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Completely new to CCENT/CCNA/Networking and no experience.

dippysplat2002

Hi, as the title says i'm completely new to CCENT/CCNA/Networking and I have no experience in I.T. at all. I am out of work just now looking after my sick son and I don't want to go back to general administration when I venture back into the job market next year (hopefully).

I want to know what realistic ambitions I should have due to me having no I.T. experience as I want to make sure that I'm not "wasting" my time aiming for the CCNA if I'm not going to be able to make a living after I acheive the CCENT/CCNA. I know there are no guarantees to what I could land with the CCNA but it would be helpful to have some idea based on having no/little experience (eg job descriptions, salary etc).

I'm not aiming for the sky (I was only earning just over £15000 P.A. so not high earnings) and I know its going to be tough going but I plan on having the CCNA by this time next year if its possible but if I'm going to be worse off then I might just look into something mundane to enhance my current field than doing something interesting like Networking.

Any help/views are helpful and thanks in advance for helping me out!

Thanks

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Comments

networker050184

It's going to be tough not having any IT experience at all. A lot of people start out doing some sort of IT stuff before moving into networking like helpdesk. Your best bet is to look into starting off in a NOC or customer support for an internet service provider if you are looking for something purely networking.

Somnipotent

I feel it really depends on your motivation to learn something completely brand new. Networking is by no means an easy concept to learn from the ground up, but it's not completely impossible or improbable. I've tutored a few people who have a little IT knowledge (turning on the computer and launching a web browser) and they've seemed to get the jist of it. I would take the time and pick part some more digestable material, like Todd Lammle's Network+ stuff or even his CCENT book is good to start out with. Not to mention there's a vast resource on Youtube to get your feet wet. You should definately look into an entry level NOC position, which will give you some exposure and the needed experience to dive deeper. Welcome to TE by the way.

krjay

What made you decide to possibly pursue IT? I'm just curious because you didn't mention anything about tinkering with computers as a child or anything of that nature that sparked an interest in the IT field. If you were to obtain a CCNA level of knowledge and the certificate I think you'd be able to pretty easily get your foot in the IT door in some fashion. It may not be your ideal job but it will give you a start. From there it will completely depend on your demeanor and willingness to learn.

bub9001

I agree that it is tough, but if you have the motivation to study and learn you should break into IT in good time. My question is why IT? If it only because of the money, you won't like it any better then what you did before. If you have the passion for IT like some of us, the money is secondary to getting the position you want in the future. Trust me I can see it in a IT candidate, if they want a job or a career. I prefer to surround myself with IT people that want a career, they are way more likely to put in the hard work on the job and in the class room as well. Good to see you found some IT Pro's to help with this decision.

Raul-7

I'm currently taking CCNA classes and the only IT expierence I had was building and diagnosing PCs [desktops/laptops]. I had no network experience other than configuring a home network (ie. which W7 does automatically). I'm currently doing much better than I thought especially with the hands-on part of the course (the real world knowledge). I find that to be the most enjoyable in comparison to the theory portion.

It's not as daunting as it seems. As long as you're genuinely interested in IT (more specifically networking) and have the ability to learn quickly, then you should be good. The only downside is that the material is very dry and Cisco expect you to know every little detail.

JeanM

IT market is highly saturated, so that won't help you especially w/o any IT experience at all. It's very common for someone new to start in desktop/help desk support and go from there.

MrXpert

I had virtually no experience when I started my Cisco journey in 2010 and it has been a long journey but a good one. Before doing Cisco I got some CompTIA certs under my belt. I would suggest doing these first if you are new to networking and then making a decision on where you want to go after that. The CompTIA certs will help you find a entry level IT job on a helpdesk if this is what you are initially after. Also if there's any chance you could do some ad hoc volunteer work around IT that and a good cert will help your chances quite a lot.

Good luck.

networker050184

Raul-7 wrote: »

I'm currently doing much better than I thought especially with the hands-on part of the course (the real world knowledge). I find that to be the most enjoyable in comparison to the theory portion.

Hate to break it to you, but in the real world it's going to be 90% theory as well. Research, plan and research again just to type a couple commands.