Should you be aspiring to become Cisco accredited, but you've no practical experience with switches and routers, we'd recommend taking the Cisco CCNA qualification. This will provide you with the knowledge you need to understand routers. Vast numbers of routers make up the internet, and national or international corporations with several locations also utilise routers to connect their computer networks.
Routers are linked to networks, therefore it's important to have prior knowledge of the operation of networks, or you will have difficulties with the course and not be able to follow the work. Seek out a program that includes basic networking skills (for example CompTIA) before you get going on CCNA.
Qualifying up to the CCNA level is where you should be aiming; don't let some salesperson talk you into starting with the CCNP. With experience, you will have a feel for if it's relevant for you to have this next level up. Should that be the case, your experience will serve as the background you need for the CCNP - because it's far from a walk in the park - and shouldn't be taken lightly.
Training support for students is an absolute must - look for a package that provides 24x7 direct access, as anything less will frustrate you and could hamper your progress.
Find a good quality service with proper support available at any time of the day or night (irrespective of whether it's the wee hours on Sunday morning!) You want access directly to professional tutors, and not access to a call-in service which takes messages - so you're parked in a queue of others waiting to be called back during office hours.
The best training colleges tend to use an online round-the-clock system involving many support centres across the globe. You will be provided with an interface which accesses the most appropriate office any time of the day or night: Support when it's needed.
If you opt for less than support round-the-clock, you'll quickly find yourself regretting it. It may be that you don't use it during the night, but you're bound to use weekends, late evenings or early mornings.
An all too common mistake that we encounter all too often is to choose a career based on a course, rather than starting with the desired end-result. Colleges are brimming over with direction-less students who chose a course based on what sounded good - in place of something that could gain them an enjoyable career or job.
Students often train for a single year but end up doing a job for a lifetime. Avoid the mistake of finding what seems like a program of interest to you only to spend 20 years doing a job you don't like!
It's a good idea to understand what expectations industry may have of you. What precise exams they'll want you to gain and how you'll build your experience level. It's definitely worth spending time thinking about how far you'd like to get as often it can control your selection of accreditations.
You'd also need help from a professional who understands the sector you're hoping to qualify in, and who can give you 'A typical day in the life of' synopsis of the job being considered. This really is absolutely essential as you'll need to know if you're going down the right road.
Students who consider this area of study often have a very practical outlook on work, and won't enjoy sitting at a desk in class, and endless reading of dry academic textbooks. If this is putting you off studying, try the newer style of interactive study, where learning is video-based.
Research into the way we learn shows that memory is aided when we involve as many senses as possible, and we get physically involved with the study process.
Find a course where you're provided with an array of CD and DVD based materials - you'll start with videos of instructor demonstrations, and be able to practice your skills in interactive lab's.
All companies should willingly take you through a few examples of the materials provided for study. You should hope for instructor-led videos and a wide selection of interactive elements.
It's usually bad advice to choose training that is only available online. With highly variable reliability and quality from the ISP (internet service provider) market, it makes sense to have disc based courseware (On CD or DVD).
Does job security really exist anymore? In a marketplace like the UK, where business constantly changes its mind on a day-to-day basis, it seems increasingly unlikely.
Where there are escalating skills shortfalls mixed with high demand areas of course, we can hit upon a fresh type of security in the marketplace; where, fuelled by the conditions of constant growth, companies find it hard to locate enough staff.
The 2006 UK e-Skills survey highlighted that twenty six percent of IT jobs are unfilled mainly due to a chronic shortage of properly qualified workers. Quite simply, we can't properly place more than 3 out of each four job positions in the computing industry.
Attaining full commercial computing qualification is as a result an effective route to achieve a long-lasting and enjoyable livelihood.
While the market is developing at such a quick pace, is there any other sector worth looking at for retraining.
Author Resource:
(C) Jason Kendall. Check out LearningLolly.com for the best information on Cisco Certification and Cisco Courses .
![[Valid RSS feed]](http://www.look4articles.com/images/icon_Rss.png "XML Feed For RSS"){kind=icon}
Category Rss Feed
Print This Article
Add To Favorites
![[Valid RSS feed]](http://www.look4articles.com/images/rss.jpg "XML Feed For RSS")