For a really well rounded network career-path, you may choose to think of including either the MS 'MCSE' or MCSA to your A+, 'Network+' & 'CCNA' program. Whatever your thoughts, a discussion of your career path & learning style, with an experienced IT specialist or advisor, should be at the top of your sheet of priorities, in order to guarantee you will get off to the best possible start & stay clear of any expensive blunders.

You should remember: a training course or a qualification isn't the end-goal; the particular job that you want is. Many trainers unfortunately completely prioritise the actual accreditation. It's a terrible situation, but a great many students commence training that sounds marvellous from the prospectus, but which gets us a career that doesn't satisfy. Talk to many college leavers and you'll see where we're coming from.

Make sure you investigate your leanings around career progression and earning potential, and whether you intend to be quite ambitious. It makes sense to understand what (if any) sacrifices you'll need to make for a particular role, which particular exams they want you to have and how you'll gain real-world experience. Long before starting a study program, it makes sense to talk through individual market needs with a skilled advisor, in order to be sure the learning programme covers everything needed.

Be on the lookout that any exams you're studying for are recognised by industry and are up-to-date. 'In-house' exams and the certificates they come with are usually worthless. Unless the accreditation comes from a company like Microsoft, Cisco, Adobe or CompTIA, then it's likely it won't be commercially viable - as it'll be an unknown commodity.

Following on from the CCNA, you'll find a wide range of specialist accreditations to pick from. You could potentially go into wireless technology, or 'Security', or perhaps even on to the Cisco Certified Networking Professional ('CCNP'). The step from the 'CCNA' to the CCNP is rather significant, so its a good idea to focus on completing the CCNA first. You should anticipate to be working in a 'Cisco' environment for about 12 to 24 months (with your CCNA certification) before you started to study for the 'CCNP'. Really the only exception would be when you have a number of years of networking experience already and have dealt with a lot of the very same ground as the CCNA accreditation. Realistically no recruiter will contemplate you for any senior post without a fair quantity of 'CCNA' level practical hands-on experience & understanding of industry.

A number of men and women presume that the traditional school, college or university system is still the best way into IT. So why are qualifications from the commercial sector beginning to overtake it? Vendor-based training (as it's known in the industry) is more effective in the commercial field. Industry is aware that such specialised knowledge is essential to service the demands of an acceleratingly technical marketplace. Adobe, Microsoft, CISCO and CompTIA are the key players in this arena. They do this through honing in on the actual skills required (together with an appropriate level of background knowledge,) rather than going into the heightened depths of background non-specific minutiae that academic courses often do - to fill a three or four year course.

When it comes down to the nitty-gritty: Recognised IT certifications give employers exactly what they're looking for - the title says it all: as an example - I am a 'Microsoft Certified Professional' in 'Designing Security for a Windows 2003 Network'. So employers can look at their needs and which qualifications will be suitable to deal with those needs.

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