Valuable Certifications which Employeers look for?

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StussyNz

12 posts

Geek

#107351 9-Aug-2012 22:29

Hello All, I am new here and have a few questions which some of you more experienced members might be able to help me with.

I am a recent graduate of AUT, graduating with a Computer Science degree, majoring in Networking and Security. Now having my degree in the bag; I am also looking to add some additional certifications to my CV. What are some of the vital/good certifications in which potential employeers look out for? I am hoping to go into the networking industry so I can imagine CCNA, CCNP etc would be great? Are there any others which anyone could reccomend?

Lastly... Inisde my degree we do study the CCNA material to the level which prepares us to sit the certification. I am now looking to review my material and go and sit the certification. Could anyone reccomend any books/material in which I could invest in to help me pass the certification? Also any equipment that they recommend purchasing to help me with studying?

Thanks a bunch.

timmmay

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#670367 10-Aug-2012 08:03

I'm not in networking, so take my advice with a grain of salt. In general, degrees and qualifications are necessary and expected but don't count for a lot, experience is a lot more valuable. Of course there's a catch 22 there, you need to get your foot in the door somewhere to get experience, so qualifications are all you have to go on.

I don't know if it's done in NZ, but can you intern somewhere for 3 months to see what real world network engineers do? It'd be worthwhile even if you didn't get paid... though everyone has to eat.

StussyNz

12 posts

Geek

#670398 10-Aug-2012 09:06

Thanks for your input. I have had experience working in IT. I have worked at a IT technician for a year as well as an onsite and remote support engineer for 6 months in the commercial sector.

Decal

222 posts

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#670450 10-Aug-2012 10:04

I am currently using this http://www.fishpond.co.nz/Books/31-Days-Before-Your-CCNA-Exam-Allan-Johnson/9781587131974

with my ccna foundation guides.

One of my class mates used this book to get his ccna and he said it was really helpful.

tatbaird

142 posts

Master Geek

#670477 10-Aug-2012 10:53

Hi, maybe look at ITIL v3 Foundation. It's important to know how the IT support framework functions and a lot of entry level jobs advertise for this cert. Look at a Microsoft cert. Even tho you have a degree and some experience, it'll be difficult to get straight into a network engineering team. You'll prob have to keep going with service desk support, or onsite tech support or whatever and work your way into networking, but you could get lucky. Use the other kind of networking and ask around. Who you know can still be a big factor in getting the job you want.
Definitely go for your CCNA, since you've done a lot of the stuff in your degree anyway, it should be a doddle. A-level Cisco stuff is piss easy if you put the work in. You won't need real equipment for CCNA, but go ahead and learn things like GNS3 and IOU to get cracking on real labs and scenarios. Lastly, but not leastly, play around with some Linux stuff if you haven't already.

Good luck!

StussyNz

12 posts

Geek

#670591 10-Aug-2012 14:03

Cheers thanks for everyones input. I will look into a number of things in which you have all mentioned.

If people could still recommend certs/Books which could potentially help that would be fantastic!

Otaku

20 posts

Geek

#670620 10-Aug-2012 15:27

A tip- to understand the value of certifications you plan to take, just search for those certs on job sites and see how many job listings you get. More job listings would mean that employers are aware about it and seek pros with that cert.

joutei

308 posts

Ultimate Geek

#670636 10-Aug-2012 16:08

I am currently working towards the exact same degree at AUT.
How did you find the papers and course?

Also if your looking for a job, try get a job in an ISP company, maybe work in retail section then try
move up.

First thing is to get your foot in the door like everyone is saying :)

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StussyNz

12 posts

Geek

#670970 11-Aug-2012 12:23

Thanks for you advice.

The degree at AUT was fantastic. I majored in Networks and Security and tried to compose my paper selection around the cisco papers in which AUT had to offer. It allowed me to learn the material of the CCNA and also additional add on CCNAS (CCNA Security), which has not set me up to actually go and sit those certs.

Some of the papers provided a great HANDS ON experience which allows you to actually get hands on with Router, Switch programming etc. I would definitely reccomened it to anyone which was hoping to become a network engineer/architect.

If you do have any questions or want any advice on papers, i'd be happy to help and provide some more information about the papers in which I took.

khull

1245 posts

Uber Geek

#670980 11-Aug-2012 12:47

I believe CCNA and CCNP would be the industry standard still if that is where you are going down. Don't forget to concentrate on soft skills area too.

Personally I wouldn't go for anyone with just the qualification as that can be sorted easily as I have issues with 'senior database administrators' or 'network engineers' who can't even hold a decent conversation with the client.

Sounddude

I fix stuff!
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#670987 11-Aug-2012 13:06

I have worked in the ISP world for 10+ years now.

When I look at employing people I look for the following things (in order).

1) Industry Experience, especially experience that shows that you are a free thinker and can think outside of the box (not what the books tell you).
2) Experience to show you can solve problems logically.
3) Certs (CCNA, CCNP and Juniper certs are very good). These help get past the recruiter barrier. Recruiters just do key word searches when they look to put people forward.

My views, not my employers.

StussyNz

12 posts

Geek

#671417 12-Aug-2012 15:03

Could someone please clear up a few questions about the CCNA exam for me?

I was just wondering, obviously the exam gets updated regularly to include new material. How can I be sure that when I go to actually sit the exam I haven't studied material which Is no longer covered in the exam?

I am doing some researching online into potential books I can buy to help but they all seem to be published in 2005-2010. Now being 2012, will some of the material which are covered in these books be completely irrelevant?

Just really confused. Is there anyway of telling what version the exam is at at the moment and then I can look for a book which covers the material for that version?

Cheers,

Eliot.

Sounddude

I fix stuff!
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#671444 12-Aug-2012 15:32

Check out testking.com and boson.com. Both offer really good study material which is relevant to the CCNA exams (and other).

StussyNz

12 posts

Geek

#671874 13-Aug-2012 16:14

Sorry for the re-post, just really trying to find some answers to these questions.

Could someone please clear up a few questions about the CCNA exam for me?

I was just wondering, obviously the exam gets updated regularly to include new material. How can I be sure that when I go to actually sit the exam I haven't studied material which Is no longer covered in the exam?

I am doing some researching online into potential books I can buy to help but they all seem to be published in 2005-2010. Now being 2012, will some of the material which are covered in these books be completely irrelevant?

Just really confused. Is there anyway of telling what version the exam is at at the moment and then I can look for a book which covers the material for that version?

Cheers,

Eliot.

nigelj

856 posts

Ultimate Geek

#671904 13-Aug-2012 18:14

StussyNz: Sorry for the re-post, just really trying to find some answers to these questions.

Could someone please clear up a few questions about the CCNA exam for me?

I was just wondering, obviously the exam gets updated regularly to include new material. How can I be sure that when I go to actually sit the exam I haven't studied material which Is no longer covered in the exam?

I am doing some researching online into potential books I can buy to help but they all seem to be published in 2005-2010. Now being 2012, will some of the material which are covered in these books be completely irrelevant?

Just really confused. Is there anyway of telling what version the exam is at at the moment and then I can look for a book which covers the material for that version?

Cheers,

Eliot.

The authoritative resource for the outline of what is included is the examiner's own site.

For Cisco:

CCNA: http://www.cisco.com/web/learning/le3/le2/le0/le9/learning_certification_type_home.html
CCNP: http://www.cisco.com/web/learning/le3/le2/le37/le10/learning_certification_type_home.html

The Cisco Press books are excellent, I'd recommend in addition, put up the money for a Safari Books Online subscription, which entitles you to read the Cisco Press/For Dummies/Sybex/Pearson Education etc books on CCNA/etc, and the iPad app is pretty good.

Boson is a decent simulator resource, and their questions (which I used for CCNP-ROUTE) in their exam sims seem to be a good representation without been a brain dump.

Be extra careful about Brain Dump sites, the last thing you want to do is put your certifications at risk. Brain dumps are where people have gone in, remembered the exact questions and put them online, and can devalue legitimately earned certifications. http://www.certguard.com is a good resource to use to check that sites you are using are legit (Microsoft recommended that site a lot a while back).

As for what books cover what version, exams may sneak in old content (happened to me with Cisco certs! - also happened to me with others) or new content, so read two recent books from different series/publishing companies to make sure you are getting the full picture (also good resource to revise content from a different writing style).

Pre August 2010 content will pretty much be fully out of date (I think that is the last time they revised the CCNP content, I seem to recall CCNA was a similar time).