I won't argue that it's always wise to follow what other people did, but I
will make a few points.
First is that unless you know at least a very good entry-level knowledge of
networking beyond the Cisco product line, you're not very useful. A CCIE
who has never touched NT or Unix, bah, I don't see a huge value.
I guess it varies on what you're doing and wanting to do, but for me, 70% of
my time is spent helping a customer figure out what in the world they need
me to do with the routers. I had a customer today that was going to deploy
a DHCP server on each subnet because they didn't understand any other way to
do it. If I didn't know NetWare DHCP and NT DHCP servers, I wouldn't have
been able to help them today beyond just saying "configure you DHCP server
for scopes for those subnets." Yes, I know how to do the "ip
helper-address," but unless they can configure their DHCP servers, that
knowledge doesn't do much. As it is, I spent 15 minutes explaining how the
whole thing would work, and then the rest of the day configuring scopes and
then finally implementing "ip helper-address" on all the necessary
interfaces.
So, I do think it's necessary to have a good foundation in various areas.
No, you don't need a paper cert to have that experience, but if you're going
to learn it and can chase down certs, you might as well so that you've got
proof to show customers who go bug-eyed at certs.
It's like that commercial (I think IBM does it), where two consulting guys
are telling this high-up exec a huge list of things he should implement. He
listens (clueless, of course), and says, "Great, do it!" to which they reply
something like, "Oh, we don't do anything, we just give consulting as what
you need to do."
Tomorrow I will be explaining to a customer why they need to not permit all
DMZ traffic into their Internal LAN, and what changes they'll have to make
on their servers, including, but not limited to, DNS and WINS. I don't
think there is anything in Cisco's line that will test you on those topics.
I know for me, the CCIE is not the "ultimate," but it's pretty damn high up
there. I have doubts I'll go back and upgrade my MCSE to Win2k if I get my
CCIE and can avoid it. I guess my point is once you get to a certain level,
you're less likely to want to go back and do the things that would help you
more as they seem of a lesser value or skill set. I do know that I won't be
doing my CNE, but then I doubt those who don't have to deal with Novell on a
daily basis see it as useful these days.
--
Jason Roysdon, CCNP+Security/CCDP, MCSE, CNA, Network+, A+
List email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Homepage: http://jason.artoo.net/
""Fred Danson"" wrote in message
[EMAIL PROTECTED]">news:[EMAIL PROTECTED]...
> One thing that I ALWAYS notice when asking someone else for advice is that
> they ALWAYS advise me to take the same path that they did. No matter how
> dissimilar out situations are, I will always be advised to take the same
> route that they took.
>
> For example, when I was finishing up with my CCNP certification, I asked
for
> advise from several other people who also were finishing their CCNP
> certifications. A few of the people that I asked were MCSE's and they all
> told me to go for MCSE before CCIE. Their reasoning was that I wouldn't be
> able to understand the WAN unless I had a solid understanding of the LAN.
> Now I do think that there is some logic to this statement, but I
definitely
> did not think that it made sense to put CCIE on hold for 5-6 months just
to
> learn more about Microsoft.
>
> I think their real reasons for giving me such crappy advice is that
they're
> afraid to admit that they made a mistake. If they suddenly realized that
> they wasted 7 months learning about Microsoft, would they be willing to
> admit this? I really doubt it! They would tell me to do what they did so
> they can boost their own egos! Or on the other hand, they wouldn't tell me
> not to do what they did because they would hurt theie egos.
>
> So now, instead of blindingly taking someone's advice, I take a realistic
> look at all of my options. Being only 20 years old, I was advised by many
> "experienced professionals" to give it a few years before attempting the
> CCIE. Does it really take that long to learn all this stuff? I really
don't
> think so. There is an abundance of information out there, and all you have
> to do is put in the extra effort to learn it. Heck, I didn't even know
what
> a Router was until about 7 months ago, and I already have CCNA, CCDA,
CCNP,
> and CCIE written.
>
> My point here is, don't listen to anyone that isn't in the same situation
as
> you! Take a realistic look at your options and go for it!
>
> Fred Danson
>
> P.S. - I have a problem with the statement "youth is a unique illnes that
> heals with time only". From what I hear, the older portion of the CCIE
> candidates typically struggle with the time constraints on the CCIE Lab.
To
> my knowledge, cheese and wine are the things that improve with age. They
may
> have the wisdom, but you got the speed. Go for it!
>
>
>
> >From: "Ruben Arias"
> >Reply-To: "Ruben Arias"
> >To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> >Subject: Re: Failed CCDA [7:1865]
> >Date: Wed, 25 Apr 2001 10:09:11 -0400
> >
> >we're not offended because of your age, we're scared to death...
> >by the way, youth is a unique illnes that heals with time only.
> >Ruben
> >_________________________________________________________________________
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>
> _________________________________________________________________
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