worth doing CCNP SP as precursor to CCIE?

in CCIE
Hi all
My question is simple: worth doing CCNP SP as a stepping stone/intro to CCIE?
If it didn't have all the IOS XR stuff it'd be a no brainer. MPLS, MPBGP/complex BGP, QoS, multicast, ipv6.....
I am also concerned clock is ticking on CCIE v4 but conversely it might be a smarter idea to concentrate on CCNP SP, wait for the CCIE v5 to come out then study / lab targeting v5 instead of starting v4 now then getting a 6 month deadline in a few months.
Finally, this may sound stupid, but is there any kind of bias against having too many P level certs? I'm about to clean off voice. If I do SP then I'll have five P level certs total. Do employers discriminate/think 'why isn't this guy a CCIE instead' etc.? I know this is a stupid question since the IE does not cover voice or firewalls to name two of the P level certs but just curious about the perception out there.
My question is simple: worth doing CCNP SP as a stepping stone/intro to CCIE?
If it didn't have all the IOS XR stuff it'd be a no brainer. MPLS, MPBGP/complex BGP, QoS, multicast, ipv6.....
I am also concerned clock is ticking on CCIE v4 but conversely it might be a smarter idea to concentrate on CCNP SP, wait for the CCIE v5 to come out then study / lab targeting v5 instead of starting v4 now then getting a 6 month deadline in a few months.
Finally, this may sound stupid, but is there any kind of bias against having too many P level certs? I'm about to clean off voice. If I do SP then I'll have five P level certs total. Do employers discriminate/think 'why isn't this guy a CCIE instead' etc.? I know this is a stupid question since the IE does not cover voice or firewalls to name two of the P level certs but just curious about the perception out there.
Comments
Good luck with whatever you do mate!
Blog >> http://virtual10.com
As far as all the P level certifications, do you work with all that stuff you are certified in? If so it's a plus that you certified in it when I look at your resume. Shows you take learning what you are working on seriously. If you don't have any experience and just got the certs I'd be grilling you in the interview as first thing that would probably come to mind is dumper.
Yes I do work on all of it daily basis
Mind you these days with the way technology is, another NP may very well be more relevant than an IE, but that is in eye of the beholder. e.g. say your company is migrating to Nexus. What's more useful, a CCNP DC or a CCIE? I've seen CCIEs totally bomb a Nexus implementation because someone tossed them the keys thinking 'IE = master of everything cisco'. As us in the profession knows, its not quite like that.
It will also answer a lot of the questions you might raise in you're R&S studies like "when would I ever need more than 2 labels in an MPLS stack" or "what is the actual application of a local QoS group" or "how does an end to end LSP work when it travels more than one provider"
If you don't play with XR or have rack time somewhere that has an ASR9k/GSR/CRS then you will find it difficult
Thank you to all for your opinions
Just need work to stop throwing voice work at me and it should be gravy (though what I wouldn't give to teleport back one year in time so I can just focus on R&S!!!)