I am thinking about getting a Career Studies Certificate in Cisco Network. Is this a smart idea, or is this a waste of my time and money?

Definately worth time if you plan to work in network engineering. At least where I work it is valued. I've taken CCNA and CCNP but I haven't taken the certification exams.

yes, good idea as far as i'm concerned Red
we've got the Cisco courses running at work :)

agree with both above. If you like computer networking you can't go wrong with Cisco. Cisco certs are well-respected in the industry.

that will be all I will have though, thats what im getting at.

I am thinking of switching what im going to school for because this seems quicker and pay is about the same. I just recently remembered how much fun i had programing working on a IRC bot =p

I have worked in the IT Industry for some time now, while these courses are certainly fantastic to put on your resume, you still can't go past the quality of a degree.

Cisco is enormously wide spread and getting a job will certainly be doable with there certificates, however you would also want to be looking at further education if you want to progress further and higher.

I would strongly recommend CBT Nuggets as a method of studying for the courses, the presenter is enthusiastic and passionate about networking and it becomes contagious as you watch his videos..

You can torrent the videos.

get a comp-tiaa network+!!!!



jk

Cisco sucks, go for Juniper!


I am btw Cisco certified..... AND I HATE CISCO!


Hope Juniper will FS cisco....

Ok, I'll stop now

Depends on who issues the certificate. If you obtain the certificate via Cisco's specific training/tecting system and an authorized education center than it's worth your time and money. If you are only getting it from some local junior college or tech school, it might be worth your time, but not likely worth your money as it won't directly equate to the real industry cert tat Cisco offers, thus your ROI will not match up.