Cisco Unity Support Specialist

Has anyone attempted this exam? Any opinion on its requirements and credentials? Had is opened any doors for anyone? Does anyone carry any specialist exams around here?

I am currently in a position where I am trying to 'ninja' my way into cisco unity access, so I am getting my CCNA: Voice within the next month and prying my way into getting access to Unity for our company. Would this be worth getting?

Find more posts tagged with

Comments

laidbackfreak

I dont think it would hurt your chances, personally I think you'd be better going down the VP route after the CCNA-V

Whats your experience of Unity?

mikej412

chmorin wrote: »

Has anyone attempted this exam? Any opinion on its requirements and credentials? Had is opened any doors for anyone? Does anyone carry any specialist exams around here?

They used to require the MCSE:Messaging as a prerequsite -- but I think they dropped it last year (or the year before) since that was an awfully big prerequisite.

I've got the security specialist certifications and voice specialist certification I earned while doing the CCSP and CCVP. I've managed to keep them since I'm working on the CCIE and the CCIE written exams re-certify the specialist certifications.

I did go out of my way to do the exam to earn the IP Telephony Design Specialist Certification -- and that's actually the certification that seems to get the most attention. But I'd guess my CCVP and the lack of available Voice CCIEs has something to do with it too.

I'll eventually loop back for a couple more Specialist Certifications like the Unity Support and Unity Design once I have a CCIE (and know that I will keep them since they have a 2 year recertification cycle like the CCIE).

chmorin

My supervisor lets me use unity when he gets the chance and lets me handle some of the phone support tickets that come in. Adding phones, changing lines, a little voice-mail... not much else.

I'd go down the VP route if I actually end up getting a job in voice and enjoy it. For the moment I'm torn between wanting to do voice, or networking.

laidbackfreak

Given that I'd say go for it, certainly cant do you any harm and will make you stand out a little in the voice field

If you do decide let me know what resources your using as I may look at this once I've finished my VP.

oh and as Mike said the m$ messaging used to be a pre-requisite but is now shown as additional training. So I figure you need to have an understanding of this too.

chmorin

I plan on getting an MCITP this summer in network infrastructure, hopefully it will touch on it a little. I'll be sure to let you know once I start to study!

pitviper

mikej412 wrote: »

I did go out of my way to do the exam to earn the IP Telephony Design Specialist Certification -- and that's actually the certification that seems to get the most attention. But I'd guess my CCVP and the lack of available Voice CCIEs has something to do with it too.

Hmmm, you make a nice point here. CCDA is a pre-req for the IP Telephony Design specialization no? I plan on taking the DA @ some point - I have all the material, but have only been using it on and off as a laxative

May have to look into this a bit.

Flyingput

pitviper wrote: »

Hmmm, you make a nice point here. CCDA is a pre-req for the IP Telephony Design specialization no? I plan on taking the DA @ some point - I have all the material, but have only been using it on and off as a laxative May have to look into this a bit.

Sorry for being late to the thread. Could you share your material list for CCDA?

Thanks a lot in advance!

pitviper

I picked up the cisco press self study guide (Diane Teare), quick reference sheets, and the CBT Nuggets - pretty much the usual recipe

. The delivery is fine (book is quite good) I just find the material a little dry.

chmorin

pitviper wrote: »

I picked up the cisco press self study guide (Diane Teare), quick reference sheets, and the CBT Nuggets - pretty much the usual recipe . The delivery is fine (book is quite good) I just find the material a little dry.

Hmm that kind of stinks. I am taking my IIUC exam on Thursday and I greatly enjoyed the material in that. So much to the point I might get the IP Communications Express Specialist certification while taking classes at WGU.

Flyingput

pitviper wrote: »

I picked up the cisco press self study guide (Diane Teare), quick reference sheets, and the CBT Nuggets - pretty much the usual recipe . The delivery is fine (book is quite good) I just find the material a little dry.

LOL, that IS the standard recipe! I am quite happy to know CBT Nuggets has a video on CCDA as I usually start from here to warm-up.

broc

pitviper wrote: »

... I just find the material a little dry.

To say the least... I used the Self Study Guide and that wasn't the most enjoyable read!

I passed (only just...) the CCDA this morning and I second guessed myself on 60% of the questions, maybe I wasn't prepared enough but I think many of the questions are quite ambiguous.

chmorin

broc wrote: »

I think many of the questions are quite ambiguous.

It appears to look that way.

Yeah I more of use the study guide as a reference during my studies than a word for word book. I get to bored of the information if I do it like that.

laidbackfreak

broc wrote: »

I passed (only just...) the CCDA this morning

congrats Broc

and forget about it, a pass is a pass after all

has anyone EVER been asked there scores ? lol

broc

laidbackfreak wrote: »

congrats Broc and forget about it, a pass is a pass after all has anyone EVER been asked there scores ? lol

Thanks

And yes I do agree, a pass is a pass. It's just that after passing many CCxP exams with fairly good scores, I was a bit disappointed to get so low with a CCxA!

Back to studying for the IE written, this one I'll be happy with any score as long as it's a pass

hypnotoad

Is there even any material available to study for the voice specialists?

pitviper

hypnotoad wrote: »

Is there even any material available to study for the voice specialists?

Channel partners seem to have access to training material for the specialization exams – Outside of that though, I haven't seen anything – official or 3rd party.

Flyingput

Go to eBay and buy those servers in VMware. Throw in 16GB and boom, CUCM pub+sub, Unity, UCCX, Presence, IP Communicators..... hmm, I still use real voice gateways. Is it better to simulate them from Packet Tracer or GNS3?

chmorin

I'm working on CIPCES and can't find any material in reguards to it either. I'm just trying to do each of the exam objectives over and over to practice. I assume I'll fail the first time, but then I'll know what I need to study. Haha!