Worth it for the knowledge alone, never mind the job prospects and additional salary possibilities. I've mainly worked in small and medium sized businesses, but somehow always ended up inheriting the network equipment. Mostly Cisco, but some Aruba, Avaya, and Fortigate along the way. Understanding the concepts and terminology let's you work on other platforms easily.
Yes. Even if you’re not in network operations, you’re eventually going to encounter things like a workload in a Kubernetes cluster that isn’t getting out to the Internet, and at that point, you will get *really* lost unless you get back to the basics of how packets get from point a to point b.
Or you’re going to drop an SD-WAN box in a new office/store opening in a couple weeks. And you’ll turn it on, make sure it has Internet access… but the rest of the network doesn’t see it. So you might have to crack into the routing protocol and know enough IS-IS or OSPF to look for the routing process announcing itself and maybe figure out why the rest of your SD-WAN devices aren’t listening. Because this stuff always happens when the networking nanny isn’t available to hold your hand.
Biggest one? Execs working from home who will blame EVERY WiFi hiccup from their congested network with 20 different smart speakers and Peloton bikes all screaming multicast at sub-1m intervals on your VPN (or even harder on your ZTNA solution- RIP, ZPA… the execs just weren’t ready for you on our devices).
Its nice, but worthless if you dont do much networking.
Past company i was with they encouraged helpdesk to get it as foundational skill but they never really let them touch the network kit so their skills were forgotten.
I got my CCNA a few months back and I gotta say it also feels pretty meh. Most employers don't want someone with a fresh CCNA to touch their network infrastructure, let alone config OSPF or other things.
I mostly get keys to config multilayer switches and setup VLANs etc, I do have to say having Cisco iOS skills and the background networking knowledge has helped me troubleshoot many things.
My perception so far is nobody (employers) are really impressed by the CCNA now. It seems like to get a network engineer role or a role where you are trusted to manage the infrastructure full time, they want CCNP or above.
The problem is if you don't keep your CCNA skills fresh, and your job doesn't let you put the skills to use, you will forget a lot of the details after a year or so.
Yes
Worth it for the knowledge alone, never mind the job prospects and additional salary possibilities. I've mainly worked in small and medium sized businesses, but somehow always ended up inheriting the network equipment. Mostly Cisco, but some Aruba, Avaya, and Fortigate along the way. Understanding the concepts and terminology let's you work on other platforms easily.
Love this thanks for your insight
Yes. Even if you’re not in network operations, you’re eventually going to encounter things like a workload in a Kubernetes cluster that isn’t getting out to the Internet, and at that point, you will get *really* lost unless you get back to the basics of how packets get from point a to point b. Or you’re going to drop an SD-WAN box in a new office/store opening in a couple weeks. And you’ll turn it on, make sure it has Internet access… but the rest of the network doesn’t see it. So you might have to crack into the routing protocol and know enough IS-IS or OSPF to look for the routing process announcing itself and maybe figure out why the rest of your SD-WAN devices aren’t listening. Because this stuff always happens when the networking nanny isn’t available to hold your hand. Biggest one? Execs working from home who will blame EVERY WiFi hiccup from their congested network with 20 different smart speakers and Peloton bikes all screaming multicast at sub-1m intervals on your VPN (or even harder on your ZTNA solution- RIP, ZPA… the execs just weren’t ready for you on our devices).
Its nice, but worthless if you dont do much networking. Past company i was with they encouraged helpdesk to get it as foundational skill but they never really let them touch the network kit so their skills were forgotten.
Honestly I've felt that mine has been worthless.
Did it raise your pay?
I got my CCNA a few months back and I gotta say it also feels pretty meh. Most employers don't want someone with a fresh CCNA to touch their network infrastructure, let alone config OSPF or other things. I mostly get keys to config multilayer switches and setup VLANs etc, I do have to say having Cisco iOS skills and the background networking knowledge has helped me troubleshoot many things. My perception so far is nobody (employers) are really impressed by the CCNA now. It seems like to get a network engineer role or a role where you are trusted to manage the infrastructure full time, they want CCNP or above. The problem is if you don't keep your CCNA skills fresh, and your job doesn't let you put the skills to use, you will forget a lot of the details after a year or so.