""Steve Dispensa"" wrote in message [EMAIL PROTECTED]">news:[EMAIL PROTECTED]... > > I've been arguing with a collegue of mine which one would be tougher to > > achieve. I told him that it would be much more harder to have a computer > > science or a networking degree (you have to take the GRE and complete 2 or > 3 > > years of school works) than a CCIE, but my collegue think other wise. He > > literally believes that having a CCIE is equivalent of having a Ph.d in > > Networking. I'd like to hear your thought. > > I have a BA and have been blocked for a number of years on my MS in comp > sci. The > CCIE cert has meant much more to my career than any of the school-related > stuff, in > a direct sense: it allows me to get jobs/engagements/etc, and none of the > jobs i'm > interested in have required completion of the MS. > > If you were more interested in theoretical work, or perhaps with some > employers > (with dubious ability to evaluate a candidate), the degrees would be much > more > important. > > This *only* applies in the field of computer networking, though. If you > want to do > anything else, the CCIE is pretty worthless. Even in the networking world, > the > thought leadership doesn't much care about certs - witness IETF, NANOG, etc > - nobody > there mentions or cares about CCIE. > > Also, i have found in my career that many CCIEs (to say nothing of the rest) > don't > have a sound theoretical grounding at all. Things you learn in CS school > really > are important - queuing theory, optimization problems, statistics, problem > complexity, > and even (in particular) programming. You don't truly understand network > protocols > until you've done network programming IMHO. > > CCIE is a certification for people who like to get their hands dirty with > routers. > CCIEs are the best in the world at fixing broken networks, setting up new > ones, and > so on. They're *not* necessarily any good at anything else. This is a big > difference > from a Ph.D. or MS, which imply a solid, broad theoretical base in addition > to an area > of expertise.
That's probably the best response I have heard all year. I would just add that the degree also significantly helps you if you have aspirations to rise in the managerial ranks, especially if you ever want to carry the title of CxO. That's not to say a degree is absolutely strictly required for such positions, but it's almost de-rigueur - you will find practically no managers at a high level in any large company who doesn't have at least a bachelor's (with perhaps the notable exception of them having founded the company themselves). Therefore the real question you need to ask yourself is do you still wanna be slinging boxes in 20 years, or do you wanna be ordering other people to sling boxes for you? Well, maybe you'll like slinging boxes 20 years later, but maybe you won't - who knows? The degree gives you valuable career flexibility. > > -sd > (CCIE #5444) Message Posted at: http://www.groupstudy.com/form/read.php?f=7&i=59515&t=59481 -------------------------------------------------- FAQ, list archives, and subscription info: http://www.groupstudy.com/list/cisco.html Report misconduct and Nondisclosure violations to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
