How Long Did You Take To Get CCNP Certified?

hitmen

assuming that you are not working?

fredrikjj

Route: 3 months
Switch: 2 months
Tshoot: a few weeks where I mostly reviewed the material from route.

Close to zero knowledge on routing going in, but I had some background in administrating layer 2 switches. It's hard to estimate how much I actually studied since the hours varied day by day, but an average of 3 hours per day is probably fair. It can be done faster if you optimize your studying by spending very little time on BGP (large topic but only 5% of score) and Wireless and QoS (lots of pages but only 5% of the score on switch). You could also do practice tests and flash cards. Ultimately though, I think it's better to spend a bit more time and learn all exam topics well.

hitmen

You studied them one after another or at the same time? concurrently or consecutively?

fredrikjj

In the above order. I think it makes sense to do route first since the switch exam has some layer 3 topics that you get for free if you know some basic routing.

kohr-ah

Took me 8 months while working.
So I'd say 5 months not working.

Dieg0M

about 3 months without working, ROUTE > SWITCH > T SHOOT all consecutevely. Work experience will accelerate the process if you have some.

Cat5

I'd be curious as to the length for those who were working and also had a wife and kids at home.

aaron0011

About a year to do CCNP Voice. Had a lot of experience, spent about six months studying/labbing unfamiliar topics, and then took the five exams about one month apart with re-reading in between.

Not on the same pace with Route/Switch. Passed SWITCH a year ago and still not ready for ROUTE. Really busy year with a large Voice and Lync project. My lack of real world experience with OSPF, BPG, and IPv6 isn't helping either as that's how I learn best. I'll get around to it by the end of the year hopefully.

Iristheangel

Almost a year because I stopped studying for a couple months in between
In order:
Switch - 3 months using OCG and FLG
Route - 6-7 months using OCG, FLG, and Route Simplified
Tshoot - 1 month because I decided to read Tshoot Simplified but it was really unnecessary

Cat5

Iristheangel wrote: »

Almost a year because I stopped studying for a couple months in between
In order:
Switch - 3 months using OCG and FLG
Route - 6-7 months using OCG, FLG, and Route Simplified
Tshoot - 1 month because I decided to read Tshoot Simplified but it was really unnecessary

About what percent of your studying was reading/watching videos vs. labbing? Or did you already have plenty of production experience with NP-level concepts?

pevangel

ROUTE - 3 months while working with lots of downtime using OCG, FLG, CBT Nuggets, and Lab Guide
SWITCH - 2 months while working with not so much downtime (I just got a new job) using FLG, How to Master CCNP Switch, and Lab Guide
TSHOOT - Didn't study

The IT Guy

I recall it taking me about 12 months start to finish. I was working full-time and was finishing up by Bachelors in networking at the same time. Also married with 3 kids. CCDP took another 6 months while being swamped the many network deployments during that particular time.

Iristheangel

Cat5 wrote: »

About what percent of your studying was reading/watching videos vs. labbing? Or did you already have plenty of production experience with NP-level concepts?

I do remember watching videos but I don't think I actually finished the videos since I didn't feel they went in depth enough. I also tried enrolling in a community college CCNP class which I went to maybe 4 classes total. I found self-study through books and labbing the easiest way for me. At the beginning of last year, there was a big push to add redundancy (multiple circuits, routers, L3 switches, etc) to the locations, some data center work, our IGP standard changed which required re-configuring routing at every location, and a huge corporate office move that involved ASRs, WLCs, VSS, multiple circuits, etc. I was pretty much configuring and leading most of these projects so I got a LOT of hands on. It made route and my job a bit easier.

mistabrumley89

I have a family. A daughter of 15 months. My son was born June 15th this year.

ROUTE: 4 Months
SWITCH: 2.5 Months (Test on Wednesday)(Had a lot more layer 2/3 switching knowledge than I had thought going into it)
TSHOOT: will probably take me 2 months because I'm going overseas August 11th

I sacrificed a lot of valuable time away from my family that I can never get back, but I have to prepare myself for transitioning out of the military in the next year or two. All of this is with working nearly 60 hours a week. It was rough, but it all depends how much drive and determination someone has. I don't want to move my family around every few years, so preparing myself for the civilian sector has been pretty high on my priority list. Being a quick learner also helped. TE Forums was the biggest help. I would have been lacking going into my exams if it wasn't for the valuable input from everyone on what materials to study.

stlsmoore

I bet it's going to take me about 12 months total. I'm done with ROUTE and pretty much ready for SWITCH. I want to spend sometime reviewing routing topics before TSHOOT but now we have this new CCNP R&S deadline...

Williamtomisser

Hello all. I just started my CCNP Route. I always question how people pass this in "one month" lol. Are these people actually even studying the material? Mabye they are already in the field? EEhh seems kinda weird. I had a guy at my last job get his CCNP switch in three weeks? WTF? I just wanted to tell him "how"? He did know his stuff though. My CCNA took me a little over a year, this test should take almost two if you are ACTUALLY studying the materials, not just passing the test. I hate to be a D but I needed to express this. I am a network admin and if I didn't study so hard everyday it would show and people would see through my BS. So please learn the material and don't just pass the test for all of our sake. These certs need to stay valuable.

shortstop20

It's just a little pretentious to suggest how long people need to study for the exams.

Phiers

haha. did u notice the date on this thread? its not even the latest version of the exam people were talking about, and if you read the signatures, several of the 2014 crowd have ccies now, so im guessing they knew what worked for them

dontstop

What kind of per-day hours is everyone who commented doing? 3-4?

Ismaeljrp

dontstop wrote: »

What kind of per-day hours is everyone who commented doing? 3-4?

I personally tried 2 hours a day for about 11 weeks for the CCNP ROUTE exam. I failed the exam. I rushed the date as I wanted to attempt to renew my CCNA with a Pass. I realized 3 weeks out I wouldn't be ready in time, but already paid for that exam. Had a score around 600.

I think I might have been about 6-8 weeks away of really being ready for it at 2 hours per day + work experience.

I'm near my CCNA exam date and fully expect to pass, then go straight into CCNP ROUTE. For that I'll put in 2 hours on weekdays and 5 hours each saturday and sunday. It has to be focused with a good and effective study plan though. I hope somewhere around 9-12 weeks will be enough.

Burns82

for me it was about a year to achieve the certs.
Tshoot-2weeks
Route- 4months
switch-3months
spending on average 4hrs day mon-frid and on weekends much more. Had breaks in between the exams

Node Man

This thread needs a mortician. But as long as we are here:

Assuming a person fails each test once, and gets burned out for about 3 months after 5 months of preparing for each test.... maybe 18 months from beginning to end.

drewbert87

Ya know before I started I would have said no way, I'll be doing all 3 consecutively no problem. Now that I've been studying for ROUTE every day for 5 months I think your answer is very wise and accurate for most.

esr0159

Took me a while to get my CCNP
2015-Route (approx 6 to 8mos of study)
2016-Switch (6 to 7mos of study)
2017-Tshoot (1 month of study)

slushpuppy

I think it varies greatly on life situations as to study time, I don't think any sort of metric can be firmly put on it.

ROUTE took me 6-8 months but I did a lot of unneeded labbing on my home rack, just to test certain behaviors, but my work also required my to know everything about Data routing across all vendor platforms (as per usual at an MSP) so I had some difficulty after work shifting gears to routers as most edge devices I see are firewalls and Vons.

I have to say though, the unnecessary time spent labbing was so fun, and the feeling of accomplishment when I finally understood the SPF Database and Areas / LSA types, once that particular topic completely clicked I felt like the ROUTE master.

So I feel personally that emersing yourself into labbing, it is so fun, SWITCH is good and more pertinent knowledge for my job, but I had so much fun labbing ROUTE scenarios all night, it wasn't even a chore which may sound weird.

SWITCH content is so much easier to retain though, I am kicking myself for doing ROUTE first, as now I'll have to brush up on that before TSHOOT. Looking back I'd advise anyone to go through SWITCH first.

Good luck on your journey!

studygal

It took me 1 year to self study for the CCNP exam. I also worked full time and have networking experience. I studied on the weekends. I bought the Cisco textbooks that I bought online and I also bought a Cisco lab book to practice for the tests.