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CCNA/CCNP Certifications

I would like to know about the value of fresh CCNA or CCNP without experience.
would obtaining CCNA off the book and CCNP through 14 days boot camp,be valuable.
As an MCSE with good experience in windows domain administration, what would CCNA and CCNP bring as a plus.?

thanks
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Don Johnston
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I disagree I feel that all learning is valuable. I think that the more reading and studying you do as an individual the better employee you will make. Those tests will give you a grasp on the theory behind most of the Cisco routing and switching world. Will you be able to jump in and configure routers and switches from memory only on a very basic level but it is a good start.
It will tell an employee that you understand networking technology at the least and will probably get you a couple of extra bucks. Getting your CCNP in 14 days is not an easy task and I wish you luck with it but remember your goal should really be to understand the technology they are teaching.
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The value will depend on the company... some will base your hiring salary based on your certs, schooling, and experience.  Another cert can up the offered salary by a few grand at least.

Generically - it can also get you in where the CCNA or CCNP is a requirement.  I would say that without actual experience that the CCNA woud be worth it - CCNP positions will tend to be more networking specific and if that is not where your focus is, then it is of debatable worth.  This will help you get into a job where you can get the experience where a CCNP will become more valuable.  Down the road, the CCNP would be worth it as it would command a higher salary.

personally, I have found that MCSE's are in much higher number - Cisco certs will help give you a competitive advantage as an admin, showing that you understand more than just MS stuff.  A CCNA you can cram for as it is mainly showing basic familiarity with the command usage and general understanding of networking - the CCNP I will agree with bkepford in that it is just not a good idea.  You should really understand networking at an indepth level for that - you just cannot do that in 14 days.  I did both CCNA and CCNP in 9 months a few years back - the CCNA I think could be done in a relatively short period of time if you are good at cramming, but the CCNP you must read, utilize, and read again - get a good emulator (boson has a great one) to get cheaper experience in the lab world.  An emulator will help you with CCNA too, if you do not have any practical experience at all.  If you can afford it, it isn't a bad idea to get a switch and/or router too so you can be familiar with the hardware, but that can get spendy and has a lesser value unless you are planning to be a consultant or something where you are actively setting things up insetead of maintaining existing installations.  If you do - I recommend ebay or some other place for getting used stuff as that will cut the price down by 100's of dollars or more.

I'm not sure if boot camps are necessarily that worth it unless you are looking for that last minute cram after already reading the books and such.  Test prep software is cheaper and will do about the same thing for you, in general.

Down the road, a Cisco cert can help get higher posistions in IT as it shows understanding in more than one area, as I already mentioned.  I would also recommend Security+ as security is critical if you get into a decision making position such as management, etc.  In IT, the more you know the more valuable you are.  I would also recommend looking into Linux+ or RHCE (Red Hat) certs for the same reason.  Even if you're not an expert in it, showing that you get the main concepts and can be functionally literate in something means you can converse more intellectually in cross-technology discussions and possibly get a position that will lead to a higher level of understanding in another area.
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To follow up - I didn't get a normal college degree - I got vocational diplomas for a couple computer courses that would teach you what you needed to know for the real world and also what you needed for the certs, all including lab time, books, and instructors with 10+ years in their field that taught in addtional to books, not from them.  In 2.5 years (the rest of the time was for MCSE) I went from high school computer geek that grew up on DOS to being certed in A+, MCSE:2000 and a CCNP.  My classes were two nights/week year round - I think probably about 8 or 10 hours/week.  It took longer than I like, but the experience and knowledge was better than most of the folks I have worked with and from helpdesk to admin to testing to consulting I have always been a 'go-to' guy at each place due to the knowledge I got from that time.  While doing that I was working helpdesk - the MCSE literally doubled my salary as that made me eligible for a higher level desk where a position opened up right as I was wrapping it up.  Cisco stuff didn't pay off as well immediately, but it did in the long run.

Unfortunately I graduated at a bad time for techs, about 5 years ago, and took a weird occupational path through IT, but ended up fine and and now I'm in a specialty position doing PKI and making more money  than I ever dreamed of - with 8 years experience, no college degree, and the same A+, MCSE:2000, and now lapsed CCNA & CCNP.  I did use the Cisco stuff at my last job, as well as MCSE and A+ for that matter, but comparind wages with other folks - I made about 10-15 grand more a year than the folks that never had the CCNP - even though I didn't renew it they still counted it as applicable knowledge.  You never know where you're going to end up - trust me PKI was not on the original map of my life! - the more you know the better.

The main thing is that you need to understand what you're cramming or its just paper.  The paper will get you the interview - the knowledge will get you the job.
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Theory is a good starting point - Certs are good references that you have at least theory backgroung.
Experience comes after starting the job not before, but Certs can come before or after.

Generally speaking studying for a Cert gives you first a broaden view on how to start learning about a skill. You can't just grab something and start messing with and think this is gaining experience and think that's better than starting with theory. That's wrong.
It's just like a manual. if you fon't know how a device(TV,Camera,etc..) work, you need first to read the manual.

This is how I thnik..
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What I wanted to know was about the CCNP curriculum, I have read the courses description and it seems just like CCNA but maybe in depth, plus 2 more routing protocols IS-IS and BGP, the rest is similar to CCNA but maybe it's more in depth.






At the CCNP level, the detail on OSPF, EIGRP, spanning tree, trunking, etc. is significantly deeper than is covered in ICND courses.
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IS-IS has been in the BSCI course/exam for since around 2003.