorTech

Hello Everyone!


Sorry if this sounds old, but here it goes: I have lots of theory but close to no experience in the IT field. I am looking for a CCNA course (9 months) in a local college that prepares you to take the exams (theory) and, also, is a hands-on course. Do you think a course like this (being hands-on) will help in terms of gaining experience and will actually count as the same for a job?

Thanks!

jamesp1983

I doubt it will be viewed the same as real world experience, but it will look like you're motivated and eager to learn.

oli356

Do such colleges even exist? Like I go to a normal college doing an IT course where we do 18 units over 3 years. 1 of the units was a Cisco one, enroll on network acadamy and do discovery 1. I did this and wanted to do discovery 2, so I passed that last week and took my ICND1 on Friday, I passed..

At college though it was just reading the networking acadamy, the hands on was from whatever excerices I could do in packet tracer..

I'm with James though, I doubt it will be viewed as real world experience..I imagine one of the biggest things in real world is troubleshooting? I did work experience last year, working a long side the network admin. As soon as the network went down (which it did a few times) the whole place went crazy, especially the CS room using the phones. Just see the network admin run to the comms room
But anyway... I would'nt have thought you could get that troubleshooting hands on experience in a classroom environment.

Raisin

oli356 wrote: »

Do such colleges even exist? Like I go to a normal college doing an IT course where we do 18 units over 3 years. 1 of the units was a Cisco one, enroll on network acadamy and do discovery 1. I did this and wanted to do discovery 2, so I passed that last week and took my ICND1 on Friday, I passed..

Some schools do invest money in setting up a nice networking lab for their students, but I still wouldn't call that experience. The days of student CCNA's getting hired straight into network admin positions are long gone. Now you have to work your way up from an entry level job, and having a CCNA might actually hurt you because many hiring managers will worry that you'll jump ship immediately after they train you.

Concerned Water

True, my college have Cisco Academy and we all have gear to work with individually. Our tests are even hands-on (my professor is a CCNP/CCIP that doesn't like packet tracer). Tuition increased a little because of the equipment, but it's worth it. We even have a network lab with switches and routers available anytime during operation of the college.

oli356

That's cool, I know American colleges are different than my college in England. Mine is free, no degree from it.

We have a bit of networking equipment (4 routers) and a few switches but its for the whole class! Luckily no one else has gone past Discovery 1 so they have no need to use it. Considering my networking lesson is 2 hours on Monday and 1 hour on Thursday I don't see the point of setting up a computer for such a short amount of time.

Concerned Water

My courses are credits hours toward a degree (usually four hours per class). I was a little mad about the price increase, but it's worth working with real stuff. We also have Cisco Academy CCNP level courses too. I wish there were free Cisco courses here.

oli356

I still have to pay for the exams, so the only benefit is the resources on the network acadamy, so the long chapters to read through. And packet tracer I guess. It seems to be a long time since my teacher did his CCNA. So he has pretty much forgotten a lot of it now =( even at discovery 2 level!

Concerned Water

My college doesn't want to pay for certifications, but I was able to get a 50% off discount voucher for completing ccna exploration from cisco. You should able to get one as well. If your a ccent you only have to study a little more for CCNA. As for your teacher, that sir, is scary

oli356

Got my ICND1 58% voucher but considering I finish college in about 4 weeks I won't have time to do all of discovery 3 and 4, that's 18 chapter tests and 2 finals and 2 packet tracer exercises. (I couldn't do my discovery 2 practical using the equipment because only 1 router had a wic-1T card so the other router wouldn't be able to connect -.-
oh we'll... This is going off track from what the OP asked anyway, sorry.

Concerned Water

Back to business It depends on the person who's interviewing you. My professor spoke of a student who gained a CCNP without experience. He applied for a job, but the interviewer was worried about him not having experience. So, the interviewer had him and another candidate with experience compete for the position with a hands-on test. At the end of the test, the student passed and gained employment. As for the other guy, he wasn't even able to finish.

ViktorTech

So, would you say that in my case (0 experience) the CCNA would be more beneficial that, for example, MCSA in terms of opportunities of employment? I am not in my 20s anymore and I decided to make a drastic career change to what I actually went to college for (IT).

I thank everybody for the feedback. Really happy to join the forum.