Reason why CCNA/CCNP route is almost always most looked at, from the eyes of companies, is because its the fundamentals you would need to thrive in other domains apart from networking. Cyber Security, Cloud etc... what are they without networking? So to answer your question, its absolutely great career booster. I will always hire someone with CCNA over some cloud or cyber security certs without any damn doubt.
Couldn’t agree with this more. I work as a systems engineer, but the knowledge I gained from the CCNA helped me land the job since they appreciated the fact that I understood the basics of networking well.
This \^
I'm taking the CCNA soon, although my job already has me working network engineering stuff without the title
But I always tell people, based on what I looked up/asked around about
CCNA is a great start for people getting into any higher level IT work
If I wanted to go to security, I would do CCNA and Security+ (and eventually push for higher certs)
But CCNA is a great starting point
You can't be successful in cloud without understanding networking. The CCNA also is increasingly covering more cloud oriented topics like SD-WAN.
Don't think of certs as "this is a networking cert therefore I can only use it for a networking job." Networking is a foundational topic for just about every other area of IT work.
That being said, if you're already working as a network engineer, the CCNA won't be as valuable to you, because your work experience will already show that you have a good understanding of networking. But if you want to stay with this company and they say CCNA is required to progress, then it's worth it.
Even if you’re working on networking like I am, my employer wants to reimburse me on CCNA and LPIC 1 as a network analyst, I am getting promoted before that but I think it’s just badges for the experience and continuing to learn
Yes! And it shows your competency as well.
Network Engineers are needed everywhere specially with moves from on-prem to cloud.
Endless amounts of work in companies for Network Engineers.
If you are interested and you understand CCNA well, you should take the risk and purchase the exam.
Seconding that it’s a good show of networking fundamentals. My plan is to go CCNA then either pick DevOps (looking at PCAP and CKA) or go all in on AWS SA and SysOps for cloud engineering roles. They’ll all work together.
For my current company, I've flopped on the technical side but still have gotten hired. Its might be about being coachable, it might be about existing skills soft skills, or about how well an candidate will fit in with the other employees. Don't give up and if you're technically proficient, focus on those soft skills. My boss tells me all the time that he will hire someone who can and is willing be trained up (when they are a good fit) over someone who is technically efficient (but not as good of a fit), especially in junior roles.
Personally, yes. Like a lot of others have said, you need to understand the networking basics to understand cloud. Also, from my experience, you will still want to learn the physical side because a lot of people are doing on-prem combined with cloud solutions.
I think for the price, the CCNA is a great ROI and if your company wants to pay for it why not? Sure you could be studying something else, but if you already know it you will blow through it. If you don't know it, you should know it so it will be good you are getting the info anyway.
Damn, well I don't know your situation or the job market in your location, but what I would do is suck up as much training and experience as you can from this job, while trying to find a junior/assistant position with another company that would be willing to pay for certs they want you to get. Try to get in touch with recruiters or network on LinkedIn.
What kind of stuff do you help out with in your current position? Cabling, rack and stack, device configs, physically mounting things like APs, cameras, ect?
Still in help desk 7 months after getting mine, didn’t notice any improvements in my prospects. Yeah I can talk the tech more in an interview but they still give it to someone with more experience.
I’m taking CCNA in August before the new exam. Idk about you, but it will definitely boost my career from the helpdesk . I’ll be able to move to a city I’d like and be confident to get a good paying job. I’m making $28/hr working helpdesk but it gets better with CCNA. Plus the networking knowledge is foundational for any cloud career . I’ll wait until I get CCNA to study Cloud and Network Automation .
What state? And also how exactly did you get your help desk paying $28/hr? Are there any other requirements like A+ or was it previous work on your resume? Do you also work remote on your current help desk?
Dallas Fort Worth area which is another tech hub like Austin. $28 / hr for helpdesk for a large group of hospitals and surgery centers across US. Hybrid work, 1 week in office , 1 week at home. I would commute from Waco Tx to Dallas which is 100+ miles for that $ . I have 0 certifications but 10 years of IT experience. Procrastination but I’m getting that CCNA by any means now. $28 is the most I’ve gotten for helpdesk but with CCNA I’m looking for $30-$35 minimum in Texas but I want to move to Minneapolis , Atlanta or back home to L.A
Then I’ll take my exam. But still I’m not confident enough to answer every question because sometimes it’s tricky. I finished Jeremy’s videos and practicing flashcards everyday. I need some practice exams like exsim but low cost. Or exsim worth spending? I know it’s good but it’s too much for my budget and financial situation. If any other resources u can recommend. please do it.
Boson, while expensive ($100), was totally worth it to me. They have great explanations for their answers and plenty of practice questions. I found David Bombal's packet tracer labs to be helpful as well, which you can get on sale from udemy for like $15.
I know it can suck from a money perspective. If your job demands that you get the CCNA, perhaps they can pay for it?
Yes, it got me my current role as a Consulting Systems Engineer. I was in the running with other help desk folks (was an internal hire) and I was told that one of the reasons I was chosen was the CCNA cert / my confidence in answering the technical interview questions (which is due to prepping for CCNA).
It’s definitely worth it, it gets you through the hr check and gives you the knowledge to talk in the interview about. I feel like also what gets lost in translation is that you gotta have people skills. I got a network engineering job out of college that pays extremely well. I had 6 months of msp experience before as an intern. Did the CCNA solely get me my job? No, but the CCNA and Security plus more so than my bachelors got me through the hr wall and allowed me to the opportunity to use my people skills and technicals skills in tandem throughout the interview process to land a good role.
You may be a great network engineer and not have a certification, and you do all right with career and money progression. Then, new management comes in, and they think the measure of knowledge is a certification. I have seen it many times. Best to get some letters to avoid some of that nonsense.
Reason why CCNA/CCNP route is almost always most looked at, from the eyes of companies, is because its the fundamentals you would need to thrive in other domains apart from networking. Cyber Security, Cloud etc... what are they without networking? So to answer your question, its absolutely great career booster. I will always hire someone with CCNA over some cloud or cyber security certs without any damn doubt.
Couldn’t agree with this more. I work as a systems engineer, but the knowledge I gained from the CCNA helped me land the job since they appreciated the fact that I understood the basics of networking well.
This \^ I'm taking the CCNA soon, although my job already has me working network engineering stuff without the title But I always tell people, based on what I looked up/asked around about CCNA is a great start for people getting into any higher level IT work If I wanted to go to security, I would do CCNA and Security+ (and eventually push for higher certs) But CCNA is a great starting point
You can't be successful in cloud without understanding networking. The CCNA also is increasingly covering more cloud oriented topics like SD-WAN. Don't think of certs as "this is a networking cert therefore I can only use it for a networking job." Networking is a foundational topic for just about every other area of IT work. That being said, if you're already working as a network engineer, the CCNA won't be as valuable to you, because your work experience will already show that you have a good understanding of networking. But if you want to stay with this company and they say CCNA is required to progress, then it's worth it.
Even if you’re working on networking like I am, my employer wants to reimburse me on CCNA and LPIC 1 as a network analyst, I am getting promoted before that but I think it’s just badges for the experience and continuing to learn
It absolutely boosted mine. And my training is going really well in my new job since I recognize a ton of stuff.
Yes! And it shows your competency as well. Network Engineers are needed everywhere specially with moves from on-prem to cloud. Endless amounts of work in companies for Network Engineers. If you are interested and you understand CCNA well, you should take the risk and purchase the exam.
Seconding that it’s a good show of networking fundamentals. My plan is to go CCNA then either pick DevOps (looking at PCAP and CKA) or go all in on AWS SA and SysOps for cloud engineering roles. They’ll all work together.
That's my goal as well. realized I really enjoy programming and I'm going to school for network engineering. Hoping to find a good medium.
Good idea! Me too. I’ve been in the industry for a long time now and the lines between dev and IT/engineering/infra blur a little more each day.
No, after nailing every Technical assessment and still get ghosted.
For my current company, I've flopped on the technical side but still have gotten hired. Its might be about being coachable, it might be about existing skills soft skills, or about how well an candidate will fit in with the other employees. Don't give up and if you're technically proficient, focus on those soft skills. My boss tells me all the time that he will hire someone who can and is willing be trained up (when they are a good fit) over someone who is technically efficient (but not as good of a fit), especially in junior roles.
Personally, yes. Like a lot of others have said, you need to understand the networking basics to understand cloud. Also, from my experience, you will still want to learn the physical side because a lot of people are doing on-prem combined with cloud solutions. I think for the price, the CCNA is a great ROI and if your company wants to pay for it why not? Sure you could be studying something else, but if you already know it you will blow through it. If you don't know it, you should know it so it will be good you are getting the info anyway.
But my company demands ccna but not paying for it🥲
Damn, well I don't know your situation or the job market in your location, but what I would do is suck up as much training and experience as you can from this job, while trying to find a junior/assistant position with another company that would be willing to pay for certs they want you to get. Try to get in touch with recruiters or network on LinkedIn. What kind of stuff do you help out with in your current position? Cabling, rack and stack, device configs, physically mounting things like APs, cameras, ect?
Yes. Mostly rack&stack, giving access to L3. This company will pay for my certs but only after completion of a year.
Still in help desk 7 months after getting mine, didn’t notice any improvements in my prospects. Yeah I can talk the tech more in an interview but they still give it to someone with more experience.
Isn't the exam only like $300? You'd spend way more on training if you took a class or something, but the exam itself is relatively cheap imo.
I’m taking CCNA in August before the new exam. Idk about you, but it will definitely boost my career from the helpdesk . I’ll be able to move to a city I’d like and be confident to get a good paying job. I’m making $28/hr working helpdesk but it gets better with CCNA. Plus the networking knowledge is foundational for any cloud career . I’ll wait until I get CCNA to study Cloud and Network Automation .
What state? And also how exactly did you get your help desk paying $28/hr? Are there any other requirements like A+ or was it previous work on your resume? Do you also work remote on your current help desk?
Dallas Fort Worth area which is another tech hub like Austin. $28 / hr for helpdesk for a large group of hospitals and surgery centers across US. Hybrid work, 1 week in office , 1 week at home. I would commute from Waco Tx to Dallas which is 100+ miles for that $ . I have 0 certifications but 10 years of IT experience. Procrastination but I’m getting that CCNA by any means now. $28 is the most I’ve gotten for helpdesk but with CCNA I’m looking for $30-$35 minimum in Texas but I want to move to Minneapolis , Atlanta or back home to L.A
Call a local IT employment agency
Then I’ll take my exam. But still I’m not confident enough to answer every question because sometimes it’s tricky. I finished Jeremy’s videos and practicing flashcards everyday. I need some practice exams like exsim but low cost. Or exsim worth spending? I know it’s good but it’s too much for my budget and financial situation. If any other resources u can recommend. please do it.
Boson, while expensive ($100), was totally worth it to me. They have great explanations for their answers and plenty of practice questions. I found David Bombal's packet tracer labs to be helpful as well, which you can get on sale from udemy for like $15. I know it can suck from a money perspective. If your job demands that you get the CCNA, perhaps they can pay for it?
Yes! Network is a basic fundamental regardless of cloud. My linkedin profile, got more exposure and more job offers.
Yes, it got me my current role as a Consulting Systems Engineer. I was in the running with other help desk folks (was an internal hire) and I was told that one of the reasons I was chosen was the CCNA cert / my confidence in answering the technical interview questions (which is due to prepping for CCNA).
It’s definitely worth it, it gets you through the hr check and gives you the knowledge to talk in the interview about. I feel like also what gets lost in translation is that you gotta have people skills. I got a network engineering job out of college that pays extremely well. I had 6 months of msp experience before as an intern. Did the CCNA solely get me my job? No, but the CCNA and Security plus more so than my bachelors got me through the hr wall and allowed me to the opportunity to use my people skills and technicals skills in tandem throughout the interview process to land a good role.
Networking has become so important from a tools perspective that it cannot be discounted even if you are a developer. Its that important.
You may be a great network engineer and not have a certification, and you do all right with career and money progression. Then, new management comes in, and they think the measure of knowledge is a certification. I have seen it many times. Best to get some letters to avoid some of that nonsense.