Training in Cisco is intended for individuals who wish to work with routers and network switches. Routers are what connect networks of computers via the internet or dedicated lines. It’s advisable that you should first attempt your CCNA. Don’t be tempted to go straight for a CCNP as it’s a considerable step up – and you should gain some working knowledge before you take this on.
Routers connect to networks, so it’s important to have prior knowledge of how networks function, or you will be out of your depth with the course and be unable to understand the work. Seek out a program that features the basics on networks (CompTIA is ideal) and then move onto CCNA.
Achieving CCNA is all you need at this stage – don’t be pushed into attempting your CCNP yet. Once you’ve worked for a few years you will know if it’s relevant for you to have this next level up. If so, you’ll be much more capable to succeed at that stage – as your experience will help you greatly.
A typical blunder that potential students often succumb to is to concentrate on the course itself, and take their eye off where they want to get to. Schools are brimming over with students that chose an ‘interesting’ course – instead of what would yield the job they want.
Never let yourself become one of those unfortunate people who choose a training program that seems ‘fun’ or ‘interesting’ – and end up with a plaque on the wall for a career they’ll never really get any satisfaction from.
It’s well worth a long chat to see the expectations of your industry. What particular qualifications you’ll need and in what way you can gain some industry experience. It’s definitely worth spending time thinking about how far you’d like to progress your career as it will often control your selection of certifications.
We recommend that students seek guidance and advice from a skilled professional before making your final decision on a particular learning course, so there’s no doubt that the content of a learning package provides the skills for the job being sought.
A useful feature that several companies offer is a programme of Job Placement assistance. It’s intention is to assist your search for your first position. It can happen though that too much is made of this feature, as it is actually not that hard for any motivated and trained individual to get a job in the IT industry – as employers are keen to find appropriately trained staff.
Having said that, it’s important to have advice and support about your CV and interviews though; additionally, we would recommend any student to update their CV as soon as they start a course – don’t put it off until you’ve qualified.
It’s possible that you won’t have even qualified when you land your first junior support role; yet this is not possible if interviewers don’t get sight of your CV.
The best services to help get you placed are most often independent and specialised local recruitment services. Because they make their money when they’ve found you a job, they’re perhaps more focused on results.
Do make sure you don’t put hundreds of hours of effort into your studies, and then do nothing more and expect somebody else to land you a job. Get off your backside and start looking for yourself. Channel the same focus into securing a good job as it took to pass the exams.
One area often overlooked by people thinking about a course is that of ‘training segmentation’. Essentially, this is the way the course is divided up for delivery to you, which makes a huge difference to what you end up with.
Often, you’ll enrol on a course requiring 1-3 years study and receive a module at a time. It seems to make sense on one level, but consider these issues:
What if there are reasons why you can’t finish all the sections or exams? What if you don’t find their order of learning is ideal for you? Due to no fault of yours, you may go a little slower and not receive all the modules you’ve paid for.
In a perfect world, you’d get ALL the training materials right at the beginning – meaning you’ll have all of them to return to any point – whenever it suits you. Variations can then be made to the order that you complete each objective where a more intuitive path can be found.
Have a conversation with a professional consultant and they’ll entertain you with many worrying experiences of students who’ve been conned by dodgy salespeople. Make sure you deal with an experienced industry advisor that asks lots of questions to discover the most appropriate thing for you – not for their bank-account! You must establish a starting-point that will suit you.
Don’t forget, if you’ve got any qualifications that are related, then you will often be able to begin at a different level to a trainee with no history to speak of.
If this is going to be your opening crack at studying for an IT examination then you may want to cut your teeth on some basic user skills first.
Copyright 2009 Scott Edwards. Check out Click HERE or Cisco Training.
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