can I take CWNA or not?

digerati1 · March 2007

hi there
I have a question and for many people over here, its like stupid question for them but I'm new to this CWNA and want to know something.
My question is, I've done MCSE 2000 and then I got a technical support job that I did for 2 years, recently left the job and now would like to take this CWNA just to jump in the wireless world and advance my skills in that.
I have NO idea about what is RF and what is 802.11/a/b/g , this is just to let you guys know that I'm not into that ship before so can I make it up or just I go for the CCNA track?

Please help me out to sort this confusion.
Thanks in Advance

Slowhand · March 2007

You can learn just about anything, if you're willing to spend the time and effort doing it. If you want to learn about wireless, study up and get yourself some hands-on practice with whatever equipment/labs you can find. However, in this case, since you have next to no experience with wireless technologies, I'd say going for the CCNA might be a better choice. You'll be able to round out some of the infrastructure experience from the MCSE track, and having both MCSE and CCNA look much more promising on your resume than most other things. (No offense against CWNA, it's just that CCNA and MCSE are generally more recognized by employers, even the ones that don't even have two braincells to rub together.)

If you do decide to take your CCNA, and possibly upgrade your MCSE now that Windows 2000 has been retired, then you'll be well on your way to other things. You could go in the direction of wireless, like the CWNA, or you could go into things like Unix/Linux, doing something like LPIC or RHCE. Whatever you choose to do, good luck to you and I hope the work will pay off.

JDMurray · March 2007

If you don't already work in wireless, you should regard the CWNA as a "specialty certification." If you are thinking of going Cisco for the purposes of getting a better job, I would say do the CCNA track first and then use the CWNA and CWSP later to learn about wireless. If you don't feel the need to jump into Cisco right now, pick up the CWNA Study Guide and start learning about 802.11.

digerati1 · March 2007

Thank you slowhand and jdmurray for your response, I'll go for the CCNA first and in the meanwhile sure study about 802.11.
Thank you both
Regards

manic · June 2007

not to put you down at all, but if you ar an MCSE then how are you not aware of the 802.11 standards? they are covered on both the A+ and the NET+.

Slowhand · June 2007

manic wrote:

not to put you down at all, but if you ar an MCSE then how are you not aware of the 802.11 standards? they are covered on both the A+ and the NET+.

They are covered in the current A+, Network+, and the current MCSE track. However, he said he was an MCSE on Windows 2000, and I believe that the 802.11 standards weren't being tested on for that track.

can I take CWNA or not?

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