Hi friends,

I am a First year B.sc(Computer science) student and I am thinking of taking up the CCNA course.I would like to know the scope & job prospects this course would offer in the next 3 to 4 years if I were to complete it now?
Thanks for all your help:)

dhananjayd! :o) Glad to see an aspiring Computer Science student. I graduated in 2003 with a associates degree in Computer Science. At that time I was a 2nd yr Cisco student. My mentoring teachers then said that if you got a BA in Computer Science and the A+ certs plus the CCNA certs, you could pretty much be set for the future and that any company you applied to you could pretty much name your salary. 3 to 4 years from now is not a super long time. Albeit when I started finishing my degree in 2001, Computer Programming was the field to be in at the time. This was my first love, networking being my 2nd. By 2003 a huge majority of programming jobs in the states were going to people over seas for a lesser salary amount (I believe it was less than half of what most US programmers were being paid at that time)

To put a matter to point - you need a reliable source that takes the whole account of the industry. Possibly subscribe to reputable and popular online free Networking/Computer news letters? Also, as you far well know businesses will always go with cutting costs. Find out what the techs in this field are making now? If it has declined or risen in the past 5-10 yrs? Possibly talk to a few WAN networking techs in a major city near you?

Computer Science is a fascinating field. At the present I have opted to be a graphics developer for a virtual online community. Previously after graduating I had worked for 3 major companies using A+ education, networking and also even at the end became a GPRS tech before I quit and opted to be a graphics creator instead. How we and our world evolve.

Thanks for your advice!! Really appreciate it:)

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

Has lots of info. Good luck

I thought about doing this myself three years ago.

I've heard--don't take this to the bank--that the CCNA is only useful if you don't have a BS simply because it isn't as well-rounded as a four-year degree; you get way more out of college than just an education, and the CCNA exam plus the books are expensive. In reality, if you can do the job, you'll get the job, so if you're already a networking whiz, you might as well save your money and just prove to your interviewer how well you know networking, and name your price after that. I have a management degree and I design databases, write webapps in PHP and iPhone apps in Objective-C. I have this job because I made my own version of DopeWars in PHP/MySQL.

If networking is your thing and it must be if you're going for the CCNA, the other Cisco certifications are what land you high-paying jobs, like the CCNP. So keep at it.

A+ and CCNA will get you basic Helpdesk or Junior Networking. To get CCNP you need CCNA. You cannot name your salary because A+ and CCNA are entry level but it is a foot in the door for interviews which is always helpful; and it is better to have it than not especially since the CCNA means something these days compared to 8 years ago when anyone could get it. From Helpdesk or even Junior Networking you can decide how you want to branch out; into Databases, System Administration or Networking. You'll need CCNA, then CCNP at least to get into Senior Level Networking. If you want to do Sysadmin work; you'll need at least CCNA and Microsoft certs. With no experience; you better have certifications to back them up and be able to answer technical questions.

I think is basic of networking .
So if you want good network engineer . You start your career in ccna..