Job outlook for CCNPs vs. CCNAs

Does anyone care to venture a guess as to the job outlook for someone with *some* experience who has an NP vs. an NA? Easier or harder?

I know the income *should* be more, everything being equal - I just don't know what the job market is like for someone job-hunting who has an NP.

If anyone is in this situation, feel free to comment. I know someone with an NA who's been looking, and it's been months with only one interview, and he's been applying everywhere. He has a non-related bachelor's and about four years of experience. If the NP job market is dead, I might also re-consider moving in that direction.

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killuah72

mikej412 wrote: »

It's not a waste of time working on the CCNP exams, it's just that your time is probably better spent -- and there is a better payoff -- focusing most of your time on finding a job with your CCNA.

But that assumes you EARNED a CCNA and didn't just **** it.

What's funny is that there are people (tricon7) who fail the CCNA and then fail again even using ****. When they finally "**** enough" to put a worthless ccna on their resume, they then spend their time complaining that no one will give them a chance.

Then there are people who then **** CCVP exams (crunchyhippo) on top of their dumped ccna and complain about no one giving them a chance and how unfair it is that employers require experience. If you think a CCVP who can't make a phone call given access to a pay phone and a pocket full of change still deserves a job, then start your own consulting company and see how long you can bill your customers for the time it takes you to finally figure out how to get their phones to ring.

Dr. Atomic -- if you think a CCNP will magically get you a job -- by all means go ahead and get one. Just stop bitching about how unfair it is that employers prefer job candidates who can demonstrate the knowledge and skills the certifications on their resume imply they should have. Did you ever think that maybe it's your lack of knowledge and skill from your ccna study that prevents you from getting a networking job -- not your lack of a CCNP?

Do try hard to get that CCNA job but if there are no opportunities out where you are, don't waste too much time waiting and apply for IT support/help desk jobs as well.

I did my trench work for a few years and gained a lot of important knowledge and experience assisting System Administrators with W2k3 and *nix stuff, running/patching network cables, troubleshooting workstations and all that "manual labor" stuff. I found that all around experience helped me better troubleshoot problems or at least point them to the right direction (away from the network).

Get some IT experience even if it's not networking and pair it up with your CCNP and that should help increase your opportunities to get a CCNA job or CCNP job in some cases. Do what you love and make sure to provide what you offer on the table during the interview if you do get the job so you don't ruin it for the other hard working people.

Turgon

mikej412 wrote: »

It's not a waste of time working on the CCNP exams, it's just that your time is probably better spent -- and there is a better payoff -- focusing most of your time on finding a job with your CCNA.

But that assumes you EARNED a CCNA and didn't just **** it.

What's funny is that there are people (tricon7) who fail the CCNA and then fail again even using ****. When they finally "**** enough" to put a worthless ccna on their resume, they then spend their time complaining that no one will give them a chance.

Then there are people who then **** CCVP exams (crunchyhippo) on top of their dumped ccna and complain about no one giving them a chance and how unfair it is that employers require experience. If you think a CCVP who can't make a phone call given access to a pay phone and a pocket full of change still deserves a job, then start your own consulting company and see how long you can bill your customers for the time it takes you to finally figure out how to get their phones to ring.

Dr. Atomic -- if you think a CCNP will magically get you a job -- by all means go ahead and get one. Just stop bitching about how unfair it is that employers prefer job candidates who can demonstrate the knowledge and skills the certifications on their resume imply they should have. Did you ever think that maybe it's your lack of knowledge and skill from your ccna study that prevents you from getting a networking job -- not your lack of a CCNP?

I have no evidence that the posters you mentioned used **** so my reply is not a validation of that statement.

However I do put credence to the sentiments you express in terms of the unrealistic expectations not only of cert holders but of certifications in general. It seems to me far too many people set too much store in certifications accelerating their careers. All that time, energy and personal expense would be much better served obtaining relevent experience in the field than throwing more and more at the next certification. The hue and cry about how do I get a job without experience is a diversion in my opinion. It is not in and of itself countered by having more certificates. The nineties are over. Concentrate on selling yourself to get in at the bottom and once there work as hard as you can to get as much technical implementation exposure as you can. The certs can advance on the side but it's what you are *doing* at work that will determine your direction of travel in this industry.

shodown

Turgon wrote: »

I have no evidence that the posters you mentioned used **** so my reply is not a validation of that statement.

However I do put credence to the sentiments you express in terms of the unrealistic expectations not only of cert holders but of certifications in general. It seems to me far too many people set too much store in certifications accelerating their careers. All that time, energy and personal expense would be much better served obtaining relevent experience in the field than throwing more and more at the next certification. The hue and cry about how do I get a job without experience is a diversion in my opinion. It is not in and of itself countered by having more certificates. The nineties are over. Concentrate on selling yourself to get in at the bottom and once there work as hard as you can to get as much technical implementation exposure as you can. The certs can advance on the side but it's what you are *doing* at work that will determine your direction of travel in this industry.

So true. A combination of working at the right place and doing the right work is very important. I had one job that was CCNA required that all we did is look at T1's then called someone when they went down or called another group if there was a issue with routing. Some guys stayed there for 8 years and couldn't go anywhere else. I stayed for 7 weeks. 5 of those were me finding a new job.

ehnde

Hold the phone (lol).....people use **** for cisco certs? How on earth is that POSSIBLE? Maybe I'm better off not knowing. But I know from reading about what to expect on my first cisco exam that there are simulations. People can **** simulations? Wtf......

Turgon

ehnde wrote: »

Hold the phone (lol).....people use **** for cisco certs? How on earth is that POSSIBLE? Maybe I'm better off not knowing. But I know from reading about what to expect on my first cisco exam that there are simulations. People can **** simulations? Wtf......

People have dumped Cisco certs for years and that includes the lab. Many CCIEs and CCIE candidate **** the written. Passing these exams on your own time using only the blueprint and your own initiative seems a bridge too far for a lot of people these days. Then again, going by the hours required to clear these things clean I can understand why people are tempted to short circuit the process and spend more time on important things like playing WoW.

howiehandles

mikej412 wrote: »

It's not a waste of time working on the CCNP exams, it's just that your time is probably better spent -- and there is a better payoff -- focusing most of your time on finding a job with your CCNA.

But that assumes you EARNED a CCNA and didn't just **** it.

What's funny is that there are people (tricon7) who fail the CCNA and then fail again even using ****. When they finally "**** enough" to put a worthless ccna on their resume, they then spend their time complaining that no one will give them a chance.

Then there are people who then **** CCVP exams (crunchyhippo) on top of their dumped ccna and complain about no one giving them a chance and how unfair it is that employers require experience. If you think a CCVP who can't make a phone call given access to a pay phone and a pocket full of change still deserves a job, then start your own consulting company and see how long you can bill your customers for the time it takes you to finally figure out how to get their phones to ring.

Dr. Atomic -- if you think a CCNP will magically get you a job -- by all means go ahead and get one. Just stop bitching about how unfair it is that employers prefer job candidates who can demonstrate the knowledge and skills the certifications on their resume imply they should have. Did you ever think that maybe it's your lack of knowledge and skill from your ccna study that prevents you from getting a networking job -- not your lack of a CCNP?

The truth hurts, but is needed. How people can question you, based on your experience with Cisco, is beyond me. They should take your advice, and run with it.

shodown

mikej412 wrote: »

It's not a waste of time working on the CCNP exams, it's just that your time is probably better spent -- and there is a better payoff -- focusing most of your time on finding a job with your CCNA.

But that assumes you EARNED a CCNA and didn't just **** it.

What's funny is that there are people (tricon7) who fail the CCNA and then fail again even using ****. When they finally "**** enough" to put a worthless ccna on their resume, they then spend their time complaining that no one will give them a chance.

Then there are people who then **** CCVP exams (crunchyhippo) on top of their dumped ccna and complain about no one giving them a chance and how unfair it is that employers require experience. If you think a CCVP who can't make a phone call given access to a pay phone and a pocket full of change still deserves a job, then start your own consulting company and see how long you can bill your customers for the time it takes you to finally figure out how to get their phones to ring.

Dr. Atomic -- if you think a CCNP will magically get you a job -- by all means go ahead and get one. Just stop bitching about how unfair it is that employers prefer job candidates who can demonstrate the knowledge and skills the certifications on their resume imply they should have. Did you ever think that maybe it's your lack of knowledge and skill from your ccna study that prevents you from getting a networking job -- not your lack of a CCNP?

I can't believe I still laugh at this years later.

tdean

ehnde wrote: »

Hold the phone (lol).....people use **** for cisco certs? How on earth is that POSSIBLE? Maybe I'm better off not knowing. But I know from reading about what to expect on my first cisco exam that there are simulations. People can **** simulations? Wtf......

i was thinking exactly the same thing. i thought braindumps were a thing of the past. i havent heard that term since the early 00's.

Forsaken_GA

Turgon wrote: »

However I do put credence to the sentiments you express in terms of the unrealistic expectations not only of cert holders but of certifications in general. It seems to me far too many people set too much store in certifications accelerating their careers.

This is why I generally stay out of these kinds of threads. It accelerates my angry-meter because I'm sick and tired of saying the same thing over and over again - The certification isn't important, the knowledge you gain while pursuing the certification is important. Far, far too many people seem unable to comprehend the subtle distinction between the two.

If you want it, *you* have to go out and get it, you have to be able to sell yourself. The certification provides some validation, but it's not a silver bullet. It should be treated as a road map to guide your learning. I don't care if you have a CCNP, if you can't tell me how, given an IP address, to tell me what switch and port the device with that IP is on, you are absolutely worthless to me, no matter how many capital letters you have on your resume.

shodown

We had a CCNA come in for a job interview and we had the lab setup. We had the mask written as /24, /30 and so on. He was asking us for the mask to put in on the lab. I just shook my head.

VAHokie56

shodown wrote: »

We had a CCNA come in for a job interview and we had the lab setup. We had the mask written as /24, /30 and so on. He was asking us for the mask to put in on the lab. I just shook my head.

I gave one of our PC techs who claimed to have 20 years of cisco work under his belt a static IP for a printer, gateway and the mask as /24... he then informed me I forgot to give me the subnet mask

cisco_certs

shodown wrote: »

We had a CCNA come in for a job interview and we had the lab setup. We had the mask written as /24, /30 and so on. He was asking us for the mask to put in on the lab. I just shook my head.

wth. lol i never thought those people exist. lmao

EDIT: I dont even know why people will **** themselves. They dont gain anything and they will just look stupid in front of everyone else. Its funny how Mike called out 2 of guys that were doing ****. lol

Come to think of it, when they interview me for my current job, they asked me what subnet are you going to give 2 hosts. I'm not the smartest but IMHO an average CCNA should know the answers to this piece of cake question.

Forsaken_GA

cisco_certs wrote: »

wth. lol i never thought those people exist. lmao

EDIT: I dont even know why people will **** themselves. They dont gain anything and they will just look stupid in front of everyone else. Its funny how Mike called out 2 of guys that were doing ****. lol

I have. unfortunately, either done many or sat in on many interviews that have revealed folks like those. We just got our headcount additions approved for next year, and lucky me, I get to be the one tapped to do the technical interviews, since they're advertising for folks with certifications, and since I have the certs they're looking for, I know what questions they should be able to answer!

Far, far too many people are just concerned with the paycheck. Far too many folks gamble that certs will be the gateway to a six figure salary in short order.

This is one of the reasons I can never take the OP of this thread seriously. When he starts a new thread, it is almost always along the lines of 'how fast can I get this cert, and how much will it pay me?'. Someone's just looking for a way to make a quick buck, rather than building a solid foundation and an actual career.

I have a few questions that I use to quickly determine if a job candidate is the real deal, or just another paper cert.

For all of you interviewing, let me give you a little advice - Know the basics. If you miss those, you are pretty much sunk. Anything that isn't basic, you don't necessarily need to get the answer right. For interviewers like me who throw difficult questions out, I'm looking for three things:

#1 - Are you easily frustrated when you're under pressure? If so, that's not really useful to me. I need folks who are capable of waking up at 3 in the morning after only 3 hours (or less) of sleep and being able to trouble shoot a network wide outage. If something as simple as an interview flusters you, then you have no place touching my infrastructure during a crisis situation. So relax. If you spend too much time worrying about the interview, you're doing grave damage to your chances.

#2 - If you don't know the answer, can you reason it out? How does your mind work? If you don't get it right, you can still get alot of credit by demonstrating what you do know, and applying that to the situation. Specific skills, I can teach, but the ability to take raw data and process it to come to a reasonable conclusion is something that you're either good at or you're not. I absolutely love it when the response to a difficult question is the interviewee asking me questions in return. I love the attempt to gather more data in order to refine conclusions.

#3 - Are you willing to be honest with me and tell me straight to my face that you don't know. I don't expect every candidate to be the Fountain of Network Wisdom. If I'm asking you questions on something you've never studied before, and you try to BS me, I will know it. If you look me straight in the eye and tell me you have no clue, but you will make it a priority to figure it out once we're done (regardless of whether you get the job offer), you will score lots of points. I absolutely do not need people with "I don't know how to do this!!!" attitudes. What I need are people with "I don't know how to do this, but if you leave me alone for 30 minutes, I'll see if I can fix that" attitudes.

chmorin

Forsaken_GA wrote: »

I have. unfortunately, either done many or sat in on many interviews that have revealed folks like those. We just got our headcount additions approved for next year, and lucky me, I get to be the one tapped to do the technical interviews, since they're advertising for folks with certifications, and since I have the certs they're looking for, I know what questions they should be able to answer!

Far, far too many people are just concerned with the paycheck. Far too many folks gamble that certs will be the gateway to a six figure salary in short order.

This is one of the reasons I can never take the OP of this thread seriously. When he starts a new thread, it is almost always along the lines of 'how fast can I get this cert, and how much will it pay me?'. Someone's just looking for a way to make a quick buck, rather than building a solid foundation and an actual career.

I have a few questions that I use to quickly determine if a job candidate is the real deal, or just another paper cert.

For all of you interviewing, let me give you a little advice - Know the basics. If you miss those, you are pretty much sunk. Anything that isn't basic, you don't necessarily need to get the answer right. For interviewers like me who throw difficult questions out, I'm looking for three things:

#1 - Are you easily frustrated when you're under pressure? If so, that's not really useful to me. I need folks who are capable of waking up at 3 in the morning after only 3 hours (or less) of sleep and being able to trouble shoot a network wide outage. If something as simple as an interview flusters you, then you have no place touching my infrastructure during a crisis situation. So relax. If you spend too much time worrying about the interview, you're doing grave damage to your chances.

#2 - If you don't know the answer, can you reason it out? How does your mind work? If you don't get it right, you can still get alot of credit by demonstrating what you do know, and applying that to the situation. Specific skills, I can teach, but the ability to take raw data and process it to come to a reasonable conclusion is something that you're either good at or you're not. I absolutely love it when the response to a difficult question is the interviewee asking me questions in return. I love the attempt to gather more data in order to refine conclusions.

#3 - Are you willing to be honest with me and tell me straight to my face that you don't know. I don't expect every candidate to be the Fountain of Network Wisdom. If I'm asking you questions on something you've never studied before, and you try to BS me, I will know it. If you look me straight in the eye and tell me you have no clue, but you will make it a priority to figure it out once we're done (regardless of whether you get the job offer), you will score lots of points. I absolutely do not need people with "I don't know how to do this!!!" attitudes. What I need are people with "I don't know how to do this, but if you leave me alone for 30 minutes, I'll see if I can fix that" attitudes.

I know what I'm giving my friends pursuing jobs for Christmas, this post! Very good advice!

peanutnoggin

Forsaken_GA wrote: »

I have. unfortunately, either done many or sat in on many interviews that have revealed folks like those. We just got our headcount additions approved for next year, and lucky me, I get to be the one tapped to do the technical interviews, since they're advertising for folks with certifications, and since I have the certs they're looking for, I know what questions they should be able to answer!

Far, far too many people are just concerned with the paycheck. Far too many folks gamble that certs will be the gateway to a six figure salary in short order.

This is one of the reasons I can never take the OP of this thread seriously. When he starts a new thread, it is almost always along the lines of 'how fast can I get this cert, and how much will it pay me?'. Someone's just looking for a way to make a quick buck, rather than building a solid foundation and an actual career.

I have a few questions that I use to quickly determine if a job candidate is the real deal, or just another paper cert.

For all of you interviewing, let me give you a little advice - Know the basics. If you miss those, you are pretty much sunk. Anything that isn't basic, you don't necessarily need to get the answer right. For interviewers like me who throw difficult questions out, I'm looking for three things:

#1 - Are you easily frustrated when you're under pressure? If so, that's not really useful to me. I need folks who are capable of waking up at 3 in the morning after only 3 hours (or less) of sleep and being able to trouble shoot a network wide outage. If something as simple as an interview flusters you, then you have no place touching my infrastructure during a crisis situation. So relax. If you spend too much time worrying about the interview, you're doing grave damage to your chances.

#2 - If you don't know the answer, can you reason it out? How does your mind work? If you don't get it right, you can still get alot of credit by demonstrating what you do know, and applying that to the situation. Specific skills, I can teach, but the ability to take raw data and process it to come to a reasonable conclusion is something that you're either good at or you're not. I absolutely love it when the response to a difficult question is the interviewee asking me questions in return. I love the attempt to gather more data in order to refine conclusions.

#3 - Are you willing to be honest with me and tell me straight to my face that you don't know. I don't expect every candidate to be the Fountain of Network Wisdom. If I'm asking you questions on something you've never studied before, and you try to BS me, I will know it. If you look me straight in the eye and tell me you have no clue, but you will make it a priority to figure it out once we're done (regardless of whether you get the job offer), you will score lots of points. I absolutely do not need people with "I don't know how to do this!!!" attitudes. What I need are people with "I don't know how to do this, but if you leave me alone for 30 minutes, I'll see if I can fix that" attitudes.

+1000 on this... I work with a few folks like the ones explained above. Just recently we had an IP Phone that "wasn't working" (as reported by the customer). The first thing one of our admins said was... "you have to take this because I don't know how to fix phones". Come to find out... the LAN cable came unplugged!

chmorin

peanutnoggin wrote: »

+1000 on this... I work with a few folks like the ones explained above. Just recently we had an IP Phone that "wasn't working" (as reported by the customer). The first thing one of our admins said was... "you have to take this because I don't know how to fix phones". Come to find out... the LAN cable came unplugged!

That's a shame. The moment people stop investigating issues they "don't know" is the moment people should change professions. It has to be a pursuit and a passion.

Dr_Atomic

mikej412 wrote: »

It's not a waste of time working on the CCNP exams, it's just that your time is probably better spent -- and there is a better payoff -- focusing most of your time on finding a job with your CCNA.

But that assumes you EARNED a CCNA and didn't just **** it.

What's funny is that there are people (tricon7) who fail the CCNA and then fail again even using ****. When they finally "**** enough" to put a worthless ccna on their resume, they then spend their time complaining that no one will give them a chance.

Then there are people who then **** CCVP exams (crunchyhippo) on top of their dumped ccna and complain about no one giving them a chance and how unfair it is that employers require experience. If you think a CCVP who can't make a phone call given access to a pay phone and a pocket full of change still deserves a job, then start your own consulting company and see how long you can bill your customers for the time it takes you to finally figure out how to get their phones to ring.

Dr. Atomic -- if you think a CCNP will magically get you a job -- by all means go ahead and get one. Just stop bitching about how unfair it is that employers prefer job candidates who can demonstrate the knowledge and skills the certifications on their resume imply they should have. Did you ever think that maybe it's your lack of knowledge and skill from your ccna study that prevents you from getting a networking job -- not your lack of a CCNP?

First off, Mike, since you're throwing down some kind of gauntlet here, I need to respond, since you've made this so public.

I *got* a good networking job with my certs, to rebut your assertion that I don't have one (how you claimed to know I didn't have one is a mystery). Second, I've been studying hard for the last 3 1/2 years on one test or another, so don't come off saying that I'm dumping to take some easy road out, because that's patently false.

Third, I did fail the CCNA. Three times. But I kept at it, studying my butt off and managed to pass it the fourth time due to diligence and hard work. Do I know you? I don't think so, so how do you claim to know how much I've studied and what I've passed or failed? I haven't posted a testing-history of everything I've done in here, so don't claim you read it all in my posts.

Btw, my certs aren't "worthless", because I earned every one of them. Did you **** your certs? Are you sure you didn't? How do you like your word being questioned by someone who doesn't know you from a hole in the wall? It's not very pleasant, is it?

You've got a lot of gall claiming that I've dumped my certs when I know for a fact that I studied my tail off for each of them. Whether it's true or not, you come across as an arrogant moderator who's used to throwing his weight around in here because he has a lot of certs behind his name and because he can. I've let some of your past abrasive and - to be honest - rude comments slide in the past, but you really went over the line with this one.

Lastly, where did I ever comment that a CCNP would ever "magically get me a job"? Nowhere. It was a strawman creation by you to make yourself look like some kind of Uber-moderator all-knowing eye-in-the-sky.

If posting valid, non-confrontational comments in this room gets one this kind of beat-down reply from the moderator who's supposed to protect the users from this kind of treatment, then I feel sorry for the next user you decide to target.

mikej412

Dr_Atomic wrote: »

First off, Mike, since you're throwing down some kind of gauntlet here, I need to respond, since you've made this so public.

I *got* a good networking job with my certs, to rebut your assertion that I don't have one (how you claimed to know I didn't have one is a mystery). Second, I've been studying hard for the last 3 1/2 years on one test or another, so don't come off saying that I'm dumping to take some easy road out, because that's patently false.

Third, I did fail the CCNA. Three times. But I kept at it, studying my butt off and managed to pass it the fourth time due to diligence and hard work. Do I know you? I don't think so, so how do you claim to know how much I've studied and what I've passed or failed? I haven't posted a testing-history of everything I've done in here, so don't claim you read it all in my posts.

Btw, my certs aren't "worthless", because I earned every one of them. Did you **** your certs? Are you sure you didn't? How do you like your word being questioned by someone who doesn't know you from a hole in the wall? It's not very pleasant, is it?

You've got a lot of gall claiming that I've dumped my certs when I know for a fact that I studied my tail off for each of them. Whether it's true or not, you come across as an arrogant moderator who's used to throwing his weight around in here because he has a lot of certs behind his name and because he can. I've let some of your past abrasive and - to be honest - rude comments slide in the past, but you really went over the line with this one.

Lastly, where did I ever comment that a CCNP would ever "magically get me a job"? Nowhere. It was a strawman creation by you to make yourself look like some kind of Uber-moderator all-knowing eye-in-the-sky.

If posting valid, non-confrontational comments in this room gets one this kind of beat-down reply from the moderator who's supposed to protect the users from this kind of treatment, then I feel sorry for the next user you decide to target.

http://www.techexams.net/forums/ccna-ccent/61046-cabling-between-cable-modem-computer.html

Someone who doesn't know or can't figure out what cable to use between their cable modem and computer probably also isn't aware that their cable modem doesn't change it's IP that often.

Tricon7 got banned for posting about using **** here on TechExams -- and Cruncyhippo then started posting from the same IP. Google Tricon7 and ccna or ccvp and you'll still find the ****/**** posts on the ****/**** forums. Then Dr. Atomic appeared posting from the same IP as Crunchyhippo when Crunchy didn't seem to get the sames answers that you want.

Go ahead and **** all you want -- just don't do it here. And don't whine about employers not hiring you. You've dumped and whined -- not sure when you've found the time to actually study for any of your certifications.

networker050184

The IP doesn't lie....

creamy_stew

I hereby submit this post for academy consideration.

Forsaken_GA wrote: »

I have. unfortunately, either done many or sat in on many interviews that have revealed folks like those. We just got our headcount additions approved for next year, and lucky me, I get to be the one tapped to do the technical interviews, since they're advertising for folks with certifications, and since I have the certs they're looking for, I know what questions they should be able to answer!

Far, far too many people are just concerned with the paycheck. Far too many folks gamble that certs will be the gateway to a six figure salary in short order.

This is one of the reasons I can never take the OP of this thread seriously. When he starts a new thread, it is almost always along the lines of 'how fast can I get this cert, and how much will it pay me?'. Someone's just looking for a way to make a quick buck, rather than building a solid foundation and an actual career.

I have a few questions that I use to quickly determine if a job candidate is the real deal, or just another paper cert.

For all of you interviewing, let me give you a little advice - Know the basics. If you miss those, you are pretty much sunk. Anything that isn't basic, you don't necessarily need to get the answer right. For interviewers like me who throw difficult questions out, I'm looking for three things:

#1 - Are you easily frustrated when you're under pressure? If so, that's not really useful to me. I need folks who are capable of waking up at 3 in the morning after only 3 hours (or less) of sleep and being able to trouble shoot a network wide outage. If something as simple as an interview flusters you, then you have no place touching my infrastructure during a crisis situation. So relax. If you spend too much time worrying about the interview, you're doing grave damage to your chances.

#2 - If you don't know the answer, can you reason it out? How does your mind work? If you don't get it right, you can still get alot of credit by demonstrating what you do know, and applying that to the situation. Specific skills, I can teach, but the ability to take raw data and process it to come to a reasonable conclusion is something that you're either good at or you're not. I absolutely love it when the response to a difficult question is the interviewee asking me questions in return. I love the attempt to gather more data in order to refine conclusions.

#3 - Are you willing to be honest with me and tell me straight to my face that you don't know. I don't expect every candidate to be the Fountain of Network Wisdom. If I'm asking you questions on something you've never studied before, and you try to BS me, I will know it. If you look me straight in the eye and tell me you have no clue, but you will make it a priority to figure it out once we're done (regardless of whether you get the job offer), you will score lots of points. I absolutely do not need people with "I don't know how to do this!!!" attitudes. What I need are people with "I don't know how to do this, but if you leave me alone for 30 minutes, I'll see if I can fix that" attitudes.

Kai123

If only I could get an interview I would be employed already. In Ireland there are not to many CCNA jobs and 95% of jobs listed want 5 years experience and a long list of certs.

This thread has given me focus and has made me more determined to pass my CCNA. I cracked subnetting last month after many more months of tiny "aaaaah" moments and im extremely proud of myself. Hearing how many people actually EMPLOYED or even having the oppterunity to have the interview and messing up is very frustrating.

Then again, I should actually get my CCNA first before I start complaining

Thank you Forsaken_GA for your post. I would be the happiest man in the world to have to run into work at 3am. I cant wait to tell an employer that without sounding like im kissing some serious arse

Kai.

(Its 1:46am for me so forgive me if the grammar is terrible)

IRONMONKUS

This thread is sweet!

It's gotten me pumped to study harder than ever and achieve my certs and experience for not only a chance at a career, but for my own personal benefit. I love the replies about interview situations and I will take those considerations into my own interviews in the future.

I'm just starting to study for the CCNA and to learn all I can about how networks operate and how I can tweak them to be highly efficient communication mediums.

I also want to take this time to thank all of those that take the time to type in these forums and for those with experience and certs that share their real life experiences for individuals like me that are just getting started. I really look up to you guys and gals for inspiration and a light of hope at the end of a dark tunnel; if you will. So, thank you.

Like the head networking guy at work said when I told him I was going after my CCNA, "certifications are nothing without the knowledge to back them up".

greenerek

Because of your thread on this forum, you saved me to use ****, which might would helped me get certs but without significant knowledge.
Unfortunately I hadn't founded this forum before I decided to study networking, particularly CCNA, and thought like the others that CCNA give me easy good pay job as a network engineer sic!! So now I have some network knowledge but without experience. I passed my CCNA after when I dedicated my time for study only, every day, couple hours after work(unfortunately irrelevant experience for network job). Before exam I found some test which I though might help me to pass exams, yes that was ****

, but that time I started read this forum and yours opinion, and understood that this not way, and will not give me real knowledge of network.
Because of your warnings, you saved me to be another certs **** guy !:)

I can't obviously turn the clock back, however I know which path I should follow and like I said earlier, understood that certs will not give me network engineer job!So, slowly Cisco networking becomes my Lifestyle and I know one day I'l be on right track of my dream career.