6 STEPS to IT CAREER SUCCESS!! - ft. Kevin Wallace | CCNA | CCNP | CCIE | Network+

About this video

An interview with Kevin Wallace, described as a CCIE and author of the CCNP Route book, laying out six steps to IT career success plus a step zero. Step zero is non-technical soft skills — interviewing, resume, goal-setting and consulting — and Wallace offers NetworkChuck viewers a free course called ‘Your Blueprint to Your IT Career Success’ covering them, advising viewers to list only their highest-level certs rather than every cert. Step 1 is CompTIA Network+, which Wallace now recommends despite Chuck previously arguing to skip it: not for hiring punch, but for broad foundations such as cabling standards and fiber that he says the current CCNA leaves out, referencing the ‘double-oh-seven’ revision. Step 2 is CCNA Routing and Switching as the core, resume-visible foundation because everything routes and switches. Step 3 is CCNA Cyber Ops, with Wallace citing figures he hears of six million cybersecurity jobs in the next couple of years and 1.5 million going unfilled. Step 4 is network programmability, SDN and Python instead of relying only on CLI. Step 5 is CCNP Routing and Switching to prove depth. Step 6 is ‘choose your own adventure’ specialisation, with a long caution on CCIE: Wallace describes studying every day from August to the following March except Christmas for his last collaboration IE, and warns the time cost, health and family impact, and differing learning curves mean it only makes sense with a deep desire for it.

Key takeaways

• Start with soft skills (step zero): interview conduct, a resume showing only highest-level certs, goal-setting — Wallace offers a free blueprint course for this.
• Do Network+ for your own breadth, CCNA Routing and Switching for employer-visible core competence; Wallace argues CCNA alone misses basics like cabling and fiber.
• Add Cyber Ops and programmability as new foundations: security underpins everything, and Python/SDN automation is reshaping even collaboration and other tracks.
• Return to Routing and Switching for CCNP to demonstrate depth — Wallace says hiring managers read NP as a significantly bigger punch than NA alone.
• Treat CCIE as optional and desire-driven, not a default next step: Wallace recounts daily study from August to March except Christmas and warns it can consume health and family life.

Episode details: published November 9, 2018 · 23:23 long. Summary written by Self Growth Videos from the episode itself. Business results and any income figures mentioned are NetworkChuck’s own claims, shared for education — they are not typical or guaranteed.

← Previous: HOW to Start Coding (RIGHT NOW!) as a Network Engineer - ICND1 | CCNA CCNP & Intent-Based Networking · Next: What if you forgot EVERYTHING? - Re-Learning IT after MEMORY LOSS w/ Shawn Powers | Linux | CCNA →

All NetworkChuck videos · NetworkChuck profile · NetworkChuck on YouTube