Are they releasing the new curriculum in the comparision guides, or any other material for me to have a read through? I completed all four modules during the spring and currently revising to take the exam for the certification.
CCNA - Learning from home?
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Are they releasing the new curriculum in the comparision guides, or any other material for me to have a read through? I completed all four modules during the spring and currently revising to take the exam for the certification.
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That's the one. This is the new course with added options of wireless networking and security, both very useful in the workplace now. Also they lose a few of the older routing protocols such as IGRP and ISDN is featured far less and DSL is included.
The open university will give you a personal tutor and you can pick which study centres to go for (a tip for you, as soon as the day school day dates become available to book, get your booking in and get the best days and locations for you.) My study centre was Sunderland College and the lecturer/tutor was David Evans, he was excellent, good teaching style and a fountain of knowledge.
The OU will give you a timetable of what to study and when to, easy to follow and the course assignments will enhance your learning and keep you well motivated. The course is now 10months long and so is easier paced, you will probably be able to pay over 9 payments with an Open University student account (rule of thumb , number of payments is usually one less than the course length).
You will have full access to the Cisco online Academy, library of resources and simulators such as packet tracer 4.1 which enables you to build some damn complex networks using all the latest routers and catalyst switches. You can access the Cisco forums, get invited to special job days where IT companies are recruiting new CCNAs and CCNPs. You also have access to a course online forum as well, which is great for help and advice.
Also from October 2008 Open University will be offering the full CCNP as well
I will be there for that!!
If I can help you anymore send me an email and I will hopefully help.
Rob H
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That's the one. This is the new course with added options of wireless networking and security, both very useful in the workplace now. Also they lose a few of the older routing protocols such as IGRP and ISDN is featured far less and DSL is included.
The open university will give you a personal tutor and you can pick which study centres to go for (a tip for you, as soon as the day school day dates become available to book, get your booking in and get the best days and locations for you.) My study centre was Sunderland College and the lecturer/tutor was David Evans, he was excellent, good teaching style and a fountain of knowledge.
The OU will give you a timetable of what to study and when to, easy to follow and the course assignments will enhance your learning and keep you well motivated. The course is now 10months long and so is easier paced, you will probably be able to pay over 9 payments with an Open University student account (rule of thumb , number of payments is usually one less than the course length).
You will have full access to the Cisco online Academy, library of resources and simulators such as packet tracer 4.1 which enables you to build some damn complex networks using all the latest routers and catalyst switches. You can access the Cisco forums, get invited to special job days where IT companies are recruiting new CCNAs and CCNPs. You also have access to a course online forum as well, which is great for help and advice.
Also from October 2008 Open University will be offering the full CCNP as well
I will be there for that!!
If I can help you anymore send me an email and I will hopefully help.
Rob H
Thank you have been really helpful
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I would love to along but I cannot get the time off to go
, I got the invite last month on academy sign-in page, don't know if there would be any local employers attending though, unfortunately I can't/don't want to relocate.Rob H
just so you know, the OU course does NOT give you the CCNA certification. Once you compleat the CCNA course you will have all the knowledge needed to go out and find a place to take the actual tests to get the certification, which will cost more money. This may make the course sound less worthwhile, but its still a great course for people like me as i plan on using it as one of the optional level 2 courses to go towards my ICT degree.
no matter which way you study for the ccna, the actual exam at the end is always extra. the only exception that i can think of is if you go and do the weeks course and do the exam straight after, assuming the place is a prometric testing centre - but even then the cost of the exam will still be bundled into the cost of the course.
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How much is the exam at the end?
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£105.
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Thanks
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Just to add my thoughts, I've got to CCNP / CCDP level without ever doing a course. True I have all the equipment I need to play with at work but I think courses are overated and tend to be targeted at people who have no idea what a network is. I'd say if you read the books, and take it in, the CCNA is easily doable without ever touching a router. (I freely admit I'm biased though, the material in the CCNA course looks very basic to me but if you haven't worked iwth it day in day out then you'll likely think different.)
CCIE for me in a couple of months though!
CCIE for me in a couple of months though!
Very true, most courses just teach whats in the books anyway. CCIE has gone down in my estimations to be fair, I spent most of last year studying only to fail by about 5 points <thought about a reread>, then I watched someone I know download copies of all 6 labs from a website for about $1200, then go and pass on his 2nd attempt, this is someone who knows how to configure an NSSA, but doesn't know what a stub area is
and there are a lot of these people knocking around now. I interviewed a CCIE a few months back who didn't know what was supernet was, he hadn't even heard of an advertise-map before.. Pretty bleak really..I'm already doing a job at that level on those wages anyway, my company have offered me a decent payrise to complete the lab, but due to the demand a seat in brussels is now over a year wait, and they're putting the price up AND all attempts have to be 6 months apart..
good luck anyway
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With the OU you can sit a online exam and if you pass with 70% you get a 50% discount voucher for the CCNA certification exam at PearsonVue test centres in the UK. PearsonVue is the ONLY UK testing centre for all Cisco exams, Prometric do not offer the exams anymore.
Rob H
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Very true, most courses just teach whats in the books anyway. CCIE has gone down in my estimations to be fair, I spent most of last year studying only to fail by about 5 points <thought about a reread>, then I watched someone I know download copies of all 6 labs from a website for about $1200, then go and pass on his 2nd attempt, this is someone who knows how to configure an NSSA, but doesn't know what a stub area is
I'm already doing a job at that level on those wages anyway, my company have offered me a decent payrise to complete the lab, but due to the demand a seat in brussels is now over a year wait, and they're putting the price up AND all attempts have to be 6 months apart..
good luck anyway
thanks mate, I'm actually cheating and doing the storage networking CCIE this time, it's pretty easy to be honest, just set up a storage network with FCIP add ons etc...
I wouldn't look at doing the pure IP stuff with cisco anymore, I've already done a JNCIE (juniper equivalent to CCIE) on M series routers so I think that'll do on the routing side for a few years.
Good stuff,
I've never looked into the storage side, its something i've hardly ever worked with, all I know is that the study materials for it are pretty rare, but I guess if work off the exam blueprints etc you'll always know what to work on/what not to.
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What about a combination of the two. I could ask my company if I could get some hands on experience and just read about the course on my own?
Money is tight so I dont want to waste £750 on a course that I dont really need. The money is a big issue.
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The best thing you could do is get some course notes (if your lucky somebody at work will have them) and the run through it with some kit so you have some hands on experience.
To be honest the actual config in the CCNA is so basic (when I did it at least) that mastering the theory side and understanding subnetting is by far the hardest part.
I'd run through the course notes and play with some kit, try and get them to give you some stuff to take home if you can, you really need to get some practice configuring it for real world situation rather than abstract labs. In that respect I've been lucky as I was always provisioning client solutions when I was doing my exams.
I don't think anybody with a basic knowledge of the command line and some grasp of subnetting should need to do the course to be honest.
EDIT: I may have missed you sayign earlier but will work not pay for you to do it, I claimed all my exams as expenses, the only limitation was they'd only pay for one resit, after that you were on your own. They'd pay for course too but I never felt the need to do them.
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They are quite mean with training anyone over the age of 24. I am not sure why. We are a huge international company yet they wont pay for training.
I am having a word with my manager and trying to get some hands of experience. Maybe work the odd day or so with our guys. I'd even do it in my own time if needed.
Just bought the official CCNA certification book myself - read and re read 4 or 5 times. Picked out the core subjects to know inside out i.e subnetting etc and took a couple of test exams. When I finally went for the exam it was much easier than I thought it would be. I wouldnt bother with the courses unless you know nothing about networking and then its only going to introduce you to the subjects - the reading starts after that
done the same for the CCNP and also the CCIE Sec written. Have finally bought some kit for the CCIE Lab as you need to know the kit inside out.
done the same for the CCNP and also the CCIE Sec written. Have finally bought some kit for the CCIE Lab as you need to know the kit inside out.
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Is that the actual name of the book? "Offical CCNA certification book" ?