LebGeeks

rolf

Member

Best IT certification

What is in your opinion the best IT certification?
Considering market demand, difficulty, usefulness, enjoyment, time needed (i dont want to study 3 years for a certification...), future prospects,  etc...

Last edited by rolf (December 20 2008)

battikh

Member

Re: Best IT certification

CCIE
it takes around 1 year to complete, depending on how much time you have to study, it can take much less if you have time. but almost no one passes it from the 1st try the fact that it's hard is what makes it prestigious). you have to pass 2 exams, a written one (it's multiple choice questions and is supposed to be easy as you can get dumps and do it, you get the same questions) and a lab exam which is the difficult one. the lab exam is a 6 hours exam... i think it costs around 1500$ per try for the lab and you can't do it anywhere, you sometimes HAVE to travel and it's difficult to find places, it's often always fully booked.
you have CCIE routing and switching (the easiest, an dthe one most CCIEs have, so the less demanded one)
CCIE security
CCIE service provider
CCIE voice
CCIE wireless
CCIE storage

you barely have 20 CCIEs in lebanon, so if you get one, it's quiet easy to find a job there. i think you can easily get an entry salary of 2000$ in lebanon with a CCIE. in uae i think the entry salary would be more somethng like 5000$

Total of Worldwide CCIEs:         18451   (last updated 11/24/2008)
Total of Routing and Switching CCIEs:     16260
Total of Security CCIEs:     1934
Total of Service Provider CCIEs:     1070
Total of Storage Networking CCIEs:     140
Total of Voice CCIEs:           857

just 18451 ccies worldwide, so if you're one of these, it's a good thing
and just 1934 CCIE security, which are also very demanded...

and in lebanon just 19 CCIEs, and 132 in UAE...

http://www.cisco.com/web/learning/le3/c … dwide.html

rolf

Member

Re: Best IT certification

whoa cool!
thanks

battikh

Member

Re: Best IT certification

if you decide to go for one of the CCIEs, let me know which one, i can send you study material (mainly pdfs and step by step video to solve a sample lab exam)

rolf

Member

Re: Best IT certification

Thanks man... I hope ill be able to study for it...

mir

Member

Re: Best IT certification

u are studying for it or is it the one u passed couple of months ago :)

i think it would be intresting if 2 ppl team to study... heik less slacking and u can motivate each other

battikh

Member

Re: Best IT certification

ur asking me? or rolf?
if me, the one i passed few months ago was the CCSP, CCIE is the one i want to start studying  hopefully, if you wish me lots of bad lucks, i'll pass it before the end of 2009

mir

Member

Re: Best IT certification

we can always make a bet if you want
you pick a cert and i pick a cert and the one who finishes first / gets higher grades will win 
w ya jirstak if i do win over you ( wich is something i plan to do )
so.. yalla.. bet is on ?

the bad lucks from me are something u can take for granted

battikh

Member

Re: Best IT certification

we should have done that when i did my ccsp <pf>
ccie happens to be a bit more complicated and i'm preparing myslef psychologically to fail it the 1st time
but well, we'll see what they have in the software side
what are you considering? programming? databases? project management?
lets make it our new year's resolution

Last edited by battikh (December 21 2008)

mir

Member

Re: Best IT certification

lets make it our new year's resolution

sure 
and if u want, i agree to take more than one certification in order to make it equally challenging for both of us

and since this is the "BEST IT Certifications" topic... guys what do u say is an intresting and challenging thing to get as a software person

I bet that you will pass CCIE from the first time <pf>

Last edited by mir (December 21 2008)

rolf

Member

Re: Best IT certification

How do you intend to practice for the lab?

battikh

Member

Re: Best IT certification

you can use simulations. some simulators can load a cisco IOS, so you can easily simulate routers and switches, so it should be enough for the CCIE routing and switching.

for the CCIE security, you can also simulate a cisco ASA, which is the main component. Then for Cisco ACS, it's an application that can be installed either on windows or linux, so all you need is vmware. for licenses, you can get a trial license for free (will run for 30 days). i just want to check if the simulators support nac framework.

for service provider i also think all you need is routers and switches, so you can simulate that.

for wireless you need the box, you need a wireless controller and cisco wireless access points.

for voice, i have to check what's the equipments they use in the lab and what features the router simulater can run, coz you have special IOS images for cisco routers that can act as voice gateway, so it MIGHT be possible to simulate it on a router simulator, will check...

which ccie are you interested in? if you tell me i can get more details, besides searching for the exact equipments used in each lab, so less job for me

rolf

Member

Re: Best IT certification

All CCIEs are interesting...
I think there are sites offering remote access to cisco labs... come to think of it... these might be virtual labs (running cisco os images), but im not sure.

Last edited by rolf (December 22 2008)

battikh

Member

Re: Best IT certification

yeah, but they are paying... they charge per hour i think...

rolf

Member

Re: Best IT certification

i found one that charges about 2.5 dollars an hour

rolf

Member

Re: Best IT certification

I am getting a ccie.
I think im getting the routing and switching.
Then if thats not enough ill get security.

How about the others, are they in demand?

Last edited by rolf (December 26 2008)

mir

Member

Re: Best IT certification

Cool Rolf :)
u sure of your goal ?
wanna go for ccnp for example first ?
Bon Courage !

I am going for the UML Certs from the OMG (it is not Oh my God... it is Object Management Group ) , Project management junior (the one u don't need 5 years of experience) and for mssql 2008 Developer iza ma saba2ouneh l MS w nazalo l 2010

what do u say guys we post our daily/weekly progress in here.. like this we get to nag on you if u are slacking off ... ask you random question to see that u are not cheating.. discuss li ma "fhimneh" here.. or just vent and nag  akid starting on the new year.. not now.. i am not touching a book in the holiday

Last edited by mir (December 26 2008)

rolf

Member

Re: Best IT certification

im getting a ccie, it has more weight then a ccnp
cool guys. nice mir :)

Last edited by rolf (December 26 2008)

mir

Member

Re: Best IT certification

great then .. rolf, battikh and mir.. anyone else wanna tag along ?

let us see who can keep the word  ... allah yse3idkon rolf and battikh if u dont' study ! It will be my excuse to pick on you

teodorgeorgiev

Member

Re: Best IT certification

To get a CCIE is really costly. You should find some company to sponsor you. I do not know how is it now, but some years ago there were only several places in the world where one was allowed to complete his CCIE exam.

Studying for CCIE merely by labs is close to impossible. One needs practice, practice and practice.

CCNA and CCNP (the former) can be taken only by studying dumps (HATE THIS!), virtual labs and so on.

You better first go for a CCNA, then find a job where you can practice your skills and then go for a job where you could practice your skills.

P.S. One of my favorite tricks to torture the students was to make them configure the network, then ask them to leave for a minute, then do a "no ip routing" or "no ip classless" on the router, and then shout at them: "You! Come back right now! Your lab is not working AT ALL!!!"

:lol:

P.P.S. If you want to do a really quick and huge cash - go for an Oracle certification. You wil get better paid than a CCIE :)