I can't tell you how many times where I've read these same dicussion topics. And 99% of the time it is an IT person from another country will ask the question whether they should get "this or that" certification; Usually it's either a Cisco cert or a database cert (Oracle, SQL Server, etc). Then, almost always the next question is, "is it worth getting the cert?". And usually when these persons start describing their IT background, it's usually that they have no actual working IT networking experience; it's all academic. And if they do have experience, it's in the non-IT areas (business/managerial, supervisory). The next question asked is can they succeed at getting an IT job in the USA with their cetfification.

I'v worked with many personns who have come newly into the IT field. You can tell that they have little to no experience. And many of them have constally talked about gettting the CCNA and then the CCIE. Yet, to have worked with them you can see that they have yet to grasp and understand the fundamentals of networking. But, they are fully confident in passing the cert exams and getting the cert, which many of them do. Many employers ask for Cisco certifications. I'm guessing they "feel" that if someone has them, then they are "IT-adept". Just because someone has a CCNA or a CCIE doesn't mean they understand networking. And just because an employer may use Cisco networking hardware, doesn't eman that ALL of their networing hardware is from Cisco. Lest we not forget about networking in the operating systems of Linux, Unix, Solaris, Windows, etc.

HR...does HR really understand? I'm not goign to go into that, because it's just reinventing the wheel and I can't think of anything fresh to say.

Do I think the Cisco certifications are as caluble tosay as they were in the past? No, I don't think so. Because it's so "easy" for anyone to without the foundation to get one and get a job.