CCNA to CCNP to CCIE, is it possible... you be the judge! 

oke ezeh you get that CCIE written yet?? With all do respect I believe CCNP is waste of time- go from CCNA right to CCIE

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How did you fare? Update?

InternationalE Difficulty is relative to the person. I found it difficult since I was still learning. Its not impossible just challenging.

Yes you can, there is no pre-req for and of the CCxE certs. It is highly recommended to go through the CCNA/CCNP material on your way to the CCIE in another track but not required.

That is very true. More so than most are willing to admit. I can't argue that at all and have to agree with you. I have interviewed as the candidate and interviewer. The thing that strikes me most is those that fluff up their resumes and can't speak in an educated manner about a topic on their resume. I intentionally leave topics I can't speak on in more depth than what "ACI" stands for off my resume, not a topic I am educated enough on. To your point on "good experience" I also agree on, just because you have a cert doesn't mean you can fulfill the job requirements. What a "cert" does tell me is that you have taken the time to learn enough material to pass a vendors test. This is assuming, and based on my battery of questions, you didn't cheat on to pass. If I feel you are knowledgeable, then hey, nice work, if not, keep studying.

so what do you do if you're not able to get the work experience? I'm studying on my ccna now and immediately after talking my ccnp.are you telling me that I'm eating my time?

+Tre S The reality is you may not have the experience sought by your interviewer, so it comes down to character. Be honest and completely up front with them- they'll find out soon enough anyway. Also be honest about your eagerness to learn and commitment to doing whatever it takes to be successful in your role, should they decide to take a chance on you. But, at the same time don't oversell your ability quickly master your new role. Acknowledge that you lack the experience they seek, acknowledge that it will be a challenge, but do NOT say that you're confident you can learn whatever it is they want you to know quickly and easily- that trivializes their concerns. In the end you may or may not be given your chance at that time, but if you are, then everyone's expectations are correctly set and you won't dread "being discovered" as an imposter.

+Richard Lyons We hired someone once who had never even logged into a production Cisco device simply because we felt he was bright and because he was so honest, sincere and committed. At the time we had interviewed candidate after candidate who had grossly exaggerated their abilities and we were just so tired of it that when this guy came along we thought, "this guy we can work with". He became one of our most successful engineers, always volunteering for things and learned a lot.

+Richard Lyons in the event you don't get the job, then treat the technical screen as an important learning experience. It will tell you where you are weak and then spend the time researching the answers you got wrong. Personally I can't remember all the tech screen questions I got right, but I have the ones I got wrong seared into my memory and I'm very confident in those technical areas now. If you treat your engineering challenges (like a technical screen) as a growth opportunity, rather than a test of your worth, then you will grow and become successful as an engineer. This is even more true on the job.

It is a lot to take in. I suggest you follow the blueprint that Cisco supplies ;) If you check on my channel for CCNP v2 for Route, I did produce a course for Route. I followed the blueprint explicitly and I have had good reviews on it.

Completely agree. I was 19 when I made it to MCSE, but was definitely not mentally prepared for the pressures of the job as I had never been in that type of environment. I had to leave a really good IT job after a few months and go back to basics and work my way up.

MCSE at 19 is no slouch.. Huge foundation established already which puts you on a great path ..

I did have a little going into CCNA, I started out working in a NOC for about a year handling T1/T3 circuit issues for FR/ATM and then passed the CCNA. It definitely helped. I took the two exam route which is always my advice if you have no experience. If your experienced, take the composite. If you pass the written exam it will recertify all your CCIEs and lower level certs. If you have no interest in getting your CCIE, it's kind of a waste to do the written. If you plan on taking the CCIE lab, you must pass the written exam, you must make 1 attempt at the lab within 18 months of passing the written exam or you will have to retake the exam. The written exam is good for 3 years if you don't pursue the lab. For instance, I am planning on taking the CCIE SPv4 written and lab after I recert R&S. Once I pass the SPv4 written exam, the SPv4.1 specifically, I'll have 18 months to take a shot at the SPv4 lab. I wouldn't recommend taking the written exam until you have completely covered all of the material listed on the blueprint. Once covered, attempt the written and then start attacking the lab exam.

Very crazy, no experience and your going all in? I would highly recommend going through CCNA and CCNP, at least the training material and become solid at that level. CCIE is another year on top of that. Is it possible, yes, but for someone with no experience, and I assuming you know nothing about networking. I don't advise that.

I mean if you want to pay 1,500 dollars for a lunch go ahead.

I will begin releasing security content here soon on Rikers Island. That's a really hard question to answer as it is open ended, and the best answer is it depends. I have no idea what your business will offer a customer nor do I know what it is you need vs is what you have. You will always need practice.

CBT Nuggets is awful, so much babbling, gibberish and meaningless nonsense that fills about 66% of their videos...

Mainly is was a validation of skill than anything else. The challenge to pass this beast that most can't. The other intangibles come with passing, money, capabilities, acknowledgement. At the end of the day, if your motivation is better the best you can be, that is the idea, not to tout yourself around as a CCIE. Most of the time, I don't introduce myself as a CCIE in person. Its usually someone else pointing it out, I normally only talk about it in meetings where I want to establish a level of understanding in networking. Or when I need to use it as way to get someone to calm down in a situation, "relax, I've got this, I have a CCIE and I'll figure it out, just bare with me". We aren't magicians, we still have to figure it out.

I won't knock any training vendor. Remember that at the end of the day, every trainer/instructor has their own personality, as long as they don't go off on tangents that derails the topic, I'm ok with that. My only challenge to you is, if you think you can do better, then give it a shot. I tend to toss little sidebars in during my videos too, when I am giving a real world example. This helps to offer relevancy to the topic rather than what it is, how it works and how to configure it. It answers the design and use case to implement it.

+Rob Riker Agree 100%. Being a CCIE is a bit of a double-edged sword from my observation. Once people know you have a CCIE, then they expect you to know everything. There's two problems with this. First, no one knows everything- instead you "know" what you've done before- the rest you figure out (like you said). Second, often times it's not the technology that's the issue, instead it's the poorly maintained network that has a super convoluted and contradictory configurations because no one has bothered to clean it up as they've changed it over the years. So, a job that "on paper" looks like it should be a breeze takes hours or days to sort out along with a flurry of communications with the client to better understand their connectivity. And yet, as the CCIE everyone's expectation is that this should be easy for you.

That's true, I would say it's more of a complete double edged sword. The biggest misunderstanding is that the CCIE is not a best practices exam. I have learned a lot of technologies and can implement them in various designs. Job descriptions like you said are just a broad overview of the job, even when you ask specifics, there is still more to do than what you are tasked with. On the job experience is great, but your abilities to get the job done will be limited based on your understanding. Certs plus experience make you a great engineer. More often than not, the configs that needed to be troubleshot are the ones copied in from somewhere. The best you can do is your best at that time, everything else is just relative.

-what books you must to read to take ccna / np / ie? www.ine.com/resources/cciebooks.htm IP Routing on IOS/XE/XR -how you read the book? Ummmm...... you read a topic, re-read it if you don't understand it. Research things you don't understand. Lab everything you see in the book on the CLI -which book is useful and which books is useless and we don`t need to waste time on it in either na/np/ie? Everyone will be different. Read every book that you can, some will be more helpful than others. -how long the books take time from you ? That depends completely on you. all things you don`t mention to us , and i don`t know why? Start with the blueprint for the exam you want to take and test all the features out on it. This video wasn't meant to take you by the hand and point you to the right page, just gives you an idea of what options you have to learn the technology. The rest is up to you. I know who you are, don't take what I say here as an insult. I know you have taken things I have responded to that way in the past and then you get nasty with me when I try to help. If you want to be successful in this field, there is a lot of time spent on learning and you are the one that has to put the time in. No one is going to hold your hand, gotta do that by yourself. If you need help, ask for it! If you get nasty here, I will ban you! Remember, anything you say online is searchable, think twice before you curse someone out for taking the time to help you out. This is my last time responding to you if you get nasty with me.

" I know you have taken things I have responded to that way in the past and then you get nasty with me when I try to help." that`s right. look at the way you reply to me , it`s very very arrogant and arrogant into IEOC every time i asking you any question , you reply with overbearing by saying "searching" did you think that i don`t know this information "searching"? when iam asking any question into IEOC , i already searching for it without any result , or i don`t reach to specific result to my question into my head , or i can`t reaching to that answer that way for your reply make me mad and make me rude with you like you rude with me iam not young to don`t understanding what people referring to into their reply , so try to be much more humble in the future i you have good answer for my question please say it for me without saying "search for it" and don`t try to ignore my questions by saying that my fault begins with you If you need help, ask for it! thank you very much for your polite with me , that`s first time you`re answer to me with humble words without"search"word If you get nasty here, I will ban you! Remember my friend look , my character isn`t like that nasty as you think iam not going to Cursing you without any reason , but remember you make me mad by saying"search for this " , or "google for that " and words like this , because if i can reach to it by searching i will never ask about it even i find answer for my question into google or "searching" as you say , it`s not wrong or fault to asking about it again , maybe iam searching for another answer or test my result that iam understanding from my searching or any reason else but remember my words"if you get ccie , try to be much more humble" because only one is know everything is allah"god" and your knowledge in our entire life is very very little finally , if you angry from my words , iam very sorry if i mis understand you you`re good friend to reply me and it`s honor for me to chat with you but i will asking something from you -don`t say "search for it" as i told you -i you have answer for my question i hope to say it to me without "search"you`re saying for every question iam asking , because you make me mad and crazy -finally if i speak to you into facebook please reply me i hope you`re my friend rob iam mohamed from egypt and i hope to come here in egypt and i will salute you and your family your wife and your lovely kids you`ll eat Egyptian food , iam sure it`s first time you`ll taste it and you`ll see different place that you never see it before iam little than you into network , iam only have ccnp i hope you to forgive me if i misunderstand your way into reply me

I don't hate anyone. When I say research it, it's not meant to be taken as I don't want to give you the answer. You are one person out of hundreds that asks for help. You never put in your post that you have researched up to point "X" and now your having a hard time moving to point "Y". That would give the IEOC an opportunity to gauge the answer we give. It's not meant to be sarcastic/arrogant or anything with malice. It never has and never will be, it is however meant to point you in the right direction. There are some questions you have asked that require an in-depth response. Like I said before, you are one person out of hundreds a day that ask for help and that is time I don't have and I'm not willing to write multiple paragraph responses to you or anyone else for that matter. I'll give you enough information to get you to the next point. If you need more help, then ask for it. You have a CCNP, that shows you get the technology and can implement it. If you have the drive to go after CCIE, the amount of information only grows deeper and wider with the blueprint. To give you an idea of how much time/effort/sacrifice it takes to learn the technology, I really can't. Its something you just have to do. Do you have any idea how much searching a CCIE has to do to get a single answer for the reason a bit or a flag is enabled for a particular feature? Yeah, it sucks, getting mad at me and cursing me out, not cool. I can't get pissed off and snap at a customer or my manager. Take you emotions out of your responses. If your mad at my response, go calm down and then re-engage it later. Did you ever stop to think I answered a question but didn't fully understand where you were coming from? If you give a 3-5 line question, I answer based on what the context of the question. If you give a paragraph background, then ask your question, that may yield you a better response. I can't tell you how many times i get questions for stuff I never reply to. Reason, simple, do you have 3-5 minutes to answer 50 questions a day? No, I didn't think so. I'm studying myself for CCIE SPv4. I give others about 30 minutes a day for answering questions. Try following this guideline. You are having a problem understanding something, you have researched the documentation and still not getting clarity. Be to the point as to what you are not getting. You may only get a link to a document you have already read. But that may be the document you have to read several times to completely understand what it is you aren't getting. I don't respond on the IEOC to anyone anymore. To many people have taken CCIE responses for granted as the normal response. Unfortunately, research as frustrating as it may be, is something I do a lot of. It takes me on average 3-8 hours to fully understand, configure/verify and tshoot one feature, OSPF NSSA for instance. It's part of the learning game you going to have to go through. Ask any of the 30+ CCIEs I am personally friends with and they will back me up. Like I said, if you have a question, ask for help. The one thing that will cause you difficulty is the language barrier. Not much either of us can do about that, just try to be patient and understand that everyone struggles in the IT world. It's the nature of the beast.

i think we misunderstand each others anyway i hope to accept my Apology , and i hope if you have time for answer my question i hope to see your answer my friend i don`t want to take much of your time than that anyway as i said it`s honor for me to be your friend and i hope to meet you and apologizes to you face to face not by chat thanks a lot

I completely disagree. You haven't really looked into CCNA or you would realize how lab focused it is. You can go development if you want, but you really have no clue about CCNA. If you were informed you would realize that CCNA is a mix of theory and practical.

@@RobRikerTechChannel I belive you telling me the truth,and will not argue,i have a very little clue about what the CCNA in practice is.Honestly,have some very basic CISCO handbook Netrwork fudamentals:CCNA network exploration companion guide.,and basicallyi worked with CISCO packet tracer to see how stuff works,and has a great moments with it,and enjoyed a lot...But i found my self in many doubts whether to continue with CISCO or switch to programming.The real reason i said this is because of market demands in IT branch in my country where programming is very common unlike networking.If i put these two things on beam scale,i would rather choose networking instead programming,because i like to work with components of any kind not only PC,but cabling,working with routers,configuring it.My first touch with networking was through configuring TCP/UDP ports because of problem with Battlefield 4 servers.My god,i was so excited to doing that. :D

Susan Vue - Im so sorry to hear that Susan. People don't understand that our jobs are being taking from us by foreigners. We need to take care of our own before everyone else

Donald Wilson With the typos in your comments. Born and raised with English as your only language. Opportunities around you: labs, computers government sponsored education.. With the computer speaking English(the only language you speak), if someone from a developing country(where he actively studied the language and the culture with probably meagre resources) is a better alternative than you in this very domain, dont you think you should stop whining and dust yourself up?

haha yeah, I know it took me 3.5 years from CCENT to CCIE though :)

+Derg Enterprises Keep it up man, there were setbacks in my path as well but I never let them dictate my studies. You're in control of your future, how you steer yourself to the goal is up to you. Good luck in the future.

Start with the ICND 1 and 2 video courses I did on INE.com. Lab up the technologies. If you have questions along the way, ask me.

i am a mechanical stnd many people told me need to do very hard work on in then only u can UNderstand i am very confse to do networking course

+Patrick Lehigh You missed the point of the video altogether. I never once debated or compared a degree to a cert, I focused on the R&S track since it's the one I know the best. This was never about degree or cert, the type of work you do, or the industry which the technology would apply. I talked about the approach, strategy, study methods, differences. The title of the video and the content were specifically focused on the possibility of getting from or to CCNA through CCIE. Nothing more or less than that. I also stated early on that the cert wouldn't get you the job, it gets you the interview. I never brought up the aspects of the questions on the test or if they matter to real world or not. Again not the point of the video. You are comparing apples to oranges on this topic. If I would have discussed any of those topics then you would have had a reason to disagree with me. The topic of this video and its point was to put the process of approaching and earning the above certs in tangible terms that anyone that is interested would have some advice to earn them.

+Patrick Lehigh It can be a dream but if you're lucky you'll get a start some place. I was fortunate to get a job right out of school, but it never paid very much and still doesn't. I only got that job with help from a Teacher who saw some potential in me. Getting these certs will help you if you have a job, but probably not to get one or a better one. I see CCNA on lots of job listings and experts I know want to see them. I have seven years of experience and none of that mattered on any interview I was in, with the exception of a state job. It is tough, but this field is heavily saturated. While these tests and certs only serve to sustain your knowledge, they are still required to at the very least put you in a line some place. That's all you can hope for and it may take years to find a decent job. You have one life to live, so I say chase the dream even if it seems hopeless. If you really want this, then do it. If you don't then find another dream or another job field to get into. Had I to change, it would be in medicine or even insurance these days. You could apply what you learn here to some other technology like IPCCTV or building a network for PLC's for a small factory nearby. Trust me, I've been where you and lots of other folks are and it's crushing. Then, that's life I suppose. There's hope, and if you remain constant you'll get in some place, but aim low. I'm talking around $30k at best maybe, but don't fret you'll meet some friends along the way, some of whom may help you out.

+Rob Riker certs are good, I agree with you sir. Added value to the individual

+Ian C Jordan Just got my books a week ago, and I'm really nervous considering the size, just for the CCNA. With my schedule and lack of experience, I expect to be taking the exam by December, and that's optimistic considering my two year old doesn't like sleeping at night. Currently I'm working on a website/project and I'm learning Extreme at work, so little time to study on the clock for CCNA. Any thoughts on studying guys? It's been a long time, since school even, since I've even done anything with Cisco.

+Jeremy Granger I like the Network +Guide to Networking books. They are CompTia books. Watch this man's videos, he is awesome.

Like CCNA and CCNP, CCIEs needed to recert. The window for recert goes from 3 years to 2 years once you have earned a # and not just passing the written. If you don't recert inside that 2 year window, you go into suspended status. You have that year to recert, if you don't, you lose your CCIE. I personally know a few CCIEs that lost theirs because of not recertifying, they had their reasons. Each one has re-earned their CCIEs again. The number you received in the beginning is re-issued to you when you pass a qualifying lab.

Yes and no. I have worked with engineers with 20+ years of experience. If you don't couple the experience with solid understanding of how stuff works, it will be difficult to get things working. I often will find a tenured engineer spending most of their time looking up how to do something. Starting with CCNA, if you gradually get stronger in that track, you will find it easier to do your job. Same with a degree. Certs require a refresh every few years, expect you lifer CompTIA folks ;)

+Ashwin You are welcome to post here. I don't give out my email in comments, you may find it elsewhere though.

+Rob Riker He man I'm currently working on getting Bachelor of Technology in Network and Security , and I have about 2 years left before I receive my degree. I'm also studying for my CCNA and was wondering how long did it take receive your CCIE since receiving your CCNA.

+Rob Riker Never mind I was asking a question in the middle of you vid lol.

agreed, but there will always be something you haven't covered yet or don't know as well as you want.

It only shows who trained him, not that he is trying to copy them, such happens automatically it just becomes second nature before you even notice.

You need to get out more;) I see women in IT all the time, motivating to see women in the industry.

samy wassup : LMAO!

Out of the question.

Yep I use to complain about the price for ASE certifications for automotive, but I think they want you to fail to keep coughing up doe to take those test. Corporate drains the life out of everything.

A call center job? Lol. You really have no idea. Not to be compared to your measly automotive certifications. I'm not going to jack Cisco off but I have yet to meet a CCIE making sub six figures. Hell, you'll find CCNPs making six figures. They do let anyone in, though. It seems you just didn't make the cut, ay?

Daniel E - Companies are now hiring people from overseas to do our jobs due to them accepting low wages.

I attempted to put some context on what the journey and effort looks like for those that are trying to reach the higher level certification.