Lower-level or higher-level certs to start out with?

ilovemywife · September 2008

I was wondering if employers might look more favourably toward a prospect who had, say, a CCNA and a CCDA, as opposed to a CCNA and a CCNP - both having no work experience. My reasoning is that if one can get on with a CCNA, why would an employer hire you with a higher cert with even more responsibility unless you had even more experience accompanying your CCNP cert to prove your worth?

Does this make sense or not?

LarryDaMan · September 2008

You must be a newlywed. I haven't choked my wife to death yet, so I guess I am doing good also.

You will get great advice from people better than me, but I would say to use the search function to find a ton of info. Generally: A+, Network+, CCENT are the ones recommended to get started with.

JDMurray · September 2008

You have no experience, but what about knowledge? When you look over the CCNA literature online, does it look like stuff you know and have used, or is it completely new to you? Brand new fields of learning are best tackled by apprenticeships, but failing that, entry-level certs and community college classes are the way to go. If you are new to computer networking, consider the ICND1 and ICND2 exams rather than going directly for the CCNA.

Also, an employer won't look favorably upon any certification unless you have experience to back it up. Yes, it's the chicken-and-the-egg thing, but you can't expect to get a bunch of Cisco certs and then get a good job without ever having maintained actual Cisco (and other) equipment.

ilovemywife · September 2008

LarryDaMan wrote:

You must be a newlywed. I haven't choked my wife to death yet, so I guess I am doing good also. You will get great advice from people better than me, but I would say to use the search function to find a ton of info. Generally: A+, Network+, CCENT are the ones recommended to get started with.

Well, Mr. Jeremy, I haven't been married long, no. We have our disagreements, but so far, no fights.

My position is actually more theoretical than practical. Like a "what if" scenario. Would it be more of an advantage for a guy who *already* has a CCNA to get another low-level cert in something like CCDA, or Unix or SQL or MCSA, etc? Or go on to something higher, like CCNP, CCSP, CCVP, etc? My point being that is a higher level cert going to be more attractive to an employer from an applicant with no experience, or will several lower certs - perhaps in different areas - look better to that employer? Maybe a better foundation or a more well-rounded knowledge-base? I just am not sure that moving on up to something higher with no experience won't necessarily get you any more phone calls for an interview.

JDMurray · September 2008

Have you tried reading through the posting on the major job boards of jobs you'd like to have? That'll give you the best idea of what employers are asking for in the way of experience, education, and certification.

I think the idea of "higher level" is not something that most employers regard. Rather than ranking certs by level of difficulty, employers look only for specific certs regardless of their level (e.g., CISSP, Security+, CCIE, MCSE) because that's what they've been told to look for. Many employers looking for CCNA people don't know what "level" the CCNA is; they've just been told CCNA certification is something they need to require of applicants.

famosbrown · September 2008

Well my advice is to apply, apply, apply, and hopefully you get an interview despite the lack of experience. And then make sure you know your stuff since you may get tested both verbal and hands-on.

That is how I got my first Sys. Admin job with no experience somewhat...I got the interviewS, then smashed the verbal and hands-on tasks they had me do. They overlooked the 5 years experience requirement that the posting had and wen t with what I showed them...

Good luck and anything is possible...gotta get the hands-on experience from somewhere

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LarryDaMan · September 2008

JDMurray wrote:

Many employers looking for CCNA people don't know what "level" the CCNA is; they've just been told CCNA certification is something they need to require of applicants.

Very true. Many HR Reps, recruiters, head hunters, and top level hiring managers do not know the CCNA from the YMCA. As JD said, these are the things they are "supposed" to look for in a candidate. Do key word searches for various certs on Dice, Monster, Hotjobs, Careerbuilder, Craigslist...etc., this will allow you to get an accurate view of what these people will be looking for.

We can all learn these things without becoming certified. Many certification exams are expensive, outdated, poorly written, and some are all of these things. By and large we are trying to become more marketable, so go look on these job sites to see what the current market wants.

Lower-level or higher-level certs to start out with?

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