Should I get certifications now, or just wait?

MrRedHatMrRedHat Registered Users Posts: 3 ■□□□□□□□□□
I’m currently in college and I’m working on a double major in Computer Science/Mathematics with a minor in business. I have about two years to go until I finish school. I've owned my own IT consulting company for six years now (woohoo, made it past the five year mark) and I have about 15 years total IT experience. Business is good for me right now and I’ve managed to make it this far without a college degree or any certifications. My whole point in going to school is for “just in case”. Say five years from now things aren’t going so well and I need to send out a resume. I want to be able to put a check mark next to “has Bachelor's degree”. This is the same with certifications, I assume once I get them, it’s easier to keep current, than it is to try and get a whole bunch when I’m sending out resumes. :)

I mostly get by because I get tossed in the water and someone says, "SWIM!", and usually I tread water :). With my current job, I pretty much do everything I’m asked to do. One day I could get a call from a client and they’ll want me to install new routers for their WAN sites, I configure them, ship them across the world, then someone at the remote site plugs ‘em and everything works(obviously more complicated than this but...). At the end of last year I deployed 200 Windows 7 machines for a client’s network. I did all the server configs, images, etc. I hired some technicians to unbox, install, make sure they work, and train users for Windows 7 questions, etc. Then this past month I had to write a searchable database for a client, which had SQL, IIS, Visual Studio, C#, etc. Which turned out to be a huge success (to my surprise), it was on the local radio and everything.

On to the question, I was thinking of getting my CCNA simply because I need to pick something to start with. After reading this website, I noticed that there will be a new test coming out in September. I assume there will be new study books, etc. In my particular instance, is it worth it for me to study the current CCNA, or should I just wait until after the new test comes out?
I have the whole summer to study just about anything (and I have lots of time on my hands). So what's a good certification to work on over the summer? In the fall school ramps up and those Calculus classes get really hard (at least for me), so all my effort will be spent on Calculus and my programming courses.

Comments

  • jdancerjdancer Member Posts: 482 ■■■■□□□□□□
    I am not familiar with a new CCNA test coming out. Would be cool if you can link the source.

    Would getting a CCNA in the future hurt you? No. Would getting one help you? Maybe.

    So, if you just want to get a certification, a CCNA is not a bad start.
  • MrRedHatMrRedHat Registered Users Posts: 3 ■□□□□□□□□□
    I’m sorry, if I was paying better attention I would have noticed that my question has been answered elsewhere.

    The Cisco CCNA Security test (640-553) expires at the end of September and the new test is 640-554. If I study for the 640-553 and pass the test before the end of September, I would hold my CCNA Security certification for three years.

    I imagine I could use the summer to study for my CCNA with the 640-553 test, since all the books are for that, keep my CCNA for three years and renew if I want to.

    Are practice questions found on here (techexams.net) indicative of what I would see on a CCNA Security test? I went through them all and I was scoring high 80’s and low 90’s on all of the Cisco practice exams.
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