Cisco CCENT/CCNA

Been meaning to make a central post for Cisco certs but still haven't got around to it... Might give it a go tonight.

As GhostlyPea has said, get the official Cisco Press books. There are two routes to getting the CCNA, taking the 100-101 (which makes you a CCENT) and then taking the 200-101. Passing both of those exams will make you a CCNA. The other option is to do a single, all-in-one exam, the 200-120. Either buy the 100-101 and 200-101 official cert guides, or the 200-120 official cert guide.

CBT Nuggets charge for their video series. Jeremy Cioara (who does the CCNA vids for CBT Nuggets) makes his videos entertaining and easy to understand, but they lack depth.

INE do free streaming of their videos if you register with them (no costs involved). I find that Brian McGahan does into a lot more depth in his videos.
 
Unfortunately that's what always is in job specs. Without experience you're going nowhere. I had a lucky break, in that I was able to move departments internally to Networks (although I worked very hard to get there) - others may not be that fortunate. The best way in is to find an MSP and go in at the bottom (Helpdesk stuff or service desk at a provider) and show an interest.

- GP
 
They may ask for it but apply anyway. 90% of job specs aren't necessarily requirements, but what the company desires. Providing you feel able to do what is needed at minimum and show potential in the interview then you stand good enough chance. My company employs a lot of people who are either green behind the ears or only have a small amount of experience so don't let it put you off

- GP
 
The important thing is like you said, dont think of it as a requirement, if they know that you know your stuff they'll take a risk on you, dont avoid applying just because of the job listing
 
GhostlyPea said:
AStaley - Grab both the official books from Cisco Press, that with CBT should be all the "dry" material you need. I think there are some combined lab books from Cisco too, they would be handy. if there's anything you're unsure of just post here and we can go over it

- GP
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Thanks for the reply. What's confusing me is that the books I am looking at and the one I listed are Official Cisco press, all cover CCENT/CCNA. And see, to have simulated labs which I think will be very useful along with the practice exams.

Thanks to a member on another forum I'm also fortunate enough to have the Cisco Packet Tracer software 5.3. And through work I have two Cisco 870's and Cisco 1841 routers with 12.4/15.xx IOS's.

http://www.informit.com/store/cisco-ccna-routing-and-switching-200-120-official-cert-9781587144875

http://www.informit.com/store/cisco-ccna-routing-and-switching-200-120-official-cert-9781587143878

http://www.informit.com/store/cisco-ccna-routing-and-switching-200-120-official-cert-9781587204661
 
There are different courses designed to run for self study and from classes. Looking at it you want

ICND-1
ICND-2

I think those are right, my CCNA books are from the previous edition, although it doesn't really matter too much. The courses are different only in delivery, the content is the same

- GP
 
GhostlyPea said:
There are different courses designed to run for self study and from classes. Looking at it you want

ICND-1
ICND-2

I think those are right, my CCNA books are from the previous edition, although it doesn't really matter too much. The courses are different only in delivery, the content is the same

- GP
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The two book you've listed where the ones I intended to get before seeing the others. The three I've listed both cover ICND1/ICND2 as well, looking at the description it's probably a re-publication of the other two in to one.

Think this is the one I will go for as it seems to have everything you listed in the other two plus free copies of the eBooks which I find great for storing on my iPad.

Thanks for the replies/advice GhostlyPea, it's much appreciated.

http://www.informit.com/store/cisco-ccna-routing-and-switching-200-120-official-cert-9781587144875

My reason for getting it through InformIT instead of Amazon is that InformIT will upgrade the eBook free if any errata are published.

Thanks for the replies GhostlyPea, it's much appreciated.
 
No worries. Take care with the Academic Editions though, I think those are the books designed to work on an instructor led course. I don't know if it will focus correctly for self study. might make no difference but best to be aware

- GP
 
kalvindeane said:
Might I ask why you want the cert in the first place?
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My networking knowledge is shockingly poor at the moment, most of the work I do is on servers and the networking side is outsourced. I'm looking at the CCNA as being a pre-requisite for certification on the server side or possibly security (pen testing) down the line.

My company also have 16 Cisco routers and 2 ASA's which are outsourced, rather than call the support company each time I want a change made it would be nice to be able to make the change myself and only refer to them around higher end/security matters.

My company has also asked me to gain some certifications to look good when they refer to our IT dept, the certifications I pursue are entirely up to me and as I said earlier Cisco is a good starting block.
 
Can anyone give some advice on balancing your work and your study time (people already in a networking role will know sometimes things can get quite busy)

I want to ensure that when I do sit down this properly and start going through the material again after my lapse between finding and getting this new job, that I am going to be able to properly motivate and manage my study time.

My last job was quite heavy on workload, by the last few months I was there I had no motivation for coming home and studying at all.

Also any tips on the quickest and most efficient way of studying, as I tend to take a lot of notes, I find my note taking sometimes saps the time when going through videos/labs and I feel I have hardly turned a page through the modules
 
If possible I like to keep a copy of any books/documents/videos I'm learning from at hand. Whether they are on my PC, phone, tablet or physical books. If you don't get many opportunities to sit down for a couple of hours at a time then it can be useful to spend 10 minutes reading whenever possible.

If you have a company lab environment then make use of that whilst in work. If you're using any lab equipment, whether it be in work or at home, set up a method of remotely accessing it so you can lab whenever you get the time. Currently searching for a masterswitch PDU for my lab so that I can remotely power it on.

Personally I read the Cisco Press books once whilst taking notes on anything that I'm unfamiliar with/liable to forget, and then just refer to my notes from there onwards, labbing everything that I can.

Make use of the Cisco documentation if your learning materials leave you with any unanswered questions. You can find out pretty much anything on their site!

Or, alternatively, take time off from work and give me your job... :p
 
DJMK4 said:
Can anyone give some advice on balancing your work and your study time (people already in a networking role will know sometimes things can get quite busy)

I want to ensure that when I do sit down this properly and start going through the material again after my lapse between finding and getting this new job, that I am going to be able to properly motivate and manage my study time.

My last job was quite heavy on workload, by the last few months I was there I had no motivation for coming home and studying at all.

Also any tips on the quickest and most efficient way of studying, as I tend to take a lot of notes, I find my note taking sometimes saps the time when going through videos/labs and I feel I have hardly turned a page through the modules
Click to expand...

Right now for me, there pretty much isn't a balance, my life is 95% Cisco with occasional trips to Scotland... I pretty much eat/drink/sleep networks, in the daytime I'm leading a UK wide core upgrade, in the evening I'm doing training courses, at the weekend I'm either using Junosphere or GNS3/Remote labs to do my own studies.. It's silly but as a single guy living in the middle of London, there isn't that much else to do lol...

On the subject of studying, the method that worked best for me previously (I've done a lot of certs, including CCIE) is to book the exam before you even start studying, whether it's for the CCNA or any exam - once the date is booked and paid for, it activates a certain part of me which just makes me work, it's always on my mind - it can't be escaped..

If you have the motivation and enthusiasm, you'll find a way in the end, it depends what your goals are and whether you just want a few certs, or whether you want to start replacing the veins in your body with 850nm fibre :D
 
kalvindeane said:
Nice. :)

What sort of time frame are you aiming for?
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ICND1 course is booked for the end of Nov. ICND2 is booked for the end of Feb, although I'm wondering about moving it back a few months to April/May.

After that not sure what I intend to do, either follow up with MCITP or something more security related which is an area I am more interested in having sat down with a pen tester and watch him exploit a network.

Actually sitting down with a good pen tester and watching what they can do with cross site scripting/SQL injection and all the tools you can easily download from the web is really an eye opener on what's possible. Watching what can be done with a program like Burp to rip a site to shreds is frightening.
 
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