Any Cisco engineers?

[PaulSecteur]

Hi,

I have a Microsoft MCP (70-271) and Comptia A+ (220-601 and 220-602) but have been having trouble finding employment within IT with them as I lack experience.

I did do some study for the 70-272 for the desktop support technician exam, but didnt really feel like I would like the helpdesk side of things, I did really like the networking side of it though.

I have seen the CBT nuggets videos for the TCP/IP section and have practiced enough to become "proficient", and also I can work through the qestions thet Panchotraining have put up on youtube. Although it was I bit dry learning that was as I couldnt ask questions, I enjoyed the experience.

My quetions to any Cisco engineers (Or anyone in a relevent IT psition) are...

1-Considering my lack of experience, if I did put myself through the CCENT or CCNA do you think then an employer would consider me?

2-Is there any way of getting experience without being employed?

3-Does it make much difference to your career where you got your qualification? For example, if it was dome by home study or if you attended a Cisco Academy?

Thanks for any advice, Paul.

Link to Panchotraining on youtube http://www.youtube.com/user/panchotraining

I only include the link so experience cisco people can asses my level of understanding, I am nothing to do wth that company (although I do think the free vids are good!)

 

[trustysteed]

Paul, ten years ago I got made redundant and had trouble finding work as I had no Windows NT experience. So I used about £2k of my redundancy money to put myself through the MCSE in NT, thinking that would solve my problems and make me more marketable.

I was very wrong. Despite the qualification, it took me almost a year out of work before I managed to get a relevant job because I had no 'working' experience of NT. I learnt my lesson and I will never waste any of my own money on training in the hope that it might further my career.

I also now categorically refuse to ever 'upgrade' my MCSE qualification to 2003, 2008 etc no matter how much employers or agancies keep asking me to do so. I know it's tough but your best option is to hope to get a job first and then use them if you wish to provide the training. I don't bother with any training courses anymore as I'm not career driven. I just want to do my job and go home, not interested in career-building. You may feel differently, fair enough, but that was my experience of these over-priced 'must-have' courses that just make money for training companies and don't actually benefit you personally.

 

[rh100]

Hi Paul

In my experience, I had to start from the ground up. I got stuck in a rut in a job (non IT) that demanded too much of my time, and in the end I left it for a helpdesk job. Eventually I progressed to 2nd line which is where I am now.

I did the CCENT self taught, and whilst the knowledge it gives is useful in a career, it never nailed a job for me.
I also got the MS Vista enterprise support tech qual', but the most useful one i got was the MS DST, along with a diploma from the OU. I'm not convinced any of these will get me a job elsewhere.

my 2nd line job came from them knowing me from 1st line, so they took the effort to train me up.

As for training, be careful where you spend your cash, there seems to be a whole industry offering training and promising glittering careers, I don't trust any of them. I did all mine at home with books and old cisco kit and a home built server. Have a good look at http://www.certforums.co.uk/ for more advice.

Good luck

 

[PaulSecteur]

Hi

Thanks for all your replies.

It seems that getting a foot in the IT door should be what Im concentrating on, while doing home study at the same time.

The main proble for me is that if I see a Job it ALWAYS has "Requires at least 1 years experience an a similar role" or "Must have MCP, and blah, and blah blah, and blah blah blah".

How can I get through this to actually get a job?

 

[trustysteed]

it's a crap catch-22 situation but you just have to hang in there, you will find a job!

 

[Dan B]

Hi
The main proble for me is that if I see a Job it ALWAYS has "Requires at least 1 years experience an a similar role" or "Must have MCP, and blah, and blah blah, and blah blah blah".

I have a friend who works in the charity sector, who says that due to the lower pay rates he can offer people when recruiting they all fall into basically three categories: (1) committed to the cause, may or may not be any good; (2) rubbish; (3) has potential but needs training. If you have the initiative to teach yourself stuff you might well find that focussing on charities is more likely to get you places because they have to look beyond the lack of experience to evaluate what you could offer after you've learnt a bit more

Of course, if you go into the interview with the attitude that you'll be jumping ship as soon as you've had a leg up they'll probably not give you the job anyway because they'll have to interview again in 6 months time, so you do need to think about that angle as well

Disclaimer: this is from talking to one guy and I don't know if it's universal across the sector or not. Maybe it's just him

 

[PaulSecteur]

Hi coruskate,

Could you give me any more details as to te compay name, or how to find this type of work?

Feel free to PM if you prefer.

Cheers, Paul.

 

[rh100]

Hi

Thanks for all your replies.

It seems that getting a foot in the IT door should be what Im concentrating on, while doing home study at the same time.

The main proble for me is that if I see a Job it ALWAYS has "Requires at least 1 years experience an a similar role" or "Must have MCP, and blah, and blah blah, and blah blah blah".

How can I get through this to actually get a job?

All I can suggest is maybe getting your CV online for the agencies to pick up. Jobserve, Jobsite and Total Jobs are some of them. Also the job centre has an online site. Like coruskate says, I can only go from own experience, so asking at the certforums site may give you more opinions from people in a similar position to yourself. http://www.certforums.co.uk/forums/forum22.html in particular

 

[MickL]

PM sent.

 

[upsidedown]

Paul, CCNA is a very well regarded qualification. It's much harder now than when i did mine about 10 years ago.
If you are able to travel there are always jobs in the Netherlands and some Eastern European countries, where English language is more important than experience. They don't pay great but you get a big company name at the top of your CV.

Good advice from rh100 about self-study. You can get a couple of old routers for not much from the internet and sell them on when you've finished with them. Cabling stuff up and making connections then configuring is the best way to learn, it's much more relevant.

Good luck with whatever you decide to do.