Cisco Cert info

[Tim Wardlaw]

Hey all, I'm wroking on my CCNA right now and was wondering what i should do after it? Should i go for the CCNP? or do the CCDA first? and if i do the CCDA will it be a major help to me? I know these courses are not easy, but i will say this any way.. should i try for them all (if i find it possible) or just go ccna, ccnp, ccie? I hope that maybe some one here will have a ccnp or ccie and give me a heads up on how "out of my mind" i am or if i'm on the right track... Well i think there is 29 certs in all including the specialist.. anyway i think i'm dreaming on some of this but please any info at all on the cisco certs is appreciated. thanks
Tim Wardlaw

 

[skritch]

Originally posted by Tim Wardlaw
Hey all, I'm wroking on my CCNA right now and was wondering what i should do after it? Should i go for the CCNP? or do the CCDA first? and if i do the CCDA will it be a major help to me?

The answer to all your questions rests in how you define "be a major help to me".

 

[Tim Wardlaw]

Well are those certs (ccnp and further) needed in terms of employability. Or are they something you would work on in your career and build on your skills? I know they are "needed" but are they essentials to being a good candidate for getting a job?

 

[skritch]

Originally posted by Tim Wardlaw
Well are those certs (ccnp and further) needed in terms of employability. Or are they something you would work on in your career and build on your skills? I know they are "needed" but are they essentials to being a good candidate for getting a job?

Ah. So you're definining, "major help to me" as, "increasing my employability/earning potential".

If you're already employed, that's generally a policy decision for your employer to make (sometimes it's formalized, sometimes it's a supervisory judgement call).

If you're not currently employed, the degree to which certifications increase your chances of getting hired depend entirely on the company and the interviewer(s).

The best one can generally say about any certifications is that they will get you past the first filter: The HR department. But the HR dept. doesn't make hiring decisions.

Having been in the position to make hiring decisions, perform interviews, design interview criteria, as well has having designed a professional certification (and acted as advisor to a well-known Linux certification), I can say with some authority that there is no single answer to your question. In some situations, it'll help, in some it'll make no difference, and in some it'll actually hurt your chances (there is a certain anti-certification sentiment among more senior technical people, particularly those of high technical competence).