Need help selecting Cisco (CCNA) certification to follow

[Shammikit]

9 hours ago, JoeyDM said:

It goes CCENT --> CCNA 

Here in local institutes some shows the path that u said here in the quote (CCENT -> CCNA) and some others showed me a path called 100-101 ICND1 and 100-102 ICND2. When u finish these 2 exams then u get CCNA qualified. another place showed me just one 200-125 CCNA exam which is 1 single paper and u get the CCNA qualification. are there different paths like this to get the certification?

[Levisallanon]

6 hours ago, Shammikit said:

Here in local institutes some shows the path that u said here in the quote (CCENT -> CCNA) and some others showed me a path called 100-101 ICND1 and 100-102 ICND2. When u finish these 2 exams then u get CCNA qualified. another place showed me just one 200-125 CCNA exam which is 1 single paper and u get the CCNA qualification. are there different paths like this to get the certification?

Yes there are two routes as described here:
https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/training-events/training-certifications/certifications/associate/ccna-routing-switching.html#~stickynav=1

the 200-125 is just MORE stuff together while the ICND route splits it up in two exams.
I would sugest taking the ICND route. With self study and some good video tutorials you should be able to pass this is you have some working experience with networking already and you have got some basic knowledge already.
personally I would suggest taking at least 2 or 3 months per exam to take time to prepare. If you have nothing else to do during the day you could probably do it faster.

[Peskanova]

Well with ccna its easy to take a job (it's said on my college)

[Lurick]

1 hour ago, Peskanova said:

Well with ccna its easy to take a job (it's said on my college)

That's a pretty bad saying because it's not easy to get a job with an entry level cert.

Having a piece of paper is one thing, having the experience to back it up and the ability to apply that knowledge is completely different.

I've seen candidates be passed over because they have the paper but no experience for those with experience in the field.

[Unhelpful]

9 hours ago, Shammikit said:

Here in local institutes some shows the path that u said here in the quote (CCENT -> CCNA) and some others showed me a path called 100-101 ICND1 and 100-102 ICND2. When u finish these 2 exams then u get CCNA qualified. another place showed me just one 200-125 CCNA exam which is 1 single paper and u get the CCNA qualification. are there different paths like this to get the certification?

It's fairly simple, ICND1 is the CCENT cert. If you pass that and then pass ICND2, you have your CCNA. Or you can go straight for the CCNA with 200-125. I'd recommend going the two-test route, since you can focus more on specific material.

[Unhelpful]

1 hour ago, Peskanova said:

Well with ccna its easy to take a job (it's said on my college)

Not really. It's an entry level cert that can make it easy to get an internship.

[scottyseng]

7 minutes ago, Lurick said:

That's a pretty bad saying because it's not easy to get a job with an entry level cert.

Having a piece of paper is one thing, having the experience to back it up and the ability to apply that knowledge is completely different.

I've seen candidates be passed over because they have the paper but no experience for those with experience in the field.

What would you recommend to get into the field? I kind of have no experience in networking, but I'm trying to get cisco certs so I can at least start somewhere as a entry network tech.

 

I'm more from a construction background (Dad is a general contractor), but I don't have any experience here. I also don't want to end up in a call center as basic IT support.

[Lurick]

4 minutes ago, scottyseng said:

What would you recommend to get into the field? I kind of have no experience in networking, but I'm trying to get cisco certs so I can at least start somewhere as a entry network tech.

 

I'm more from a construction background (Dad is a general contractor), but I don't have any experience here. I also don't want to end up in a call center as basic IT support.

Sorry, I should have been more clear and said that having a CCNA and zero work experience at all is a bad way to approach it and expect a good job right away. Going for an internship or co-op of sort is definitely the way to go there when you don't have any prior work experience. Having work experience in something, even if it's not network related, is actually decent when paired with a cert because you demonstrate you have experience working with others on some level and can get your foot in the door more easily. You could still go for an internship or something and the knowledge you have working in general can get you noticed much quicker. If you're still in school that can make landing an internship easier which can lead to a job if you do well though.

 

Being able to demonstrate you can apply the knowledge you have in a practical manner to some degree will help once you're past the HR filters and whatnot who look at certs and stuff and in the interview stage.

[Unhelpful]

36 minutes ago, scottyseng said:

What would you recommend to get into the field? I kind of have no experience in networking, but I'm trying to get cisco certs so I can at least start somewhere as a entry network tech.

 

I'm more from a construction background (Dad is a general contractor), but I don't have any experience here. I also don't want to end up in a call center as basic IT support.

CCNA and an internship to start getting some experience! Paid internships are the real foot in the door. A cert is a food in the door for the internship.

[Levisallanon]

Damn you guys must have it rough over there in murica....
Here in the netherlands everyone needs IT people so there are a lot of companies who hire almost anyone to work for them. You are send to different customers to fix simple problems for them etc.
During these kind of jobs you can often get the experience you need to then go to the better jobs.

[Unhelpful]

17 minutes ago, Levisallanon said:

Damn you guys must have it rough over there in murica....
Here in the netherlands everyone needs IT people so there are a lot of companies who hire almost anyone to work for them. You are send to different customers to fix simple problems for them etc.
During these kind of jobs you can often get the experience you need to then go to the better jobs.

Yup, that's kinda how it is here. Honestly really easy to find an IT job. We have internships, co-ops, and true entry-level jobs. You just kinda need a small foot in the door to get ahead of the competition. Some volunteer work, a cert, or some minor previous experience are typically plenty.

[Shammikit]

@scottyseng hey, u are preparing for the CCNA on your own right? Im planning to go to a institute and do it as i do not have any equipment to practice. my dad is telling me to go to a well known institute as he thinks the name of the place you studied could increase your chances of getting u to a good job even though if u studied from a not so much reputed institute gets u the same CCNA certification. what do u think about this? 

[Levisallanon]

2 hours ago, Shammikit said:

@scottyseng hey, u are preparing for the CCNA on your own right? Im planning to go to a institute and do it as i do not have any equipment to practice. my dad is telling me to go to a well known institute as he thinks the name of the place you studied could increase your chances of getting u to a good job even though if u studied from a not so much reputed institute gets u the same CCNA certification. what do u think about this? 

For CCNA you don't need any equipment, you just want to have packet tracer (or I prefer Eve-NG myself but it's the same idea). You can do all your studying with that.

[Lurick]

1 minute ago, Levisallanon said:

For CCNA you don't need any equipment, you just want to have packet tracer (or I prefer Eve-NG myself but it's the same idea). You can do all your studying with that.

Even CCNP and most of the CCIE (R&S) you can do VIRL and combine that with a baremetal host such a Packet or another service for a few bucks and you've got 99% of your study stuff right there. Just have to find the images

[scottyseng]

2 hours ago, Shammikit said:

@scottyseng hey, u are preparing for the CCNA on your own right? Im planning to go to a institute and do it as i do not have any equipment to practice. my dad is telling me to go to a well known institute as he thinks the name of the place you studied could increase your chances of getting u to a good job even though if u studied from a not so much reputed institute gets u the same CCNA certification. what do u think about this? 

Yeah, preparing for it on my own.

 

I pretty much would say the same as the above, you can pass these certifications without the equipment. I've read stories of some people straight up passing the CCNA R&S without ever touching equipment. I don't think employers really care how you got the CCNA.

 

@Lurick Hmm, I guess I should get VIRL for when I get around to CCNP, but what do you need bare metal hosts for? (at least I'm too noob to figure out why)

[Lurick]

1 minute ago, scottyseng said:

Yeah, preparing for it on my own.

 

I pretty much would say the same as the above, you can pass these certifications without the equipment. I've read stories of some people straight up passing the CCNA R&S without ever touching equipment. I don't think employers really care how you got the CCNA.

 

@Lurick Hmm, I guess I should get VIRL for when I get around to CCNP, but what do you need bare metal hosts for? (at least I'm too noob to figure out why)

VIRL is just the tool and VM portion. You'll need either your own servers to set everything up on or you can rent servers from someplace like Packet. I use Packet as an example because they integrate nicely with VIRL deployments.

[DogKnight]

If you want to build foundation networking knowledge, something like Network+ from CompTIA may be better. 

The CCNA R&S is a good course for getting better understanding beyond Network+ but remember it is vendor specific. And while Cisco is probably the most popular network equipment in corporate IT, it is not the only one. 

Think about your desired destination and type of job. With so many organisations moving to virtualised, hybrid or cloud based datacentres, most networking you do in these environments won't be Cisco specific. Unless of course you are working at the datacentre itself. 

I went down the path of studying networking when I was younger because it was an area of interest. I did my CCNA back when there was only one version. While it was useful knowledge on networking in general, I ended up going down a different path as configuring routers and switches all day was not that appealing. So I haven't gone into a Cisco router config in over 10 years. I now work in IT Security instead. 

Talk to lots of people in the industry. Especially those in the roles you imagine yourself doing. Find out what their average day is like and work out if it is for you.