What are the major job skills Cisco professionals should have?
The number one skill — which they don’t test for — is the ability to research and learn on your own. The CCNA demonstrates an ability to learn the concepts. That is good. But it doesn’t show whether someone can actually solve problems on their own. Whether you’re working in the enterprise or for a service provider, you’re dealing with real-world problems. You need to be able to solve these on your own, and you can’t teach that. Also, inventory your non-technical skills. For example, in the enterprise, it’s helpful to know something about the business. So make sure you learn something about the company and what it does before you go in there. Try to give them some particular idea of why you are the best candidate for solving their particular problems, other than your ability to press buttons on a router. We hire people who do site management and such [for clients in the medical profession]. One of the things that I might do is if someone walks up to me and says, “I was a paramedic or
