Survey: Cisco Certs in Demand in 2004
Survey: Cisco Certs in Demand in 2004
1/28/2004 -- According to recent survey data from information technology staffing firm Robert Half Technology, IT professionals with Cisco certifications are among the most in-demand workers in IT.
As each fiscal quarter draws to a close, Robert Half surveys approximately 1,400 chief information officers (CIOs) – drawn from a random sample of U.S. companies with 100 or more employees -- about their hiring plans for the upcoming quarter.
Among other questions, the IT staffing firm traditionally asks CIOs to identify the specific skill sets that are most in demand in their enterprise IT departments.
In the most recent survey, conducted late last year, 38 percent of CIOs cited Cisco network administration as a high-demand specialty, third overall behind Microsoft Windows administrators (82 percent) and Microsoft SQL Server administrators (56 percent). In the previous quarter, 29 percent of CIOs cited Cisco network administration as a high-demand specialty, once again third behind Windows and SQL Server administration.
There are also signs that IT organizations are aggressively hiring networking professionals of all types. While 18 percent of CIOs said that application development was the fastest growing job category in their organization, another 13 percent cited networking. Not bad for a job sector – network and LAN administration -- that suffered comparatively heavy losses in 2001 and 2002.
All in all, more CIOs than not anticipate increasing their level of IT spending in Q1 2004, such that Robert Half projects a net 3 percent increase in IT spending. The IT staffing firm projected a net 5 percent increase in Q4 2003.
CIOs in the finance, insurance and real estate sectors are most bullish about expanding their staff levels in Q1 2004. Overall, 19 percent of technology executives expect to add personnel, while 4 percent anticipate staff reductions.
Robert Half says that the West-South-Central region of the U.S. should outpace all other regions in hiring activity during the first quarter, with 13 percent of CIOs from this region planning to add jobs, with just three percent anticipating cutbacks. Another hiring hot spot is the East-South-Central U.S., where 10 percent of CIOs anticipate adding jobs and only three percent expect reductions.  -Stephen Swoyer
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There are 11  user Comments for “Survey: Cisco Certs in Demand in 2004”
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| 2/4/04: Anonymous says: |
I live in the mid-Atlanic area, and have had my CCNA and will soon have my CCNP certifications with one year of solid WAN experience. I have been out of work for nearly two years. I see none of this meaning anything positive to me. |
| 2/4/04: JM from NEWARK,NJ says: |
Hi. It is nice to know that cisco certs. are in demand in 2004.But having both a ccna and a ccnp and still unable to find a job for more than a year, it is very frustrating to read that many more new candidates will be taking up these certifications only to find afterwards that these certifications only help you if you already have a job, not necessarily to land you in a job. I think the correct measure of the demand and value of any certification should be a statistics of the number of people holding that certificate and who could still not find a job.If anyone knows of any survey or statistics of the number of people with a ccna and a ccnp and without a job, please refer me to that information. thank you, jm. |
| 2/4/04: Smoky McPot says: |
More in demand when they lay off the speed and stop messing with their cert program! |
| 2/5/04: BB says: |
Read the article again. To paraphrase, 'CIO's cite cisco experience as in demand'. But the article's title says 'Cisco certs in demand' and nowhere is it mentioned in the body of the article about CIO's desiring certified people. This posted on a website that hypes certs. Experience is king and always will be from here on out. I got my CCIE 4 years ago and it isn't worth much now, but the experience acquired since I got my CCIE is absolutely golden. Bet this post gets pulled down soon. |
| 2/6/04: Anonymous says: |
I have been in IT for 15 years, 5 years Cisco experience. Never had a certification and wasn't interested. Boss says it's important so I go get my CCNA. I'm still trying to figure out what it got me. I am the only support for a hospital with Cisco text book infrastructure including VPN, VoIP, Wireless, etc. Not looking for a new job but in the event I need to job hunt...I am betting my experience, great reputation, and industry contacts get me further than initials behind my name. |
| 2/9/04: Project Leader from Toronto says: |
Every report I have read on the net, ever... is biased by the company citing those said results. If IT professionals are to survive the ramblings of people claiming they are working for our best interests, while profiting via providing useless and bad portrayals of real life... (READ "IT CERT SCHOOLS"), then we need to do the research ourselves. Linux groups in toronto try to find jobs for each other, mac user groups do the same in the design field. I know of no unbiased professional groups other then member-run user groups, I wish I had, I've looked. Anyone who knows of any, US or Canadian, I'd definetely like to see exemplification. |
| 2/11/04: Russian IOS Rulette from Could B Anywhere says: |
The CEO's are robbing the working class, and most are not worth what they are paid. ENRON is a prime example! On the contrary, the working class are told to get more Certs, but then after they do, the golden carrot on a stick is taken away and given to upper management. Also from what I see, Cisco attempts to trick you into failing their test, and Juniper attempts to make sure you pass. From the examples of people I've worked with, I would say the Juniper Certified people know what their doing, the ones with Cisco Certs, go to the Juniper Certs for help. Getting Certs is fine, but the people with the hands on experience are worth a lot more. Since we moved to Juniper for Core, and Distribution routers, I get a LOT more sleep at night, and our customers are a lot happier! Most JNCIE's walk the walk, not just talk the talk. |
| 2/13/04: sniffer guy from sunny californy says: |
Kind of reminds me of the ole "salary survey." Last survey I saw had a CCNP with over 5 yrs exp worth 72K. Well I make 52K and will never see 60K let alone 72. Like anything else, consider the source, and what does it have to gain. |
| 2/28/04: Joe from DC says: |
People that know the right people and know what there doing will always get the job. Life is politics. You gotta be hungry. If you get off your butt and really learn something you would have a job already. I don't know about the comment on the Juniper Expert certs compaired to the CCIE. The lower certs for sure though. There are no cheater study guides, so you either read the book and retained something, or you didn't. |
| 5/16/04: Mike from Ontario says: |
I'm thinking about getting my CCNA. In your opinion is it worth getting? Although I'm working right now (making use of my A+ certification) and I like my job I know it's a go-nowhere, dead end occupation and I'll need something more. I'm interested in reading more of what others have to say... |
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