CCNA is the usual starting point for all Cisco training. This will enable you to operate on maintaining and installing routers and switches. The internet is made up of many routers, and big organisations who have different locations need them to allow their networks of computers to communicate.
As routers connect networks together, find a course that includes basic networking skills – perhaps Network+ and A+, and then do a CCNA course. You must have a basic grasp of networks before you commence any Cisco training or you’ll probably struggle. Once qualified and looking for work, networking skills will be valuable in addition to the CCNA.
The appropriate skill-set and comprehension prior to starting your Cisco CCNA course skills is crucial. Therefore, it’s probably necessary to speak to an advisor who will know what you need.
Please understand this most important point: It’s essential to obtain proper 24×7 round-the-clock support from professional instructors. You’ll severely regret it if you don’t follow this rule rigidly.
Find a good quality service where you can access help at any time you choose (no matter if it’s in the middle of the night on a weekend!) You want 24×7 direct access to mentors and instructors, and not access to a call-in service which takes messages – so you’re consistently being held in a queue for a call-back – probably during office hours.
We recommend looking for colleges that incorporate three or four individual support centres from around the world. Every one of them needs to be seamlessly combined to provide a single interface as well as access round-the-clock, when it suits you, with no fuss.
Unless you insist on direct-access round-the-clock support, you’ll end up kicking yourself. You may avoid using the support throughout the night, but you may need weekends, early mornings or late evenings.
A useful feature provided by many trainers is a Job Placement Assistance program. This is to help you get your first commercial position. The fact of the matter is it isn’t a complex operation to land employment – assuming you’re well trained and qualified; because there’s still a great need for IT skills in the UK today.
Update your CV at the beginning of your training though (advice and support for this should come from your course provider). Don’t wait until you’ve graduated or passed any exams.
You might not even have got to the exam time when you will be offered your first junior support position; although this can’t and won’t happen if your CV isn’t in front of employers.
If you’d like to keep travelling time and costs to a minimum, then you’ll probably find that a local (but specialised) recruitment consultancy could work much better for you than some national concern, due to the fact that they’re going to know the jobs that are going locally.
Just ensure you don’t invest a great deal of time on your training course, and then do nothing more and expect somebody else to sort out your employment. Stand up for yourself and start looking for yourself. Invest the same focus into finding a good job as it took to pass the exams.
There is a tidal wave of change about to hit technology in the near future – and it becomes more and more thrilling each day.
It’s a common misapprehension that the technological advancement we’ve had over recent years is lowering its pace. There is no truth in this at all. We have yet to experience incredible advances, and the internet particularly is going to dominate how we conduct our lives.
Let’s not forget that income in the IT industry throughout this country is considerably more than average salaries nationally, which means you will more than likely earn noticeably more in the IT sector, than you’d get in most other industries.
The search for certified IT specialists is a fact of life for many years to come, due to the ongoing development in the technology industry and the huge shortage still in existence.
An all too common mistake that potential students often succumb to is to focus entirely on getting a qualification, and not focus on the desired end-result. Training academies are brimming over with students that chose a program because it looked interesting – instead of the program that would surely get them an enjoyable career or job.
You could be training for only a year and end up performing the job-role for decades. Ensure you avoid the fatal error of opting for what may seem to be a very ‘interesting’ program only to waste your life away with an unrewarding career!
Be honest with yourself about what you want to earn and what level of ambition fits you. Usually, this will point the way to which exams you’ll need to attain and what you can expect to give industry in return.
Look for help from a skilled advisor that ‘gets’ the commercial realities of the area you’re interested in, and who can give you ‘A day in the life of’ understanding of what duties you’ll be performing during your working week. It’s good sense to know if this change is right for you well before you commence your studies. There’s really no reason in beginning your training and then realise you’ve made a huge mistake.
Copyright Scott Edwards 2009. Go to HERE or www.cisco-training-in.co.uk.