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Hi all,

I wish you all happy new year 2022, wishing you the best of success !

I would like to get some opinion regarding my situation:

I have more than 7 years experience in IT support, I am mostly experienced in end user computing support, operating system, applications, hardware and mobile device management support.

I took CCNA back in January 2020 before CCNA R&S retired on February 2020. Fast forward to today, I’ve been trying to jump into networking field where I applied a lot, have been through couple interviews for various position, network tech, network admin, junior network engineer and other related IT networking position, but until now, still unable to land on an IT network position.

As year progress on, I am worrying my CCNA will be expired next year, and I’ve been on and off studying for ENCOR due to work and family situations.

I am now working as a technical lead for MDM migration from Intune to JAMF, and this project will targeting in approximation to more than 1000 devices.

As of now I’m still trying to find a position in IT networking, I am also thinking of continue my certification toward CCNP.

  • Do I really need to take CCNP while I’m still working in IT support and still cannot find any position in IT networking?

  • If say I got my CCNP, will it increase my chance to land a network admin/engineer position, while I dont have any experience in networking?

Any opinion, suggestion or critique are welcome, because I need to get this going and remembering I’m in my late 40ish.

Thank you

6 Spice ups
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If you’re dead serious on advancing in networking primarily, a CCNP will absolutely look good on a resume and the labs/training/studying will help you gain more knowledge. While I don’t like vendor-specific certs when you are broadly just saying “networking”, Cisco certs are still industry-standard in a broad sense.

I would absolutely push for a CCNP in this case. It may not get you a senior position without more experience, but it will absolutely open doors to maybe junior positions or a Network Engineer position (still below a senior for obvious reasons), because you have theoretical knowledge and lab experience. All good stuff in their own way, but not experienced on the job.

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Well, CCNP won’t decrease your chances of getting a networking job.

It’s really hard to get a full time position in a field where you have no proven capabilities.

I think that maybe better to get a position where networking would be something that you can bring to the table as a bonus, not the main thing.

I would rather train an existing team member in networking than take chances on a new person who admittedly has no proven networking skills and would need to be supervised anyway. I would think that only larger organizations would hire a full time junior network admin anyways.

So, how about work at an MSP where networking would be one of the things that you could potentially help bring to the organization, but not the main thing.

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hi all,

thank you for your replies, I was confused what will I do, so anyway I just take the test and I can show it to my current employer if they have openings for their client, because I’m working for an MSP that handle IT for the largest utility company in my area.

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If your employer has any need for networking work, that is your best bet to get with those folks doing networking.

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yeah, I will have to check with them, I’ve been wanting to get to networking field since 2018, it’s not that easy to get a start in that field

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My first question for you is why networking? It seems you have already carved yourself out a niche in mobile device management and end user support. It is okay to have a niche in these two areas if you like it and are good at it. Secondly, it sounds like your accumulating certification for the sake of certification in the hopes that something may happen. This is the wrong approach. Just because have the certifications does not mean the job will come easier. You may actually be putting yourself out of the job market for what you want by having the certifications before the job. Being overqualified is just as bad is being underqualified. You need to find a happy medium.

There is nothing wrong with continuing to learn but at what expense? Are you paying for these certification courses and exams or is your employer? The other questions you must ask yourself is what kind of test taker you are.

Have you ever looked at the job postings in your area for a network admin/engineer and looked at your qualifications and compared them? Look at the requirements and follow them and you may get what you’re looking for. Don’t guess. Use what is in front of you by making a spreadsheet and follow a path. Look at what skills you have already acquired and package those skills so you can get to where you want to be with or without the certification.

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It seems like everybody wants to get into networking or security. They’re sexy, and not front line help desk. :wink:

I don’t think that CCNP would put someone out of the market as being overqualified. CCNA doesn’t really qualify someone for much work.

Yes, there could be a big disconnect between a paper CCIE pay expectations and what the market would pay, but Cisco designed the CCIE exams so that there are no paper CCIEs. They all have real world experience.

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  • Because I have a passion for IT networking, and I want an advancement before too late, since I’m not a young person anymore.

  • Expense coming out of my pocket and I dont mind spending my money on it

  • Yes, I have numbers of interviews but no luck so far

  1. Absolutely! :), I’m tired being a front line help desk and I need some advancement

  2. Thank you, I need this kind of support, and I think you got a good point there, seems CCNA not really weighted out well lately, I might be wrong but new CCNA seems loosing some teeth compare to older CCNA - again it might be only my opinion.

again thank you all for your opinion, as I stated on my original posting, I appreciate any kind of opinion, critique, suggestions and advice

Thank you

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I do network engineering now, as well as sys admin work, which is really my background. We’re about the same age.

My general feeling about CCNA is that it is super entry level. Basic switch/router configuration. Maybe you’ll remember how to write an ACL. Not enough to do any routing work in anything other than a small business, and small businesses don’t hire networking people for positions. Even my organization with over 1000 employees and hundreds of pieces of networking equipment cant really keep a networking person busy with just networking. Well maybe networking plus network security, but that isn’t entry level work. Entry level work is maybe a few hours a month.

I came into networking through my sys admin position. Started with basics, and eventually learned and did more.

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thanks, so you said I need to find a sys admin position first then move up to network admin and progress to network engineer? if that so,what skill set would you recommend? because I have a “PTSD” about sys admin where I worked with, was NOT very cool sys admin and the work environment was toxic, that made me think I should just get into network admin instead of sys admin. If I should get into sys admin first, I will do it then progress, and I also prefer big company because I will have more room to grow. But the MSP vendor I work for, they hardly offer position sys admin or network admin in my area and I just started my mortgage and not going to relocate by all means.