Hi there, If I wanted to be a CCIE, I would go for Security track or maybe the voice track, but I think the latter is too specialized. Security is something you need to know anyway, if you want to be a good and respected network professional. Companies will understand that you know the most important concepts of routing and switching when you pass your exam. I believe 50% of the CCIE security exam is still R&S related, isn't it?
Personnally I wouldn't go for a CCIE exam (yet). I'm working as a self-employed consultant, I've got my CCNP and CCDP and in my opinion studying for CCIE takes too much effort for something, which doesn't bring me much additional value. If you look to the network market (here in Europe), companies don't necessarily need CCIEs, they prefer people with a much broader view. Maybe I would like to be a CCIE, but I don't want to go that "Long-and-windy-road" now. If you look to the market for the coming 2-3 years, you need to have (most of) folllowing skills, besides basic (CCNP/CCDP) R&S: - security, at least PIX or Checkpoint; basics of intrusion detection systems; - wireless, - VoIP, - SANs, - MPLS, - QoS, - Unix/Linux and Microsoft networking and server skills; - Know the basics of (how to configure) DNS, Radius, LDAP, Web servers, etc.; - Load balancers and other content related stuff. This list is far from exhaustive, but hey, you can't know everything. It also depends in which market you want to work. The SME market for example, loves people who have both networking and operating systems skills. Big companies, carriers or ISPs like it when you as a network professional can speak with and understand the server/system administrators or the service designers. If you want to go for the money, you should specialize in one or two topics, for example choose a hype like SAN, learn the systems of one or two vendors and there you go... I'm concentrating now on security. Next thing will be VoIP/QoS or more Linux/Microsoft networking and server skills. By the way, reading books or documentation from other network vendors like Juniper or Nortel, is also recommended. Then you will see that it is 'all the same' ... at least you could tell that to the HR people or managers... My two cents, Eric Brouwers ----- Original Message ----- From: "Bharani" To: Sent: Tuesday, September 02, 2003 7:37 PM Subject: Re: CCIE Security vs Routing & Switching [7:74664] > Dear Friend > > I would say Security would be better , since security plays a major > role in network these days , more over there are very less not of security > certified people around the globe, but one info security is not as easy as R > & S , any thing , wish you all the best > > Bani > **Please support GroupStudy by purchasing from the GroupStudy Store: > http://shop.groupstudy.com > FAQ, list archives, and subscription info: http://www.groupstudy.com/list/cisco.html Message Posted at: http://www.groupstudy.com/form/read.php?f=7&i=74690&t=74664 -------------------------------------------------- **Please support GroupStudy by purchasing from the GroupStudy Store: http://shop.groupstudy.com FAQ, list archives, and subscription info: http://www.groupstudy.com/list/cisco.html
