# CCNA Salary



## Fletch_W (Oct 2, 2011)

What I'm reading online seems unrealistic and slanted. Can some of yall who are CCNAs or work with CCNAs or have friends/family who are CCNAs .... please post about what they make a year, and approximate amount of experience they have. I'd sure appreciate it. You don't have to identify yourself or what you make, you can just pretend "your friend" makes that money... 

Also, if you know a CCNA out of work, please feel free to post "$0" too. 

In my experience with CCNA's, they seem to make in the mid to upper 30,000 range. Google results have them much, much higher... starting. I'm just looking for a little reality. 

Thanks in advance.


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## Georgia Hard Hunter (Oct 2, 2011)

Fletch_W said:


> What I'm reading online seems unrealistic and slanted. Can some of yall who are CCNAs or work with CCNAs or have friends/family who are CCNAs .... please post about what they make a year, and approximate amount of experience they have. I'd sure appreciate it. You don't have to identify yourself or what you make, you can just pretend "your friend" makes that money...
> 
> Also, if you know a CCNA out of work, please feel free to post "$0" too.
> 
> ...



Ok I'll be the one to ask the stupid question...What is a CCNA??????


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## Fletch_W (Oct 2, 2011)

Cisco Certified Network Associate

It's a computer IT thingy type thing that is new fangled.


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## 243Savage (Oct 2, 2011)

It's kind of hard for me to put a number on it based soley on the CCNA, as many of us working in the IT field have additional certifications and experience on top of that which drives salary and/or employment opportunity.  

I would venture to guess that most of us aren't in the field with only a CCNA as it takes more than that to attain what one would consider an attractive salary in my experience.   Also, there can be a huge difference in what equally skilled/trained workers can make in the civilian sector versus the govt sector.


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## Fletch_W (Oct 2, 2011)

Excellent insight.... One thing I read on the Cisco site is that most of the CCNA's are at a bare minimum A+ certs first. When I see $60k starting from the cisco site, I have to ask questions. 


Please, yall keep the info coming.


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## trial&error (Oct 3, 2011)

60-80k if your designing the system, after it's setup some kid takes care of it for 25k. and your looking for a new job.  That's the private sector for you.


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## Fletch_W (Oct 7, 2011)

trial&error said:


> 60-80k if your designing the system, after it's setup some kid takes care of it for 25k. and your looking for a new job.  That's the private sector for you.



CCNA's design systems for medium and enterprise? Or is that CCNP stuff?  I would assume a CCNA is the $25k kid that runs it, and the CCNP or higher is the designer, either a contractor or gov employee, making the bigger bucks. 

Educate me please!


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## Minner (Oct 7, 2011)

Fletch_W said:


> CCNA's design systems for medium and enterprise? Or is that CCNP stuff?  I would assume a CCNA is the $25k kid that runs it, and the CCNP or higher is the designer, either a contractor or gov employee, making the bigger bucks.
> 
> Educate me please!



I believe CCNA is the more beginner (and I use that word loosely) type cert for Cisco networking. More advanced than A+ certainly, but not as advanced as others. I believe that there has only been a CCNA cert for 5-6 years or so as Cisco split the requirements for CCNP into two courses of study instead of one large one.

$60,000 seems a bit high to me without a lot of experience. I know of a guy who didn't design or build the networks originally (done by a contractor), but he was trained and obtained CCNP and went on to manage the networks and he made over $60,000. But he had a lot of experience and MCSE and other certs.


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## Fletch_W (Oct 7, 2011)

Minner said:


> I believe CCNA is the more beginner (and I use that word loosely) type cert for Cisco networking. More advanced than A+ certainly, but not as advanced as others. I believe that there has only been a CCNA cert for 5-6 years or so as Cisco split the requirements for CCNP into two courses of study instead of one large one.
> 
> $60,000 seems a bit high to me without a lot of experience. I know of a guy who didn't design or build the networks originally (done by a contractor), but he was trained and obtained CCNP and went on to manage the networks and he made over $60,000. But he had a lot of experience and MCSE and other certs.



I think you might mean ICND1 (CCENT) and ICND2, both of which combine to make a CCNA. I don't think the CCNP is broken up by anything besides specialty. Cisco states CCNA is the starting point for other credentials and specialties. But CCENT (ICND1) is the starting point for CCNA. 

I know what a MSCE is, and I work with several of them. Is CCNA comparable to a MSCE in their respective fields? Or is it more like CCNP relates to MSCE.... respective to their fields? Obviously there is overlap...


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## Minner (Oct 7, 2011)

Fletch_W said:


> I think you might mean ICND1 (CCENT) and ICND2, both of which combine to make a CCNA. I don't think the CCNP is broken up by anything besides specialty. Cisco states CCNA is the starting point for other credentials and specialties. But CCENT (ICND1) is the starting point for CCNA.
> 
> I know what a MSCE is, and I work with several of them. Is CCNA comparable to a MSCE in their respective fields? Or is it more like CCNP relates to MSCE.... respective to their fields? Obviously there is overlap...



Sorry, you're right about the ICND 1 & 2. My fault, it's been a while since I've worked for Cisco certs. 

It might be comparable, I'm not sure. More like apples/oranges I'd say. I had to study subnetting, routing protocols, etc. a lot for the MCSE but not to the level one would for CCNA. MCSE is more for the whole Windows infrastructure (a/d, remote access, backup, etc.) while CCNA is basically about just working with the networking side and gets far more in-depth into it.


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## merc123 (Oct 8, 2011)

Here ya go.  Top 15 paying certs.  CCNA is up there.  

http://images.globalknowledge.com/wwwimages/pdfs/WP_15TopPayingITCerts.pdf


And Salary report:
http://images.globalknowledge.com/wwwimages/pdfs/2011_SalaryReport.pdf


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## Fletch_W (Oct 8, 2011)

That CCNA is with the Voice specialty, that would be the likely path that I would take, if I went the CCNA direction. I'm surprised the CCNA security isn't higher though.

Reading both reports, those numbers look really high.


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## georgia_home (Oct 8, 2011)

Check glassdoor.com for salary info. It may give you some info.


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## merc123 (Oct 9, 2011)

Fletch_W said:


> That CCNA is with the Voice specialty, that would be the likely path that I would take, if I went the CCNA direction. I'm surprised the CCNA security isn't higher though.
> 
> Reading both reports, those numbers look really high.



The 2nd report is folks doing a survey so it's only as accurate as your pool of people.  Right now, especially, the salaries are alot less than what they used to be.


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## Fletch_W (Oct 9, 2011)

So entry is probably around $28k or so.... if you can find an entry.


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## Luke0927 (Oct 10, 2011)

mostly gonna be entry, goes along good in pairing it with say some NAS/SAN certs or work but you see it a lot with starting out being a associate network admin maybe also supporting the hardware side.... I have a Bachelors in computer science and majoring in networking, was planning on being a network admin etc....I went through all the Cisco curriculum and should have been able to do CCNA and CCNP when I finished.  I ended up moving into the data storage industry right before finishing school and never went and actually took them, but know several who do have it, it looks good but then you still have people who look good on paper but couldn't actually do anything in the real world with it, but that goes with all certs.

If you in the tech field and looking for certs etc or something new...I'd be looking at getting your VCP in VMware.


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## georgia_home (Oct 10, 2011)

One thing to consider, when you get your first cert, take whatever job comes and just get started. 30 or 60k, just get in. Build you skillset and resume, see what the employees will pay for.

They will either take care of you and you'll get raises.

No matter what, you'll build your skill set.

If they don't satisfy you, money/work environ/etc, you can get experience and search for a new job while you work there. You'll see what co's are looking for, and build that skill set while working.


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## merc123 (Oct 10, 2011)

Luke0927 said:


> mostly gonna be entry, goes along good in pairing it with say some NAS/SAN certs or work but you see it a lot with starting out being a associate network admin maybe also supporting the hardware side.... I have a Bachelors in computer science and majoring in networking, was planning on being a network admin etc....I went through all the Cisco curriculum and should have been able to do CCNA and CCNP when I finished.  I ended up moving into the data storage industry right before finishing school and never went and actually took them, but know several who do have it, it looks good but then you still have people who look good on paper but couldn't actually do anything in the real world with it, but that goes with all certs.
> 
> If you in the tech field and looking for certs etc or something new...I'd be looking at getting your VCP in VMware.




Just got done taking the VCP.  It's not easy.


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## Luke0927 (Oct 11, 2011)

No it's not I haven't taken it but looked at what all it covers.  I'm working on cloud data center design I have taken the class just need to study and go take the test. That would also be a good one for someone who is looking for a current good cert. Cloud vmaware networking all real good together.


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## Jimmy460 (Jan 10, 2018)

*I want to be ccna certified*

I want to be ccna certified, but i dont know how to do it ( as  i m beginner ).So if somebody could help me out how else can i study and get ccna? Please help me out, i shall b really thankful to you for replying.


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## atlashunter (Jan 10, 2018)

Fletch_W said:


> What I'm reading online seems unrealistic and slanted. Can some of yall who are CCNAs or work with CCNAs or have friends/family who are CCNAs .... please post about what they make a year, and approximate amount of experience they have. I'd sure appreciate it. You don't have to identify yourself or what you make, you can just pretend "your friend" makes that money...
> 
> Also, if you know a CCNA out of work, please feel free to post "$0" too.
> 
> ...



CCNA is an entry level cert. The range you cite is probably close to the mark for someone at that level. Not sure what you're looking at on Google but it may be skewed by those who are more experienced and more certifications but still have the CCNA.


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## StriperrHunterr (Jan 10, 2018)

Jimmy460 said:


> I want to be ccna certified, but i dont know how to do it ( as  i m beginner ).So if somebody could help me out how else can i study and get ccna? Please help me out, i shall b really thankful to you for replying.



Check out CBT Nuggets, they explain subnetting really well and that's always a tough concept to grasp the first time. 

Your best bet is to also look at seeing if you can find GNS3 simulators with Cisco IOS images that you can practice commands on. In the real world you can use the shorthand commands, but the test is, when I took it, based on the entire command so you better know what "sho ip int br" really means and how to spell it. 

Also find yourself a study group, I'm willing to bet there are myriads on Facebook and other social media platforms, where you can discuss issues and topics. And also find a source for practice tests so you can get a feel for the questions you're going to see. If your plan is to sit down and read the book and then go pass the test, brace yourself, because the vast majority of people don't pass the first time and a lot don't pass the second time. It's very cut and dried material that's tough to retain unless you're elbow deep in it regularly. 

Once you do get it, do like the other poster in here said and take the first job smoking that leverages it because it is very much a use or lose skill. 

Good luck to you.


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## steeleagle (Jan 11, 2018)

Might be off topic, so feel free to correct me:

If you had to choose a cert why not choose something AWS, Azure, or GCP related? Being in the cloud field myself, there is a true war for talent with companies overpaying people (Yes,I said it).


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