Network Engineer Starting Career at Cisco Partners?

Currently I am finishing CCNP. CCNA is totally a joke for any serious networking job. CCNP is not even sufficient.

I saw a cisco engineer training program at a cisco gold partner. Basically a paid training period (from CCNA to CCNP training), then hired for deployment/sales engineer. The pay for the training period is just like an internship. I am not sure if this is worth a shot or I should wait till I get CCNP.

I heard bad stories about Cisco's entry level training programs. some trainees do nothing but moving stuff and plugging in cables... After the training period, there's little intention to hire them (by giving extremely low salaries)

IMO system integrator jobs can get you experience, but it's very difficult to concentrate. If I want to be a service provider network engineer, I don't think many (or any) system interrogator will hire me to do only BGP related projects....

Any thoughts?

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Comments

networker050184

What company is this training for? Plenty of scams out there.

If you want to be a service provider engineer then you need to get you a job at a service provider. Look into NOC or customer support jobs at ISPs.

realdreams

A regional Cisco gold partner I saw on linkedin (verified in cisco partner directory). I applied yesterday and got notified for onsite technical evaluation next week (for questions like what's the network address for a subnet). Apparently they sent that out to tons of people, no reimbursement for travel costs.... The company seems to be legit but the practice is very similar to the horror stories I heard about Cisco/Cisco partners....

I have tried to apply NOC positions but never heard back from anyone.... That's really frustrating... I hope CCNP can help a bit with my lack of experience (new grad, did some internship before)

Iristheangel

realdreams wrote: »

CCNA is totally a joke for any serious networking job. CCNP is not even sufficient.

I would disagree with this based on not only personal experience but a multitude of people on this forum that started getting real networking job offers when they wrapped up their CCNA and stuck it on their resume. I was able to snag my first network engineer job with a Fortune 100 company and a 6-figure salary with my CCNA . Don't write off the CCNA. It's enough to get many people's foot in the door and teach you the basics of configuration and theory. I've had interviews with "seasoned network engineers" that couldn't even understand the basics of the CCNA material.

Good luck with the Cisco partner. I hope it works out.

PurpleIT

Iristheangel wrote: »

Don't write off the CCNA. It's enough to get many people's foot in the door and teach you the basics of configuration and theory. I've had interviews with "seasoned network engineers" that couldn't even understand the basics of the CCNA material.

Good luck with the Cisco partner. I hope it works out.

I hope what the OP meant was that CCNA barely scratches the surface and if all you know is enough to pass the exam you will very quickly discover how much you did not learn.

Of course, that may just be me projecting my views on to their post...

QHalo

realdreams wrote: »

Currently I am finishing CCNP. CCNA is totally a joke for any serious networking job. CCNP is not even sufficient.

I would agree with this in most cases. A CCNA may get your foot in the door, but it can get beyond CCNA level knowledge quickly.

Iristheangel

PurpleIT wrote: »

I hope what the OP meant was that CCNA barely scratches the surface and if all you know is enough to pass the exam you will very quickly discover how much you did not learn.

Of course, that may just be me projecting my views on to their post...

That might be true but that could be said about ANY certification or exam. Its still amazing how many "senior network engineers" out there don't understand what STP does or can explain how OSPF or EIGRP works. Experience is always king and certifications compliment experience which is why there's a natural progression to it. Getting too many certifications in a field without relative experience usually equates to a paper cert or knowledge fade when they can only get an entry-level job that let's them use show commands but not implement anything.