Telecom Professionals please read

[CoalCracker]

After a few years in the Telecom industry, I am looking to get some certifications. Mostly VOIP and Convergence Technology. So far I am looking at getting the CCNT then the CTP+. Are there any other certs I should be looking at? I know most of this board is either IT or engineers. Figured it be a good place to ask.

 

[JasonInBTR]

Any Cisco certs are valuable in the industry IMHO. If you are a voice guy look at CCNA Voice and CCVP/CCNP Voice.

IM me if you have any specific questions.

Jason

 

[CoalCracker]

Only issue I have with Cisco certs is that they are very network intensive. Granted I do have background in networking. It's not enough to pass a cisco exam. It would probably take some extra schooling and or intensive studying. Don't take that as a statement of laziness because it's not. Just not sure I have the knowledge needed or will be able to attain it without help.

 

[JasonInBTR]

soapbox

Well.....with VoIP or any type of converged communications it is essential to have a solid understanding of the underlying network. Some vendors (M$) fail to recognize this and this isn't a very good practice. Voice is just another application that runs on the network. Both Comptia Network+ and Cisco CCNA would give you a good base knowledge of network fundamentals. Regardless of what vendor you end up working on (Cisco, Avaya, ShoreTel, Mitel, M$, etc) understanding the network is invaluable.

/soapbox

 

[Nic0]

I suppose it depends on how focused or how broad of a career you're looking to have. I'd say CCNA is a good starting point. I haven't gotten it yet but I've taken some classes, and I'm told to just to the CCNA 1 part exame rather than the two separate ones (I cna't remember the numbers, either).

I would suggest considering CCNA Wireless as well...obviously Wireless technologies are a field that's growing. Or maybe you'd just like to get a master's degree in RF Engineering!

Sorry I don't have more suggestions...all I have is a Bachelor and Associate of Science.

 

[CoalCracker]

All great suggestions. I'll give you guys a bit of my background and experience. I currently hold an associates in Networking and a Bachelors in IT Management. So I do have formal networking education. I have been doing Telecom with some data now for about 3 and a half years. Primarily programming a Nortel CS1000 phone system with 5 cabinets and a little bit of CISCO CallManager. Here in the next few months we will be upgrading to a ShoreTel.

The Network+ exam I'm confident I can tackle. The CCNA scares me a bit as I haven't really done any in depth networking since I've started this position. Not to mention, don't really have the money to buy all of the study materials. I know they are $$$. So here is kind of my plan. Go with the CCNT which is kind of entry level everything. Telecom, VOIP, and Data. Then head to the Net+ then onto the CTP+. Then from there I can decide about the CCNA and CCVP. I would LOVE to get all of them. Although lack of experience in networking may limit me to only a few of those.

 

[kryolla]

You have experience and a B.S which outweighs certification. Are you have trouble getting promoted or finding another job? I have a CCNP and working on my CCIE and have been in the telecom field for 11 years.

 

[CoalCracker]

No, neither. Just looking to invest in my career a bit. I got promoted to a level 2 in July. Just if I decide that I want to change jobs in the future, I have a strong resume to compare against others. I pick up on things really quick if I can touch and do. Learning from a book I suck. Probably why I'm a bit nervous about doing the certs.

 

[Nic0]

No, neither. Just looking to invest in my career a bit. I got promoted to a level 2 in July. Just if I decide that I want to change jobs in the future, I have a strong resume to compare against others. I pick up on things really quick if I can touch and do. Learning from a book I suck. Probably why I'm a bit nervous about doing the certs.

If you can afford it, try to find a hands-on class to take. I took a week-long CCNA class and even though it wasn't physically hands-on (no actual switches/routers/cables in the room), we had a program from Cisco called Packet Tracer, which is a simulator of Cisco routers, switches, various add-ons (HWICs for example), clients and servers... you literally drag and drop a switch or whatever on the screen, drag and drop cables, and open each device up to enter commands. I was fortunate enough to have my company pay for this course...otherwise it was quite a large sum of money to pay for myself.

But I'm somewhat the way you are, I need hands-on. If I read 3000 pages worth of material and you throw a switch in front of me, I'm not going to just know how to use it... I've got to practice on actual equipment for it to soak in.

 

[DZello]

Cisco's certifications are the only one that matters in the industry. Sometime big corporations ask for ITIL but it's rare.

 

[Gunfighter04]

Can't believe will all the ccna's that are running around here I can't seem to hire one. Had an open position for 2 months now. I did have a guy interview on friday and then have one next thursday. Problem seems to be if I take a week between interviewing them and making an offer they have found another job.

Back to the OP. An avaya cert wouldn't be bad either. We have all cisco network components with mutliple avaya phone switches running in a virtual environment. Running voice over MPLS. I have telcom administrators and then network engineers. I honestly don't think I'd hire one to do both jobs.

 

[CoalCracker]

Our Shoretel system will be hooked to a load of PRIs and T1s. Our remote locations will be hooked to an MPLS network which we are in the process of rolling out. I'm lead technician on the job. My supervisor does the meetings and scheduling and I make sure the install goes as planned.

 

[Fletch78]

CCNA is something I'm also self-studying, if you buy the books from Cisco Press, they come with 2 cdrom's that are simulators to practice. Odom's writing is horrible in my opinion.

CCNA is important because it's the pre-requisite for pretty much everything else. I'm looking to add it to my resume` because I already do the cabling and such. I have been told by CCNP's that a cable guy with a CCNA is more valuable than a cable guy and a CCNA. Funny enough, getting the Bicsi certs for cabling is more intensive and expensive than the CCNA.