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Hi All,

I am planning to take Cisco certifications, but some consideration for me:

  • I am on my 40+ and my goal is get into network engineer for long term and short term network admin, am I still going to make it, consider my age and my current position where I just started working here for 5 months?I am worried it’s going to take a while to get to there, plus the highest position in here is only Senior Systems admin

  • I am a tech support engineer, in my work place, the router is Cisco, but the core and access switches are Dell, what is your advise for this situation

Thank you very much for your advise, tips or strategies in advance! :slight_smile:

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I am a firm believer that you can do anything with time. The issue I see is that having certifications does not show experience. A lot of companies are looking for people with experience AND certifications. If you can wait the 5 years to show that your have some experience under your belt, I believe that becoming a network engineer is a possibility. Good luck with your exams.

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- I am on my 40+ and my goal is get into network engineer for long term and short term network admin, am I still going to make it, consider my age and my current position where I just started working here for 5 months?I am worried it's going to take a while to get to there, plus the highest position in here is only Senior Systems admin

Passed my CCNA the first time when I was 42. That was 11 years ago. I am now CCNP and the senior network engineer where I work. I specialise in SMB type networks.

Cisco teach all the open standards protocols as well as the Cisco specific ones and of course Cisco CLI.

Do these things relate to non-Cisco gear? Absolutely. I haven’t found a single switch or router from any manufacturer that I can’t get working at a basic level, and some of them I can take to an intermediate level. But as I am Cisco trained and work in a Cisco house obviously we try to sell Cisco to our customers so that we can take full advantage of my training and experience.

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Thank you for all your replies, yes, I really would love to pursue my career in networking, I know it’s not that easy, but I will take a chance and try my best to do that.

Since I work as a tech support now I need more suggestions:

  • I don’t know how I am going to ask for a project related to networking, I did some grunt work such as installing keystone, pulling cable in rack closet, connecting from patch panel to switch, I need to look for a project related to design and installing new network, I have someone here that is senior tech support, that I wouldn’t want to impress my self as a “Step on his toe person”, what is the best advise?

  • There will be another year for this school to open a new campus in other location, I just don’t know how I am going to convince my boss to involve in designing and installing new networking there, I took an online class for networking though, what is the best thing to go forward with this?

Thank you

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No need to convince anybody. If you want to do it then do it. Employers (good ones) will recognise a “self-starter” when they see one and will join you on the ride. If they don’t then it’s no loss, you can still pursue your goal.

Don’t start at network design either. You need to understand how a network knits together before designing one.

If you have a grasp of IP addressing, subnetting and TCP/UDP and how they work then grab a CCNA study guide and work through it in your own time.

If you don’t have a grasp of TCP/UDP and IP addressing andn subnetting then get a Network Plus book and work through that first.

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If your actual network guy is worth anything he will be glad to mentor you and have you help on projects. Tell him honestly that you are trying to better yourself for the future.

A candle loses nothing by lighting another candle…

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