The Student Room Group

CCNA

I undertook a CCNA qualification along side my course at College. I kind of took no notice, but anyway I passed ( only about half of us did ). We sat 9 small exams, then the final one being the main one consisting of around 60 questions. I have the qualification and I just wanted to know how this qualification is regarded as by employers .
It's a recognized qualified by many employers that employ Network professionals. You could possibly be looking at a career with an average wage of roughly £21,000-£41,000

But the wage would most likely depend on experience, assuming you haven't previously had experience in a networking environment then you would most likely earn £21,000. I believe, I might be wrong but my tutor in College has the same Cert..

Well done on passing the exams anyway
Completed my CCNA and still looking for a decent opportunists beside my LLB study. I have started a mobile website design business. Not sure where to go.

Employers do not really interested paying much as their other employees are getting more than I expect. Anyway, I am going for CCNP now. See, if things changes. lol

Adam
Original post by designmobisite
Completed my CCNA and still looking for a decent opportunists beside my LLB study. I have started a mobile website design business. Not sure where to go.

Employers do not really interested paying much as their other employees are getting more than I expect. Anyway, I am going for CCNP now. See, if things changes. lol

Adam


I should imagine that they will, what jobs were you seeking for since most employers will only look at your CCNA if it involves a networking related environment
Reply 4
I'd recommend looking at the Sub-Reddit- r/Networking for much more information.

The CISCO CCNA is the average held qualification by most network engineers and as they were saying the average starting salary was around £21,000+ though as this is one of the more basic/entry level CISCO qualifications,

If you wanted to you could go on to do your, CCNP which is a step up from the CCNA in which the average salary for people who hold this qualification is around starting at £35,000 and going all the way up to £65,000 but as said before those kind of people would have much experience and also the CCNP is quite a step up in terms of Knowledge from the CCNA. Employers regard this certification as a rather higher qualification then the CCNA, by which I mean it is though that you would have quite a good knowledge regard most CISCO equipment and will be able to handle yourself pretty well if something were to go wrong- basicly its considered a Mid-High level qualification.

Finally if you wanted to become an expert you could go on to do the Prestigious CCIE which is the top of the top (*1 excluding the CCAr) of the CISCO qualifications for a network engineer to hold. Numbering in around only 38,000 this qualification is the Cream of the crop with the average salary starting around £57,000 and shooting all the way up to £77,000 for most Single cert holders. The CCIE qualification is regarded the Highest of the regular CISCO qualifications*1 and you would be considered to have a wealth of Knowledge regarding CISCO equipment and would be considered a Lead Engineer. Also gaining this qualification is also long and hard as you will be having to do a written exam and also the legendary CISCO CCIE Lab exam which is renowned for being hard and that only those who have prepared are able to defeat.

Now double certification CCIE holders are even less, numbering in at the low 3,600 which is really a Prestigious award to hold though I can not get hold of good salary figures I have read in a few resourceful locations that some of the Multiple Certification holders with experience have salary's in the six figure numbers, though getting a Multi CCIE certs is a very long and arduous progress and will take a while to get to this position.



Jamie :smile:

Link to the Reddit Networking subReddit: - www.reddit.com/r/Networking
Reply 5
Original post by Maths94
I undertook a CCNA qualification along side my course at College. I kind of took no notice, but anyway I passed ( only about half of us did ). We sat 9 small exams, then the final one being the main one consisting of around 60 questions. I have the qualification and I just wanted to know how this qualification is regarded as by employers .



it is recognised and respectable by many employer
Wouldn't hold your breath they wont touch you without experience.. its a catch22

Posted from TSR Mobile
Original post by Waka Flocka
Wouldn't hold your breath they wont touch you without experience.. its a catch22

Posted from TSR Mobile


I think he might only have a certificate that clarifies successful completion of the training course. Examinations are taken at the end of the course which must be passed for successful completion of the course.

You don't pass a proper CCNA exam without paying attention.
Original post by Binary Freak
I think he might only have a certificate that clarifies successful completion of the training course. Examinations are taken at the end of the course which must be passed for successful completion of the course.

You don't pass a proper CCNA exam without paying attention.


Even still I've heard people with the qualification complain about not being able to get a job as they have no experience.

Posted from TSR Mobile
As said above, do you actually have the CCNA or just the Cisco Academy semesters? The actual CCNA exam you will have to pay for, but usually your final exam in the academy will give you a discount for this if your score above X%.

The basic stuff you do in college is unlikely to help you get much, as you say you didn't pay much attention and the answers are online anyway.

I did the CCNA and has since expired, I've had a job where they considered renewing it but weren't really bothered I had it. I was a sysadmin and we were required to configure switches and firewalls so not a network engineer etc. If you were working in a data centre which favoured Cisco kit then a CCNA is nice as it gets you to a CCNP quicker for the employer. Realistically the CCNA is pretty basic and in my experience doesn't help a great deal.

Having said that, it's not a bad thing to have and does last three years and can be renewed by progression. I did however interview someone who claimed to have a CCNP, I suspect they had only done the class exams which are really just prep for the main exam(s), a few simple questions and it was fairly obvious they had never done the real exam.
Reply 10
Hi there I was doing my computer science degree three years ago but due to some family circumstances I couldn't finish my degree. Now I wanna do CCNA and I need help regarding the Job Market .would I be able to get a decent income or would I need a degree to get into IT industry? Could anyone please help me deciding this ? If so what's the Job market without experience and degree ?
CCNA is a good certification for a basic network engineering role, but nowhere will touch you with just a certificate, you need experience in 1st/2nd line IT support (probably at least 2 years) before you will be seriously considered for many network engineering roles. Which one did you complete? The CCNA Routing & Switching cert. Like a few others said, you can take the next step up and do the CCNP but one of the pre-requisites for that is that you have at least 2-3 years experience working as a network engineer before they allow you to complete it. The next step up after that is CCIE, which you can basically forget about until you are earning a good wage and have a lot of experience (the exam is very expensive and there's a high failure rate) but if you attain it, you'll be well rewarded for having it.

I would consider doing other certificates to help build your CV on top of the CCNA. A lot of employers want experience with Mitel, Microsoft Servers etc
I pass CCNA in three months while i am working.
I'm going to guess you mean you completed the academy course that follows the CCNA material. For the actual CCNA exam (or the two I believe you can do it in now, the first qualifies as CCENT), you'll go to a test centre and sit an exam which includes simulations, e.g. this node can't communicate with this one, you click a router see the config is wrong and fix it etc. Once you've done this you'll get a certificate and credit card sized CCNA with your name and number.

It won't get you a job, but if you're wanting to be a network engineer or even sysadmin it'll be seen as a positive. Most sysadmins unless at a smaller firm don't touch network devices but understanding subnetting and the principles is important and the CCNA is a way of demonstrating this basic knowledge prior to an interview, so it does have value.
Hey i need some help I am student will you help me please
Hi I am thinking and want to do the CCNA training but for free ,can anyone help as to where to start or get materials for self study Much appreciated
Original post by Maths94
I undertook a CCNA qualification along side my course at College. I kind of took no notice, but anyway I passed ( only about half of us did ). We sat 9 small exams, then the final one being the main one consisting of around 60 questions. I have the qualification and I just wanted to know how this qualification is regarded as by employers .


Very good.

I would recommend getting your own network kit and switching it on so can play around with it at home.

Also try and get yourself some voluntary work experience as a network admin for at least 12-18 months. Only then I believe you will be seriously considered for junior network engineer roles.

Work experience is the key here.
(edited 6 years ago)
Sure, they won't touch you without experience, but how to get experience? No one will give you job if you have nothing, maybe ccna will help to get some entry-level job, just to gain experience.
Can anyone suggest me ccna interview questions and tips? My younger brother will be going for interview in two days. Any suggestions would be helpful.

Quick Reply