Doing a CCNA with a half hearted attitude?

stewski said:
It wasn't continuous assessment, I think there were 2 separate exams on the Cisco site, although this is going back to 2005 ish. The University were a Cisco examination centre and offered it to external organisations (I know people who took the CCNA as external candidates at my Uni at that time). If I could be arsed I'd look up what my results were but I can't (think near 100%) :) The certification lapses anyway doesn't it?

The MS qualifications we did were not MS recognised, though they followed the spec/exams to the letter, you still had to re sit the exam at a certified centre.

Also the third year course was only based on the CCNP and that part did not get us a CCNP certificate, though that part of the course was far more interesting than the CCNA.
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Fair play for working whilst doing your degree, not easy. Yes it lapses, every three years, sounds more like the online Netacademy curriculum which imo was very good, the cert exams though are usually in Prometric etc test centres though, one of the reasons I liked the CCNA was it was much tougher for cheaters to pass via braindumps.
I did a networking degree but found the Cisco curriculum (if done properly) and the Cisco Press books much better, I certified 3 times but I`m 55 now and losing my mojo, I honestly feel like the effort may be beyond me :-(

In conclusion, I don't think it was the CCNA certification exam you did, doing the actual proper exam is a whole lot different.
 
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newbiejim said:
Fair play for working whilst doing your degree, not easy. Yes it lapses, every three years, sounds more like the online Netacademy curriculum which imo was very good, the cert exams though are usually in Prometric etc test centres though, one of the reasons I liked the CCNA was it was much tougher for cheaters to pass via braindumps.
I did a networking degree but found the Cisco curriculum (if done properly) and the Cisco Press books much better, I certified 3 times but I`m 55 now and losing my mojo, I honestly feel like the effort may be beyond me :-(

In conclusion, I don't think it was the CCNA certification exam you did, doing the actual proper exam is a whole lot different.
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You're never too old to have to recertify in I.T. Unfortunately :)

I have a Cisco badged Certificate with CCNA written on it somewhere in my loft. Also I know people who used my University/Lab to sit the CCNA exams the same as I did and those people also got a Cisco badged cert, so why you'd think that I don't know?

That said does it make much difference to us old farts?
 
stewski said:
You're never too old to have to recertify in I.T. Unfortunately :)

I have a Cisco badged Certificate with CCNA written on it somewhere in my loft. Also I know people who used my University/Lab to sit the CCNA exams the same as I did and those people also got a Cisco badged cert, so why you'd think that I don't know?

That said does it make much difference to us old farts?
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Fair play, it just didn't sound like it tbf :confused:
 
Just checked and the Uni still has a pearson/vue test centre, if that's what you're wondering.

Which part doesn't sound like the CCNA pointless eIGRP, the Cisco Press books with router adverts, or the learn by rote CLI?
 
stewski said:
Just checked and the Uni still has a pearson/vue test centre, if that's what you're wondering.

Which part doesn't sound like the CCNA pointless eIGRP, the Cisco Press books with router adverts, or the learn by rote CLI?
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Just your overall appraisal and vague recollection of exam/certification, maybe due to my high regard of the CCNA, and Cisco Press books imo are very good, learning by rote is part of learning any commands tho tbf.
 
newbiejim said:
Just your overall appraisal and vague recollection of exam/certification, maybe due to my high regard of the CCNA, and Cisco Press books imo are very good, learning by rote is part of learning any commands tho tbf.
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Well your interpretation of what I wrote, as not being exams. Saying 90-95% doesn't preclude 2 exams or suggest continual assessment, just that I don't have the exact grades.

As for learning cli, true to some degree, but at the high level (CCNP) they do better than just a command sequence memory test and actually test your understanding of those commands.
 
Is there anything genuinely exciting in the IT sphere? I can't say I've met anyone that was genuinely excited about their job after more than a couple months doing it :p

Jumping for joy is probably an unrealistic expectation for any job :p
 
stewski said:
Well your interpretation of what I wrote, as not being exams. Saying 90-95% doesn't preclude 2 exams or suggest continual assessment, just that I don't have the exact grades.

As for learning cli, true to some degree, but at the high level (CCNP) they do better than just a command sequence memory test and actually test your understanding of those commands.
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Not that alone, you didn't say it was ICND1 and ICND2 (which it would have been if doing 2 part CCNA), you didn't say exam was in test centre (rather a vague "lab"), you also said i "I think there were 2 separate exams on the Cisco site", exams are not on the Cisco site, this led me to believe perhaps it was the Cisco Netacad online content which DO have pseudo exams but not crucially CCNA certification. I`m not saying you didn't certify, I`m saying these points and your description of your perceived salient points about the CCNA cert don't point o a deep understanding, just saying :-)
 
newbiejim said:
Not that alone, you didn't say it was ICND1 and ICND2 (which it would have been if doing 2 part CCNA), you didn't say exam was in test centre (rather a vague "lab"), you also said i "I think there were 2 separate exams on the Cisco site", exams are not on the Cisco site, this led me to believe perhaps it was the Cisco Netacad online content which DO have pseudo exams but not crucially CCNA certification. I`m not saying you didn't certify, I`m saying these points and your description of your perceived salient points about the CCNA cert don't point o a deep understanding, just saying :-)
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Seeing as I took it 10 years ago and couldn't have given a monkeys about it at the time, I didn't specify which 2 exam parts I took with cisco acronyms/abbreviations.

I'd put it to you though that due to a difference of opinion, rather than address my points you've been nitpicking my (long out of date) qualification and wrongly I'll add. :)
 
stewski said:
Seeing as I took it 10 years ago and couldn't have given a monkeys about it at the time, I didn't specify which 2 exam parts I took with cisco acronyms/abbreviations.

I'd put it to you though that due to a difference of opinion, rather than address my points you've been nitpicking my (long out of date) qualification and wrongly I'll add. :)
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Firstly, apologies to OP for derailing, imo do it, it is very worthwhile.


We can agree to disagree, but I`ll address your points.

EIGRP, Such a spectacularly small part of CCNA its totally bizarre to highlight this.

Adverts in books.........I ignored this as thought the point was of little validity, my cisco press books haven't, and if they did I`m sure it wouldn't be intrusive?, or even worth highlighting as a worthy point?

Any more?
 
We can agree that it's worth doing.
As for the eigrp suff, it's in there and has to be learnt, for no reason other than proprietary lock in, no it isn't a massive chunk. A good deal of time is spent on simple language skills which IMHO is overblown. As for the small amount of what can only be described as adverts for Cisco kit, it's just jarring when on a University backed course and has little place in real learning. They were official Cisco press books. Maybe they've removed them since then?

But as I say (Back to the OP) I'd agree overall it's worth doing as a stepping stone to greater stuff, still better than the Microsoft stuff IMHO.

Thanks for moving on from the weak ad hom :)
 
stewski said:
We can agree that it's worth doing.
As for the eigrp suff, it's in there and has to be learnt, for no reason other than proprietary lock in, no it isn't a massive chunk. A good deal of time is spent on simple language skills which IMHO is overblown. As for the small amount of what can only be described as adverts for Cisco kit, it's just jarring when on a University backed course and has little place in real learning. They were official Cisco press books. Maybe they've removed them since then?

But as I say (Back to the OP) I'd agree overall it's worth doing as a stepping stone to greater stuff, still better than the Microsoft stuff IMHO.

Thanks for moving on from the weak ad hom :)
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lol, it's far from weak ;-), or ad hom tbf.

Anyways, I really enjoyed it and would recommend to anyone.
 
newbiejim said:
Wrong in what?

I`m not wrong in forming an opinion from what you said, as will many others reading this thread.
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Oh dear, you ad hom and avoid my points which are factually accurate.
Yes there is eIGRP a rarely used cisco propriety protocol taught.
Yes there is 3 layer Hierarchical emphasis.
Yes there is simple language emphasis.
Yes there were adverts for routers in books etc.

And on to your irrelevant ad hom/questioning of my quals.
Yes my uni are a pearsons/vue Cisco centre,
Yes I held the CCNA.
Yes I earned a printed certificate and a blue peter badge (well the first one)
Yes you formed an opinion of someone with a differing view to you and rather than addressing points took it to the qualifications of the man.

Yes people reading this thread will make up their own minds.
 
There are some chapters or areas which I loath. I'm on the 2nd exam (switch) of CCNP at the moment and one of my pet peeves is spanning tree, get and can work fine with it but need to brush up more, routing side I'm OK with still need to practise bgp stuff and when I get some in work, fine with ospf, eigrp and most other stuff.

I love networking, iv been a network engineer and still enjoy the job, there is loads more to networking than Cisco but I do love Cisco, saying that I hate revision a lot of the time as its time consuming

I have to do it some chunks, its all been self learnt, although I was working with it prior to anyway. But still

I used CBT nuggets videos, I have watched them, labbed them in gns3, I have all the lab ready to spin up through each scenario through icnd1 and 2 and ccnp route. Watch videos, lab, read online, read book, lab , practise questions

I'm 45% way through videos on switch exam for CCNP but sometimes it's hard to motivate myself, I will get a pattern going though hopefully
 
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The route exam was yeah, I thought the switch was shorter but more videos to go though probably just as much reading, not done many labs on the switch exam, only a couple, some I could not do in gns3 like spanning tree bpduguard and bpdufilter. Not checked if there is a wah around

I'm not looking forward to getting properly In to this revision and the exam. The route one was a bit of a menace, you have also got troubleshoot at that end

That will be it for me though, the way I look at it yeh OK I got icnd1 one year, icnd2 next which renewed, each exam you do you renew so I'm not full force rushing

If you can get around not letting them expire great! If they eventually expire down the line then at least you have been there I guess.

Depends if your going for a job which are like

"ahh I see you have tackled a CCNA" and have experience, come on in

Or

"Ahh so I see you have an expired CCNA , we need someone who's certified now" ( unlikely to happen, but I think there are some out there)

Most will see you have a wealth of knowledge working and have spend time been there done that it should be OK anyway.
 
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stewski said:
Oh dear, you ad hom and avoid my points which are factually accurate.
Yes there is eIGRP a rarely used cisco propriety protocol taught.
Yes there is 3 layer Hierarchical emphasis.
Yes there is simple language emphasis.
Yes there were adverts for routers in books etc.

And on to your irrelevant ad hom/questioning of my quals.
Yes my uni are a pearsons/vue Cisco centre,
Yes I held the CCNA.
Yes I earned a printed certificate and a blue peter badge (well the first one)
Yes you formed an opinion of someone with a differing view to you and rather than addressing points took it to the qualifications of the man.

Yes people reading this thread will make up their own minds.
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You are getting more bizarre. I have gave my opinions of which I`m entitled.

I am genuinely interested in this "simple language emphasis" criticism you tout though. I have NEVER heard anyone ever make that criticism of CCNA, I have NEVER seen that even alluded to, not exactly sure what it means.
 
newbiejim said:
You are getting more bizarre. I have gave my opinions of which I`m entitled.

I am genuinely interested in this "simple language emphasis" criticism you tout though. I have NEVER heard anyone ever make that criticism of CCNA, I have NEVER seen that even alluded to, not exactly sure what it means.
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Oh OK, now instead of simply dismissing all points as irrelevant you're picking one and saying no one agrees. :)

In summary I thought the CCNA was a piece of cake and I scored accordingly.

Those outside the Uni (external students) past it after a couple of weeks training and much of it is putting words in boxes based on their category/meaning, a simple language exercise. Probably part of the multichoice mentality that pervades a number of IT quals.

Frankly my degree I hold in higher regard than the "Company Certified" qualifications that made up some chunks of it.

Still if you renewed 3 times, to each their own...
 
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