CCNA or Network+

Posted by Actual_Supermarket_5@reddit | sysadmin | View on Reddit | 14 comments

I'm finishing college soon (around 4 months to finish it) and I'm planning to work with Sysadmin/Infrastructure and/or maybe Cloud in the future. Should I go for the Comptia Network+ or CCNA? I'm asking this because i'm a bit unsure about taking CCNA because I know it's focused on Cisco devices, and because of that it may be more interesting to get the CCNA cert if you want to work exclusively (or almost exclusively) with networks, but as stated earlier, not my intention at all. I also have these doubts because I'm a broke college student and will have to choose between one of them, and I heard that at least Network+ may be faster to get and will still help out quite a lot to get a tech support job or even a sysadmin/infrastructure job. So, which one should I go for when taking money, time and specially how much it is asked for or how useful it will be to get a tech support/sysadmin job in consideration?

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silkee5521@reddit

For networking fundamentals Network+. No one will allow you to touch Cisco equipment for months if not years. CCNA looks nice on a CV if you're getting that type of work.

VA_Network_Nerd@reddit

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Mike6635@reddit

All of the Comptia Exams are a cake walk compared to the CCNA and as such, don't carry as much 'technical weight' as the XXXX+ exams, but it does look better to have some certs on your resume than none at all.

If you still trying to break into the IT industry, I guess I would recommend the Network+ to start because the exam is cheaper, the test is much easier, and you likely won't fail and have to take it again. If later, you realize you prefer the networking side of the work - you can always get your CCNA later.

Definitely put time into Azure/365 because almost guaranteed that will be a skill that scales if you are interested in anything cloud - best ROI IMO.

Resident-Olive-5775@reddit

What about the Google it support cert?

I'm sure there's value in it (not many possess this cert) but I would say <10% of the companies out there (larger than 50 employees) are using Google vs 365 (from what I've seen). You often see Google -> 365 email migrations, but not very many 365 -> Google migrations.

Hope this helps.

I_ride_ostriches@reddit

CCNA

i-heart-linux@reddit

CCNA arguably best bang for buck!

ThimMerrilyn@reddit

Canisters of magnitude better and also harder - Comptia certificate won’t actually teach you hands on networking skills and theory.

Suspicious_Map3819@reddit

CCNA if you are going to enter the Cisco universe or the job requires it. It will get you much further than Net+, but is just a first step. I took Net+ and it was child's play. Went and scheduled CCNA part 1, got my ass handed to me and had to do the walk of shame...

Sithlord_77@reddit

Think of CCNA as an associates degree and network + as a 1 semester class.

That said both have merit. CCNA is great but gets a little to Cisco specific towards the middle End of you don’t end up Working in a Cisco environment.

Complex_Current_1265@reddit

Cisco teaches you practical skills and theorical knowledge, networks+ only theorical. Also CCNA has way more demand.

Best regards

Odd-Sun7447@reddit

CCNA is WAAAY superior to a Net+

ManyInterests@reddit

If it's still like when I got it, CCNA consists of two exams: ICND-1 and ICND-2. ICND-1 basically encapsulates everything Network+ will -- ICND-2 is a lot of Cisco-specific stuff.

CCNA is more widely useful and will command a real difference in pay. Network+ is still great, but really only if you have little practical real-world experience.

If you have to choose: CCNA will open more doors and is overall way more valuable than Net+

rs232killer@reddit

CCNA is far more powerful than Network+. It doesn’t matter if it’s Cisco specific, the fundamentals are all the same and if you do end up in a Cisco ecosystem, well, you’re set and if you don’t the rest still applies.