Current Events > Well... My CCNP is gonna expire this week. And I don't really feel bad about it.

(+) Yeah! (+)

My main two problems:

1. I'm leading a huge project at work. It has involved working a lot of nights and days, so I really haven't had the time or motivation to study in my free time. It has been going since January and we're almost at the end stage of it.
2. The PC I built about 10 years ago died a few months ago, and I don't feel like putting any more money into it. So I can't do the practice tests from the book even if I had enough time to study properly.

I've known I needed to renew my CCNP by this week for a long time, but procrastination typically leads me to start studying about 3 or 4 months beforehand. It has worked for 9 years.

I feel like I'm at a weird stage in my career where I don't need to get any more certifications. When I started studying for Cisco certs in 2013, I was desperate to get my career off the ground some way some how. I had been going from job to job to job with no real meaningful improvement, transferable skills that companies were willing to pay much for, or any general enjoyment in the jobs I had.

Even though I hadn't studied properly, I still scheduled the exam because my job gave me an exam voucher. I went into last Saturday weekend knowing I was going to fail, but I wanted to at least try. The stuff that I think I'm really good at, I did well on the test. The stuff that I know I'm bad at, I did very poorly. . So I think I have a pretty accurate assessment of my skillset as it stands today. For the first time, I wasn't nervous at all leading up to or during the test. I failed, and I just shrugged and went back home. I ordered a MacBook in part because I want another personal computer and also so I could study again, but I'm gonna have to make a decision about whether I want to go for certs any more.

It has been an amazing 9 year run with a CCNP and 12 year run with Cisco certs in general. My job doesn't require certs at all, nor do they really help/hurt anything when it comes to annual performance assessments. I'd like to get my CCNP back at some point, but I'll have to find the motivation to spend the time studying again, I think. I'm well beyond any expectations I set for myself when I got my NOC job back in late 2012.

So yeah... We'll see what the future holds, but for now, my Cisco Meraki cert will be the only one I have because that one doesn't expire.

I feel like I'd have to work too hard to become Cisco certified.

You get certs to get the job. You got the job you good.

obsolete posted...

You get certs to get the job. You got the job you good.

I dunno, I wouldn't mind pursuing some IT certs just to feather my cap. Not really looking for a job that would demand I have it (although I'd certainly be receptive), just the expanded breadth of knowledge and the accolade would be satisfying in itself.

Getting a CYSA is the one I'm targeting. It's a DoD Baseline III cert (I only need a Baseline II to work here).

[LFAQs-redacted-quote]


Yeah, and that's the other thing. I'm definitely one of the go-to guys for troubleshooting, and that has been the case for a long time. At this job, my previous job, and the job before that where I first became a network engineer. I've solved some really complicated problems that I'm REALLY proud of. They commonly call me in for help troubleshooting when things go haywire after a change or if something is just broken.

I feel like if you take the certifications seriously and don't just memorize shit for the exams, it really works really well.

[LFAQs-redacted-quote]


"Experience" doesn't get you past HR's resume-scanning AI software. (And I kind of wonder if cert-stuffing would even work anymore...)

DnDer posted...

"Experience" doesn't get you past HR's resume-scanning AI software. (And I kind of wonder if cert-stuffing would even work anymore...)

I will say that there was a drastic change for me when I put my CCENT certification on my resume. I had pretty much always had my resume on multiple job search web sites. I would pretty much never get any calls. I would apply for like 300 jobs and maybe get one call back if anything at all.

August 22, 2013 I passed the CCENT exam. When I put that on my resume on Monster and Careerbuilder, I started getting calls and emails from job recruiters all day every day for years. Then I got my CCNA and put that on my resume. The calls and emails were still flooding in, but I noticed that the pay they were offering took a pretty big jump. Then I got my CCNA Security, same thing.

Then I got my CCNP and I was blown away at the dollar amounts at the time, lol. I was getting calls from job recruiters for jobs all over the United States at that point. I had actually accepted a job offer for a company in Nashville, TN, but then two weeks later I got another job offer for a company in Austin, TX. The job in Austin was paying more, too, so I decided to stay in Austin.

Now I'm in San Antonio, TX, and I really don't want to change jobs again for the rest of my career.

obsolete posted...

You get certs to get the job. You got the job you good.

Depends on the job.

Some clients pay a lot of money for a company to have a CCIE or CCA (CCAr) employed. A lot of the time they don't even do anything unless some major shit happens. They just want the security of knowing someone with those certifications is there. If you don't renew you'll get fired for sure.

From what I remember, Networking is more cert dependent than other IT fields. Getting the next higher Cisco cert will guarantee a better job. Though like you've said in the past and this topic, you don't care to leave this company so doesn't seem like it matters.

BlazinBlue88 posted...

From what I remember, Networking is more cert dependent than other IT fields. Getting the next higher Cisco cert will guarantee a better job. Though like you've said in the past and this topic, you don't care to leave this company so doesn't seem like it matters.

Yeah, it's like... I definitely could get a better paying job with a CCIE, especially since I'd be one of the people who would take it seriously and be able to display that level of knowledge. But... There's a very high cost to that exam and I've pretty much decided against going for it. The written exam is like $400, which isn't too bad, but the lab exam is like $1500. It's also an all-day exam where I'd have to travel to Dallas, which means travel and lodging would be on top of that.

I don't feel like doing all that. I'm also still trying to get myself back to where I feel like I should be financially. I put myself in a financial hole when I was 19 and I feel like not having a college education also set me back financially for years prior to getting these certs. And even after I started making decent money, I was still spending every dime I earned and then some. I'm doing much better now in that regard, but I feel like that ~ $1900 - $3000 could go towards savings and investments.

CableZL posted...

Yeah, it's like... I definitely could get a better paying job with a CCIE, especially since I'd be one of the people who would take it seriously and be able to display that level of knowledge. But... There's a very high cost to that exam and I've pretty much decided against going for it. The written exam is like $400, which isn't too bad, but the lab exam is like $1500. It's also an all-day exam where I'd have to travel to Dallas, which means travel and lodging would be on top of that.

I don't feel like doing all that.

The lab exam is also fucking awful from what I understand. They put you in a room with instructions to set up a network, then throw you out and send in a bunch of guys to fuck everything up, then send you back in to fix it.

CableZL posted...

Yeah, it's like... I definitely could get a better paying job with a CCIE, especially since I'd be one of the people who would take it seriously and be able to display that level of knowledge. But... There's a very high cost to that exam and I've pretty much decided against going for it. The written exam is like $400, which isn't too bad, but the lab exam is like $1500. It's also an all-day exam where I'd have to travel to Dallas, which means travel and lodging would be on top of that.

I don't feel like doing all that. I'm also still trying to get myself back to where I feel like I should be financially. I put myself in a financial hole when I was 19 and I feel like not having a college education also set me back financially for years prior to getting these certs. And even after I started making decent money, I was still spending every dime I earned and then some. I'm doing much better now in that regard, but I feel like that ~ $1900 - $3000 could go towards savings and investments.

Yeah my friend was looking into the CCIE at one point and told me the cost of the exam. Think he settled on two CCNPs instead.

Tyranthraxus posted...

The lab exam is also fucking awful from what I understand. They put you in a room with instructions to set up a network, then throw you out and send in a bunch of guys to fuck everything up, then send you back in to fix it.

Ok that's kind of hilarious.

Semi-related. Did this Wednesday night and got the confirmation today. Just thinking if I should take it August 7th or August 21st.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/1/1ceab1d8.jpg

Just having a job these days is great