Why should I go into networking?
Personally when I decided to start my IT career it was not in networking but programming. Java was my poison and I felt really good. Programming is a nice gig if you love solving everyday puzzles and creating something. One problem with programming jobs is for me the lack of standards which I just mentioned in my last post.
Why are standards important you might ask? Well in case of Java and everything surrounding it there were just too many application servers and frameworks. Which one was the right one? They were all the right one, every firm preferred another one which made your ability to switch firms very hard or at least a bit uncomfortable. Off course you could have been a freelancer and do what you like but thats another story.
My way into networking was accidental in a way. While serving my civil duty to the country I managed to snatch a course which helped me attain MCDST (Microsoft Certified Desktop Support Technician) and pass one of the two server exams needed for MCSA (System administrator) on Windows Server 2003. I quickly took up books and some virtual machines and passed the complete MCSA track in march 2007 
Not that far ago. From than on I have been slowly getting into the field and I wanted to get a better grip on network infrastructure and decided that CCNA is the best way to go. So with no experience with network equipment I started learning for the first of Cisco exams. Just fell in love with this, incredible how much more akin I felt to network administration than system administration. When its this good you just got to go on so I passed the BSCI and am now preparing for BCMSN (will hopefully take it in early november).
In the end perhaps the most important thing which draws me to Cisco is the exclusivity of the CCIE. Being an achiever and a goal oriented person I just love a challenge and this just might be the ultimate one. I have already seen the CCIE blueprint and have made a great plan, pass CCNP and CCIP in 2008 (QOS, MPLS, BGP all needed in R&S CCIE) and the written in 2009 plus hopefully have a try at the lab by the end of 2009. Attainable? Probably! These are revised dates from what I was planning a couple of months ago and there will probably be more revisions as it is no easy task.
So if you are like me a challenge seeker please join me, would love to hear why you decided it would be great to be in networking.
Take care
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