CCNP or CEH?

I'm currently working at the help desk. I got my CCNA few months ago. Unfortunately my work is unable to provide me any on the job training with the networking team, so I feel a bit stuck

I'm planning on going for my next cert. Should I go for CCNP or CEH? Any suggestions on which cert to go for or how to get training and experience in networking would be greatly appreciated

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Comments

Danielm7

Maybe look for another job that will give you networking experience? If you are in help desk right now, going for the CCNP with 0 real networking experience seems like a waste to me. Plus if you try to find another job with a CCNP and no experience you might be stuck in an odd position, a higher level cert, that according to stats might seem like it would give a higher salary, but without any on the job experience you aren't going to get a CCNP level job.
Also, the CEH, why?

Edit, hit post too soon there. So what are your actual goals? Do you want to go completely into networking? If so maybe consider a position at a NOC, or an entry level networking role in another company. Are you looking to get into servers, etc, then maybe look at the Microsoft or Linux tracks. I don't think the CEH would do you any good, especially at this point, I mean from what I understand it's an offensive hacking cert, I don't see it as any benefit to someone in help desk looking to get out.

White Wizard

Prerequisites for the CEH are 2 years of work related experience in the security field IF you dont attend official training.

Based off Cisco's certification path since you have a CCNA already, CCNP and CCIE routing and switching would make you a network engineer, is this the direction you want to go?

I"ll be taking the CEH myself this year (if i can fit it in) but this cert does not seem to get much love around here as it is not well known or desired in the workplace aside from government related jobs.

If it were me, I would knock out my Cisco certs before I moved on to a different set of certs as the CCNP will be worth more in the eyes of prospective employers compared to the CEH IMO.

yzT

Well, answer this question is a little hard for us, as both certifications are for different fields, so only you can decide which field go into.

Also, follow danielm7 tip. Going for higher certifications without experience backing it up is weird and it even may be more harmful than beneficial.

Raisin

If you're working a help desk job the CCNP is overkill and will likely hurt your chances of moving off the help desk. Without any experience nobody is going to hire you as a network admin and hiring managers for entry level positions will worry that you're either overqualified and or won't stick around in the position for long. Stay away from high level certs until you're ready to move into a high level position.

I recommend going for the Linux+ instead. Linux skills are valuable for both networking and security. The certification is respected but still low level enough not to scare off anyone reading your resume.

ande0255

I'd suggest going through some other CCNA level certs, to give you a broader base of entry level skills for network related positions, and so when you do get a position related to a path, you're ready to immediately begin studying for the professional level cert.

Right now I'm kind of stuck scrambling for the voice / security level certs, while I'm working tickets that are professional level studies, so I highly advise getting the associate level certs first.