Should I do CCNA before CCDA?

Paul_HPaul_H Member Posts: 7 ■■■□□□□□□□
I am looking to get my CCDA certification. My motivation is to expand my current skills as a Systems Architect to include some validated Cisco network design skills. I have a strong general networking background and currently design "smaller" networks to support classified system processing. Currently nothing more than a couple of managed switches and some rules to control traffic flow between systems. In the past I worked as a network admin for a state university.

I'm currently employed and have the resources and time to take additional certs before starting the Cisco design track. Does it make sense to get the CCNA R&S and/or CCNA Security before starting the CCDA? We do have Cisco equipment in house at my work, and I'll build a home lab if needed, so I can get some real-world CCNA experience.

Thanks for any input.
--
Paul

Comments

  • MitMMitM Member Posts: 622 ■■■■□□□□□□
    I think having the knowledge of R&S, Security, Voice, and Wireless would be very helpful before taking the CCDA.

    I don't think you can go wrong by taking the CCNA exams first.
  • ande0255ande0255 Banned Posts: 1,178
    CCNA Collab you really in my mind need to work with at your job to be able to pass and really utilize the material, as you don't really know how to troubleshoot issues until you have tickets coming in full of them :)

    Wireless is something I think you could home lab along with R/S (and should), but the collab with the end points and licensing for servers and spinning up ESXi boxes and obtaining bootable images for said servers... its a lot of work unless you have VOIP engineers / CCIE Collabs that have terabyte hard drives in their backpack with every IOS Cisco's ever released just in case.
  • Seether12603Seether12603 Member Posts: 6 ■□□□□□□□□□
    Yes I would do Routing and Switching first. I do not like the recent change were you can branch out before passing the R&S. In my view all the off shoots, ie Security, Voice, Design, depending on you understanding the basics of routing and switching. The route and switch are the foundation on which everything else is built.
  • Hawk321Hawk321 Member Posts: 97 ■■■□□□□□□□
    Have you ever skim through the official cert guide ???
    Your mentioned small networks are nothing compared to medium-big networks. Really, do a CCNP R&S and/or CCNP Security before you even think about the CCDA !

    For instance:
    A 3 Tier Campus LAN, with 2 Firewalls ....2 routing protocols like EIRGP and OSPF etc. etc.
    Degree in
    computer science, focus on IT-Security.
    CCNA R+S and CCNA CyberOPS
    LPIC-1,LPIC-2,LPIC-3: Security
    Ubiquiti: UBRSS+UBRSA
    some other certs...


  • Burns82Burns82 Member Posts: 68 ■■■□□□□□□□
    I would even suggest have a CCNP level of knowledge both undertaking this cert, as it covers a lot of information that requires a a good level of experience and understanding
  • OfWolfAndManOfWolfAndMan Member Posts: 923 ■■■■□□□□□□
    Honestly you would find the CCDA material really boring if you took it first. Taking the CCNA (And having worked in a network) really makes you appreciate the CCDA material a bit more.
    :study:Reading: Lab Books, Ansible Documentation, Python Cookbook 2018 Goals: More Ansible/Python work for Automation, IPSpace Automation Course [X], Build Jenkins Framework for Network Automation []
  • Paul_HPaul_H Member Posts: 7 ■■■□□□□□□□
    Sorry for the late reply, got busy and side-tracked for a while. Thanks for all the input. My plan is CCNA/CCNP and the security certs, then look at the CCDA. CCNA/CCNP and security are skill sets I can utilize in my current job so they make the most sense to do first.

    v/r
    Paul
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