CCNA or Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist

What's your job going to be like? Focus on what you want to do. Software or hardware or both.

I have multiple Microsoft certs and I use them at work. Now, with a new job there is a lot of Cisco stuff I am working on those certs (CCENT tomorrow).

What do you WANT to do? Are you wanting to work with networking or servers?
 
What MCTS do you want to get? i think you get the MCTS title with any MS exam now. I have the Vista Client Configuration exam even though it is worthless now and it gives me the MCTS title.
 
AMD_Gamer said:
What MCTS do you want to get? i think you get the MCTS title with any MS exam now. I have the Vista Client Configuration exam even though it is worthless now and it gives me the MCTS title.
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I got that MCTS with Vista and the MCITP for Vista Consumer Support. Worthless? Yea. But, it helps with the transition to 7, so it's good. It got me into the Microsoft certs easily. Very easy exams, almost TOO easy!

If you can, go for both. I'd say go for the CCENT and the Win7 (70-680) to start, and go with what you love the most. I love Microsoft, and I'm not working with it much at all anymore, but I'm going to continue with the certs for a personal thing. Regardless of what you choose, it looks great on a resume for an entry level position. Once you get a more specialized job, you can focus on job related certs.
 
There aren't any requirements. It is quite a bit more difficult and Cisco focused than the Network+, though.
 
Todd Lammle's CCNA book will power you through CCNA, and you will need to acquire Packet Tracer in one form or another, it is a program that simulates real Cisco hardware and allows you to learn how to program routers and switches the Cisco way, and it basically simulates what you'll really be doing.

There are limits to what the program can do, there's also another way, you can get GNS3, which is a program, and obtain IOS images for Cisco Routers and probably get your CCNP doing nothing but that.
 
do you have to be a certain age or have a high school diploma/ ged? for the ccent?
 
tgray96 said:
do you have to be a certain age or have a high school diploma/ ged? for the ccent?
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Nope, I got my CCNA in high school, up to my CCNA Security now. It really depends. My main focus is on networking (education), but field of interest is in IT Security. I never really found a use for the Microsoft certs since it wasn't really too much in my work, but some people I know are like Microsoft busboys, everything they do is Microsoft, so that was useful for them.
 
tgray96 said:
can i just get a lab? lol i love hardware....
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Yes, but as many will say: do the research yourself instead of asking what you should buy. It's been asked a million times, and the answers are out there. But, if you go out and find out what will work for you and what your requirements are, you will learn quite a bit just by doing it. Nothing really in depth, but it will help you out for sure.

Although, I just Googled it, and found out that a great guy (Author of the Cisco Press CCNA books) updated his articles on what to use. I've been linking to his old article for a while now, and it's stood the test of time. Glad it's been updated!
http://www.networkworld.com/community/blog/ccna-lab-series-2011-overview
 
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