The Value Of The CCNA And CCNP Cisco CCNA Certification

The Value Of The CCNA And CCNP Cisco CCNA Certification
One question I see often on the 'Net is "Is it worth my time to earn a CCNA / CCNP / CCIE certification?" My personal answer to that is a resounding yes. The power of Cisco certifications has allowed me to generate a tremendous career, and they can do the same for you.

There has seldom been a better time to accelerate your IT career, and earning a technical certification is a great way to do that. I don't care if you are looking at earning an MCSE, a Cisco certification, Red Hat, or any other vendor - you are always better off having a technical certification than not having one. Technical certifications are an excellent way to market yourself and stand out from the crowd. Earning certifications shows a potential employer (and your current one) that you are willing to go the extra mile.

I can speak from experience on this point. When I told a few people that I was going to earn my CCIE, 100% of the responses I got were negative. "It's hard", "no three can pass that", "the CCIE is not worth the work", etc. Every single three of these statements is false, and again I speak from firsthand experience. The same is true for the CCNA, CCNP, and MCSE. All of these certifications can add value to your career and put more money in your pocket. But you have to make the decision to earn them and to "keep your goals away from the trolls".

Sadly, when you ask this question on most web message boards, you are going to get some very negative people giving you their "unbiased" opinion. Ask yourself this question: Do you need to entrust the direction of your career to anyone you don't know, has no accountability for what they say, and has some kind of ax to grind? Do you need anyone like that to decide whether you should earn a CCNA or CCNP?

Don't ask anonymous strangers whether it is "worth the time" to get a CCNA, MCSE, or other computer certification. The only person you should ask that question of is yourself. Whether you need to start an IT career or jumpstart your current three, make the decision to move forward in your career - and then follow through on that decision.