CCNP or MCSA? No experience

Hi all!

I am wondering if I should study for my CCNP as I will complete my CCNA in two months. I have no real world experience. I am going to Cisco Academy and have my lab with 1841, 2811 and 3560 routers/switches. I will build a PC over the weekend to install Server 2012 on and start reading a bit on it. I live in St. Louis and unfortunately there are not many entry level IT jobs for networking or desktop support. They all want at least 1 years worth of experience. All I want is an IT job!!! If its a networking job all the better!!!

Ultimately I can focus on getting my MCSA in server 2012 or my CCNP but I do not have much time to focus on both. I can probably study a bit on server 2012 while focusing on CCNP or vice versa.

I am also going to school for my Associates which I will complete next summer.

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Comments

markulous

If you're aiming towards networking, I would avoid MCSA and focus on CCNP.

That being said, you have to be able to show that you have CCNP-level knowledge and not just have a piece of paper that you crammed for. With zero experience, I'd honestly focus more on making a good resume and start applying for help desk and NOC jobs. A CCNA is a great cert that should open up a lot of doors.

olaHalo

Why not get a job once you finish your CCNA then continue to study for the CCNP while working?
Dont waste your time on MCSA if you plan on going the networking route.

ChickenNuggetz

markulous wrote: »

If you're aiming towards networking, I would avoid MCSA and focus on CCNP.

That being said, you have to be able to show that you have CCNP-level knowledge and not just have a piece of paper that you crammed for. With zero experience, I'd honestly focus more on making a good resume and start applying for help desk and NOC jobs. A CCNA is a great cert that should open up a lot of doors.

Solid advice. CCNP (and nearly all intermediate-professional level certs) really only serve to validate experience you already have, imo. As someone who has been on the hiring side of the interview table, I never came across someone who had a CCNP and zero real world experience that could actually do well on a technical interview or in a real-world scenario.

One of the golden rules in IT is certification does not equate to experience. Get your CCNA, get your real world experience at a NOC or help desk then look to move your way up to CCNP-level responsibility. Once you start getting that CCNP-level experience, THEN work on getting your CCNP.

snunez889

I say after your CCNA, try and grab a Microsoft cert or just go for the MCSA. You have zero experience, why not try and make yourself a more well rounded person. At this point you are trying to get your foot in the door, so why limit yourself with just a networking cert.

The more you know, the better you can market yourself for any type of IT experience. The hard part is trying to get into IT, once your are in then you can decide where you want to specialize in.

Chitownjedi

If you have no experience at all in IT definitely branch out.

I thought you already had CCNA the way I read this at first... Good to get some foundation, and then move on.

ecuadra

Thanks for the great advice so far! The reason for MCSA is that most of the entry level jobs want some sort of active directory/sever knowledge. I think I should just calm down and get my CCNA first then start applying and see what happens!

ecuadra

Chitownjedi wrote: »

If you have no experience at all in IT definitely branch out.

I thought you already had CCNA the way I read this at first... Good to get some foundation, and then move on.

I have my CCENT and will test for ICND2 in two months.

aspiringsoul

If you apply for an MSP, they will probably want you to be well rounded, and have server/networking knowledge.

I would recommend that you start with the CCENT, move onto the CCNA, then go for the MCSA.

After you earn the CCNA and MCSA (you should easily have a job by point, but you should consider Helpdesk/Desktop support as a start) then you can consider going for the MCSE/CCNP.

I recommend going for the CCNP if you enjoy networking more....but the MCSE (or VCP5-DCV for VMWare) if you enjoy Servers/Virtualization more.

markulous

ecuadra wrote: »

Thanks for the great advice so far! The reason for MCSA is that most of the entry level jobs want some sort of active directory/sever knowledge. I think I should just calm down and get my CCNA first then start applying and see what happens!

Most places ask for more things to bring in highly-qualified (or even over-qualifed) people. If you install server 2012 and mess around with AD a little bit, that's probably all any place would expect out of you for an entry-level help desk job. It's highly unlikely you'd be doing anything more on a server than user creation or password resets right out of the gate.

DoubleNNs

CCNA ~ 1 year of experience. You should apply anyway. If you're not getting calls/interviews, work on your resume. if you're getting interviews but no offers, work on your interviewing/soft skills.

In the mean time, I'd say you should work on the MCSA and try your hardest to keep your CCNA skills current. Lab for a few mins everyday, and maybe for an extended period once a week.

And don't be afraid to work on the help desk/desktop support for a few months to a year. The time will go by fast and it'll be exponentially easier to apply for the next job.

markulous

I always recommend volunteer work too. protonic.com was a place I volunteered for and got to put some helpdesk/ticketing experience on my resume. You can track the tickets too, so you can always bring it up if the employer wants to see your work.

ssnyderu2

St. Louis is a hard job market with no experience. Look for a good help desk job while you finish your CCNA, then go on for your CCNP or MCSA. Lots of companies in Earth City, West Port and the Town and Country areas.

sratakhin

CCNA is good enough to find an entry-level IT job. Focus on finding a job first and then study more.

gadav478

First thing is to decide what route you want to go.

CCNA -- NOC (or other networking gig) --- then CCNP.
MCTS -- Help Desk/Tier 1 --- MCSA

CCNP/MCSA will make much more sense when you have some real world experience.
Experience will also make them easier to study for.

ecuadra

Thanks a bunch guys!!! Finally landed an IT job!!!! So excited!

I will have to support retail locations remotely (meraki gear), headquarters locally (desktop, laptops, applications, etc), server and network infrastructure locally and remotely! My boss said he is open for anyone to learn about our technology at our headquarters. This means if I want to get into the Cisco Catalyst equipment I can, VMware virtualization/Hyper V etc. I could not be happier!

It also pays a bit more than where I am and that is just starting. I will get my CCNA and then move on to MCSA/Virtualization.

hurricane1091

ecuadra wrote: »

Thanks a bunch guys!!! Finally landed an IT job!!!! So excited!

I will have to support retail locations remotely (meraki gear), headquarters locally (desktop, laptops, applications, etc), server and network infrastructure locally and remotely! My boss said he is open for anyone to learn about our technology at our headquarters. This means if I want to get into the Cisco Catalyst equipment I can, VMware virtualization/Hyper V etc. I could not be happier!

It also pays a bit more than where I am and that is just starting. I will get my CCNA and then move on to MCSA/Virtualization.

Great work. Getting all 3 will give you the world at your fingertips, but I would suggest specializing in one area. MSCA/E and VCP certs can easily go hand in hand, but once you start getting into bigger/better companies, those duties are separated from CCNA/CCNP duties. It's also just a ton of work and hard to pursue all three (it's been done though, you can do it). I only type this up because I thought I was going to do the same thing and realized it would take a lot longer than I previously thought and enrolled back in school and am focusing on the CCNP as my next non-wgu required cert.

DoubleNNs

Congrats on the job!

I agree w/ hurricane1091 about specialization - but that'll come eventually. I think it's best to go as wide as possible when starting out. You'll eventually figure out where you want to specialize in.. if even at all.

kurosaki00

Awesome man, gratz on the gig!

zcarenow

CCNP no doubt!

TechGuru80

Also the decision matters on the type of role and company size. Small companies mean you have to wear multiple hats where big companies will let you specialize.