As a consultant, you'd better believe it's important, and becoming moreso all
the time.
Here's an example. A couple of weeks ago, a buddy of mine (who is a CCIE)
and I
were at our office. Our sales guy got a call about a problem at a bank, and
he
called me into the office so I could get some information about the problem.
Token Ring environment, with some DLSW. After I'd gotten as much as I could
over the phone, they asked how quickly I could be at the site. We told them
about a half hour... They asked specifically for a CCIE. My buddy got the
call. Fortunately, I went along too, as I wasn't doing anything important at
the time. It's good thing I did too, because in a previous life, I had a
ton of
Token Ring experience, and my co-worker had virtually none. As it turned
out, I
was the one that did most of the talking while on site, and I was the one
that
gave them the troubleshooting strategy that ended up getting the problem
identified, and ultimately solved.
Did they ask which of us had more experience? (I have 8+ years of Cisco, my
friend has about 4.) No, they didn't ask that.
Did they ask which of us had experience relevant to their specific
environment?
(I have a great deal of Token Ring, and alot of production DLSW; my friend
has
virtually no Token Ring experience, and only enough DLSW to have passed the
lab)
No, they didn't ask that.
They asked if I was a CCIE. No, I'm not yet a CCIE. My co-worker is though,
and they wanted him to come solve their problem.
This is the unfortunate reality of the marketplace. The certification talks,
and the experience is being overlooked. I only decided to get my CCIE about
a
year ago, because I saw this kind of thing starting to happen more
frequently.
Because of the waiting list for the lab, I haven't yet had a chance to take
it.
Had I begun a year earlier, I'd probably have had a chance to take it 2 or 3
times by now. I don't view the CCIE as some sort of life changing event in
my
life... I'm getting it out of self-defense. If I am being compared to
another
candidate, I want to be certain that the number of years, and the diversity
of
my experience, are factored into the comparison. Right now, if the other
candidate is a CCIE, I can't be sure that my resume will even be read.
My pursuit of the CCIE is motivated by the need to be taken seriously. When
the
number of CCIEs was very low, this wasn't much of a problem. Now that it's
become a little more common, I find that I'm losing my competitive edge "on
paper," and that's going to change.
Alan
----- Original Message -----
From: "Duncan Stuart"
To:
Sent: Monday, May 28, 2001 11:05 AM
Subject: RE: Is it really worth it? "CCIE" [7:5725]
[snip]
> I believe in the contracting market it is important to combine
> the experience with recognized certification.
Message Posted at:
http://www.groupstudy.com/form/read.php?f=7&i=6120&t=5725
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