That’s the issue I have with the CCNA. It focuses strongly on what a network engineer does, but someone just getting a CCNA is 95% not going to get a job doing that

Hell at my work we use LISP and BGP. So the core part of the exam I don’t touch. Then factor in a Linux or windows server is running DNS, NTP, SNMP, and DHCP. And I’m practically just working with VLANs, PoE, and very rarely ACLs.

The CCNA is a great cert for a network engineer wanting to Polish up. And it’s a good cert to flex at recruiters, but the usefulness of its limited for most associate level techs. The time spent on the Net+, Sec+, and LPIC/Linux+ would serve you much better.