Training In Cisco Networks – Insights
A Cisco training course is designed for people who need to know all about routers and network switches. Routers are what connect networks of computers via the internet or lines dedicated for that purpose. We’d recommend that you should first attempt your CCNA. Steer clear of going immediately onto a CCNP as it’s a considerable step up – and you really need experience before you take this on.
Because routers are linked to networks, seek out training which teaches the basics (maybe the CompTIA Network+, possibly with A+ as well) prior to starting your CCNA course. You’ll need some knowledge of how networks operate prior to starting your Cisco training or you may be out of your depth. Once qualified and looking for work, companies will expect good networking skills to complement your CCNA.
Qualifying up to the CCNA level is where you should be aiming; at this stage avoid being tempted to do the CCNP. Once you’ve worked for a few years, you’ll know whether CCNP is something you want to do. Should that be the case, your experience will serve as the background you need for the CCNP – which is quite a hard qualification to acquire – and shouldn’t be taken lightly.
A question; why should we consider commercially accredited qualifications as opposed to familiar academic qualifications obtained from the state educational establishments?
With university education costs climbing ever higher, alongside the IT sector’s increasing awareness that accreditation-based training often has more relevance in the commercial field, there’s been a large rise in Microsoft, CompTIA, CISCO and Adobe certified training routes that provide key skills to an employee at a much reduced cost in terms of money and time.
Many degrees, for example, often get bogged down in too much background study – and a syllabus that’s too generalised. This prevents a student from getting enough specific knowledge about the core essentials.
Imagine if you were an employer – and you wanted someone who could provide a specific set of skills. What should you do: Wade your way through a mass of different academic qualifications from hopeful applicants, having to ask what each has covered and what trade skills they have, or choose particular accreditations that specifically match what you’re looking for, and draw up from that who you want to speak to. The interview is then more about the person and how they’ll fit in – rather than on the depth of their technical knowledge.
Some training providers will provide a useful Job Placement Assistance facility, to help you into your first commercial role. At the end of the day it’s not as hard as some people make out to land your first job – assuming you’re well trained and qualified; employers in this country need your skills.
Help with your CV and interview techniques is sometimes offered (alternatively, check out one of our sites for help). It’s essential that you update that dusty old CV today – don’t leave it till you pass the exams!
It’s not uncommon to find that junior support jobs have been bagged by trainees who are still learning and have still to get qualified. This will at the very least get you into the ‘maybe’ pile of CV’s – rather than the ‘No’ pile.
If you’d like to keep travelling time and costs to a minimum, then you may well find that a local (but specialised) recruitment consultancy might serve you better than a centralised service, because they’re going to be familiar with the local job scene.
To bottom line it, as long as you put the same commitment into securing a position as into training, you’re not going to hit many challenges. Some students inexplicably invest a great deal of time on their course materials and then just stop once they’ve got certified and seem to expect employers to find them.
Doing your bit in the cutting-edge of new technology really is electrifying. You become one of a team of people shaping the next few decades.
We’re barely starting to understand how all this will mould and change our lives. How we interrelate with the rest of the world will be profoundly affected by technology and the web.
Wages in the IT sector aren’t to be ignored also – the income on average over this country as a whole for the usual person working in IT is a lot more than in the rest of the economy. It’s likely that you’ll receive a whole lot more than you’d typically expect to bring in elsewhere.
Because the IT market sector is still growing year on year, one can predict that the need for appropriately qualified IT professionals will remain buoyant for decades to come.
You should only consider learning programs which will move onto industry accepted qualifications. There are loads of small colleges proposing unknown ‘in-house’ certificates which will prove unusable in the real world.
Only fully recognised accreditation from the top companies like Microsoft, Cisco, CompTIA and Adobe will have any meaning to employers.
Written by Scott Edwards. Hop over to Microsoft Online Training or www.ciscoccna4.co.uk.