Doing a CCNA with a half hearted attitude?

jsmoke

jsmoke

jsmoke

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We are getting some training just now at CCNA level(the first part - ICND1 I think). I find it interesting enough however I am not jumping for joy at learning and studying, it would be a good bit of a struggle to study for and gain a CCNA cert.

The idea of a better job spurs me on however so how passionate was anyone here who has done these certs about networking and studying or were you also mainly thinking of jobs and a better salary?
 
The CCNA was a little simplistic language test mostly (routed protocol v routing protocol) and unsurprisingly geared towards CISCO's worldview/gear. That said networking is interesting in my opinion, and the TCP/IP stuff is handy to know.

I wouldn't say I jumped for joy either.
 
I did the first CCNA qualification (minus the final exam) whilst doing my A-Levels. My 6th form network manager asked me if I fancied doing it, without the requirement to do the final exam, or having to pay anything for the evening class. I enjoyed the sessions, and learnt quite a bit (at the time, not sure how much I can remember now though!)

As I wasn't planning to go into a job that would need it, I wasn't bothered about paying the money for the final exam to actually get the qualification, I was just interested in learning the content.

If you're not enjoying it, you have to ask yourself; would you enjoy a job/career in the same field? As I would be concerned you wouldn't, and therefore it's worth considering something else.
 
Sure knowing the language differences are handy if a little overstated in the qualification. Learning about cisco proprietary routing protocols (say EIGRP) that are not widely used is at best irrelevant and at worst an advert for their lockin. On that subject the books have full on adverts for cisco routers embedded in them. The whole thing only gets going when you learn the 7 layer model and TCP/IP in general and the emphasis on command line for Cisco iOS by rote, is dull and on many modern routers nearly irrelevant. My place uses drayteks and only the theory has helped. The insistance on 3 layer hierarchical network design being the be all and end all is great if you're a company who sells network gear but unlike anything I've seen in medium/small business (I'm sure at the top end it's the beez knees to have a million routers on your network).

Still maybe it has moved on since my day...
 
Janesy B said:
Cobblers. The exam is not representative of real life.
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A lack of passion for the subject would imply that perhaps doing a certification geared at pursuing a networking role isn't the best decision. I honestly found the material in the CCNA translated incredibly well into real-world usage, barring the older stuff that nobody really uses any more (and has been cut out the newer syllabus as far as I know).

stewski said:
Sure knowing the language differences are handy if a little overstated in the qualification. Learning about cisco proprietary routing protocols (say EIGRP) that are not widely used is at best irrelevant and at worst an advert for their lockin. On that subject the books have full on adverts for cisco routers embedded in them. The whole thing only gets going when you learn the 7 layer model and TCP/IP in general and the emphasis on command line for Cisco iOS by rote, is dull and on many modern routers nearly irrelevant. My place uses drayteks and only the theory has helped. The insistance on 3 layer hierarchical network design being the be all and end all is great if you're a company who sells network gear but unlike anything I've seen in medium/small business (I'm sure at the top end it's the beez knees to have a million routers on your network).

Still maybe it has moved on since my day...
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I think this says a lot more about the perception of the course from the point of view of your organisation than the actual course content, to be honest. The switching and routing knowledge in the course is incredibly generic and applies to all networks. If you're just running DrayTek hardware then I'm not really surprised that you didn't feel the course was hugely useful, but that's not the fault of the course.
 
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Caged said:
I think this says a lot more about the perception of the course from the point of view of your organisation than the actual course content, to be honest. The switching and routing knowledge in the course is incredibly generic and applies to all networks. If you're just running DrayTek hardware then I'm not really surprised that you didn't feel the course was hugely useful, but that's not the fault of the course.
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You could say that if I hadn't done the course as part of my degree, long before I worked in my current role. Also I've worked with kit besides draytek including cisco.
I wouldn't say the course isn't useful as a starting block, but my specific complaints still stand.
As I say I didn't jump for joy, but few courses have evoked that reaction from me.
 
Right but you seemed to count your current employer using DrayTek devices as an entry in the 'against' column for the CCNA course. It read like you hinted that the CLI on modern routers was not a thing worth knowing about when honestly you couldn't be more wrong. That's why I brought the DrayTek part up - if that's all you need to touch then obviously knowing your way around IOS is pointless. But knowing IOS puts you in a very good position with other routers as well. VyOS is pretty much a clone, for example.

I don't agree with you that it's a giant Cisco advert, at all. But I guess it depends on how the course was taught. My course was led by a guy with more Cisco and Juniper certs than you could count, as well as having a PGCE and it was nothing like the course you described. None of the reading material I have (Cisco eReader) has router adverts in.
 
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I moved into the network support scene a few years ago and did the CCNA, although I didn't do the final exam. After having spent a year studying the four modules and passing those exams with pretty decent marks, I couldn't face going through the whole lot again for a qualification that would only last three years before it needed renewing.

As far as the content is concerned, the fundamentals were very interesting and useful and the cli work was useful from an introductory point of view but we don't use Cisco equipment so specifics didn't help.

I would say go for it, if only for a good overview of networking rather than anything else, unless you want to work with Cisco equipment.
 
jsmoke said:
The idea of a better job spurs me on however so how passionate was anyone here who has done these certs about networking and studying or were you also mainly thinking of jobs and a better salary?
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I've been working in IT for almost 5 years and now in a senior infrastructure position with a decent salary. During those years I've had two promotions and moved through 3 companies... all from my experience, work ethic and skill set that I developed on the job.

I'm doing my first ever vmware certification (Data Center Virtualization) which is supplementing my day job and helping me with migration projects so I'm really enjoying and benefiting from it. But I wouldn't do it purely for the money because once you've gotten the job; you'll still need to deliver and that shiny CCNA badge isn't going to help unless you've learnt something from it.
 
Good Network Engineers are a special breed, so you can gain the cert and progress but if you aren't enjoying it you might consider something else for your own personal benefit :-)
 
stewski said:
You could say that if I hadn't done the course as part of my degree, long before I worked in my current role. Also I've worked with kit besides draytek including cisco.
I wouldn't say the course isn't useful as a starting block, but my specific complaints still stand.
As I say I didn't jump for joy, but few courses have evoked that reaction from me.
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Did you sit and pass the exam?

I found it very rewarding and having the knowledge to successfully pass the exam certainly was worth it.
 
I'd just knuckle down and get it done, even if you never use it - its a nice thing to fall back on and a further string to your bow etc - especially if you arent paying for it yourself
 
newbiejim said:
Did you sit and pass the exam?

I found it very rewarding and having the knowledge to successfully pass the exam certainly was worth it.
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Yeah we did the CCNA as part of our first year, which I generally got in the 90-95% mark for. Disclaimer I had worked in I.T/Development for 15 years when I did the degree, so maybe a chunk of it was old news. :)

I never said the CCNA isn't worth it, nor did I say it is one giant advert, I complained about the teaching of the occasional pointless cisco proprietary protocol and that the CLI learn by rote approach of the CCNA isn't that helpful. The Cisco books my Universities library supplied did have full on adverts in them.

The CCNP stuff we did in the 3rd year was far more challenging and the CLI test had puzzles to solve, so you couldn't pass just by learning the sequences you had to understand what was happening.

As I said with the CCNA I didn't jump for joy unlike say my programming courses, however it's worth picking up especially if you're relatively new to networking.
 
I have never been interested in Cisco stuff. I did the ICND1 2 years ago and found the CCNA R&S of no interest. Recently Cisco has changed the prerequisites of the CCNA Security so i can now do that instead of the CCNA R&S. Working in security this appeals to me more. I have recently built up another lab to get me going.
 
stewski said:
Yeah we did the CCNA as part of our first year, which I generally got in the 90-95% mark for. Disclaimer I had worked in I.T/Development for 15 years when I did the degree, so maybe a chunk of it was old news. :)

I never said the CCNA isn't worth it, nor did I say it is one giant advert, I complained about the teaching of the occasional pointless cisco proprietary protocol and that the CLI learn by rote approach of the CCNA isn't that helpful. The Cisco books my Universities library supplied did have full on adverts in them.

The CCNP stuff we did in the 3rd year was far more challenging and the CLI test had puzzles to solve, so you couldn't pass just by learning the sequences you had to understand what was happening.

As I said with the CCNA I didn't jump for joy unlike say my programming courses, however it's worth picking up especially if you're relatively new to networking.
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I`m confused by the "generally got 90-95%" like that was some kind of continuous assessment?, the CCNA isnt, its either one or two exams which you get a clear mark for?

I ask because Paisley University used to teach an outdated CCNA curriculum but at no point did anyone get the actual CCNA certification, unless of course they elected to do it themselves.
 
newbiejim said:
I`m confused by the "generally got 90-95%" like that was some kind of continuous assessment?, the CCNA isnt, its either one or two exams which you get a clear mark for?

I ask because Paisley University used to teach an outdated CCNA curriculum but at no point did anyone get the actual CCNA certification, unless of course they elected to do it themselves.
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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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