[TriLUG] Are Certifications worth it?

[Greg Brown]

I saw the CCNA come up in this thread, or at least I think I did.  

Public Service Warning: the CCNA is no longer a gimme.  I flat-out
failed.  The guy next to me left in tears.  I am not kidding.  Another
guy here at work, a perviously certified CCNP passed.  By one point. 
And he didn't have enough time to finish the test AND though he had
failed.

And it's not like we don't have gear around here to tinker with. 
Heck, I've got a 65xx with 10 gig intefaces in my lab, along scads of
4509s, as well as stackables.

Granted, I was way rusty on IOS before taking on my latest contract,
but I was simply not prepared for what used to be a gimme test mostly
about the 7 layers and CIDR calculations (two things I never saw on
the test).

Study up if you are going to take the test.

Greg