4 months enough time to prepare for Net+?

This past Friday I became A+ certified. Proud to finally have done it. Now I want to get going with my studies for the Network+. The N10-005 exam will be retired August 31st of this year and I would like to take that exam before it is retired. I could take the newest version but currently there are no books out for the new exam and I would like to get started studying and preparing ASAP.

So I would like to get opinions as to wether 4 months is enough time for one to be well prepared to sit for the exam and pass it? Also, I like the Exam Cram series of books. I find that it helped me a lot when preparing for my A+. Would this be enough to prepare for the exam?

Today was my first day of officially starting my IT career working for a major airline as a Network Field Engineer. Fancy title but pretty much installing and setting up servers and switches and routers. I want to get my Network+ to help me at my current job and ultimately continue on to the CCENT and CCNA. My boss is great and told me I'll be learning a lot as I go and he will teach me everything he can. I'm super excited to have been given such a great oppurtunity and hope to excel.

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paq7512

On the job experience in networking and a good boss, easy peasy. I would read through the exam cram and notate the items you don't know about, ask your boss, look up, and re-read. Plenty of time! Nothing else needed for this test.

Techie19

I see that you already have the Net+, CCENT & CCNA. Aside from the hands on experience which is better than anything, would you say that the Net+ will help me in my current job? And am I on the right path with regards to the Certs I want to get?

HailHogwash

Techie19 wrote: »

Today was my first day of officially starting my IT career working for a major airline as a Network Field Engineer. Fancy title but pretty much installing and setting up servers and switches and routers. I want to get my Network+ to help me at my current job and ultimately continue on to the CCENT and CCNA. My boss is great and told me I'll be learning a lot as I go and he will teach me everything he can. I'm super excited to have been given such a great oppurtunity and hope to excel.

skip N+ and go for CCNA .. better ROI esp since you have already got you foot in the door.

paq7512

Techie19 wrote: »

Today was my first day of officially starting my IT career working for a major airline as a Network Field Engineer.

I'm not exactly sure what you do with that title?

I work as an IT Security Admin, and all I touch is ASAs, Juniper SRX's, Fortinet's, Cisco Router's, and Extreme Switches. Do not get focused on the certs. Focus on the technologies. Also there are some great videos on CCNA, CCNP courses on www.udemy.com and search "udemy coupon" on Google. Christ Bryant is there and is great, also like videos from Sikandar.

Since you are starting out go with then N+, knock that out, if you are inline to work on Cisco devices go CCNA, if not start with the CCENT, either way watch training videos mentioned above. Also spend some time working with Juniper, as they have great features and are very popular.

As far as which is better, when troubleshooting experience hands down. Time. Time. Time. When you study make sure you lab! Once you are ready to start your Cisco studies get GNS3 which works hand in hand.

NetworkNewb

Like another said, I would skip the Network+. Waste of money. Go for your CCENT then CCNA. Alot of overlap between the Network+ and CCENT. You will learn how networks work ALOT more from the CCENT though.

Techie19

The tittle is a bit exaggerated but that's the job title they use. I want to say Network Technician is more fitting.

As far as responsibilities: installing primarily Cisco routers, switches, servers, UPS's in racks. Cable management. Cat 5e/6 Terminating. Since this Is a job working for an airline, the Field part of the job entails traveling to other airports, both domestically and internationally, and setting up LAN rooms/closets with the networking needs needed at such airport.

Techie19

Today we went to a location where the LAN rooms have to be updated with new equipment. New switches and routers. Also, cable management is a priority at most locations. Attached are some pics. I thought that pics like these were only myths. Today saw it for myself for the first time.

Ugh, I hope you really enjoy cable management, you are unique if you do. Pictures like that will probably be more common than not.

BlueRoze

You should be able to study up for Net+ in 4 months, especially if you have job experience to back it up. The students I teach usually have no job experience (training center on a military base) and only 4 weeks. We have a pretty high pass rate. Granted, they get 7.5 hours of forced study time daily, during the work week. Still, if these non-ITs can handle the knowledge **** and pass you should be able too with 4 months and job experience.

Your photos remind me of a ship yard that I visited once to hook up a phone. The closet wasn't owned by us, but we were allowed to attach a single phone into their closet for our vessels. Anyways, it was a nightmare of cross-connect. There was a big table in the middle of a room the size of a small outdoor storage shed. There was cross connect going from one side of the room, floating in the air over the table (completely covered in tools and random stuff) and hooking up to something else on the other side. It was insane.

Armitron77

@=Techie19

Go for the Network+ cert Techie19. Regardless with hands on experience or not. The Network+ leads up to the CCENT and CCNA. I know this to be true because I had to study the CCNA for my degrees before studying the Network+. Yes, I was lost at first and it really took some time for me to grasp the information. However, now that I am studying the Network+, I see how it builds and preps you for a more advance cert such as the CCENT or CCNA. Go with your original plan and study for the Network+. 4 months should be plenty of time for you to study and pass the Network+ N10-005 exam. I started about a month ago studying for the Network+ by reading the ExamCram book and I'm already half-way done. If I can do it, so can you. Good luck.

Techie19

Got my Network+ Exam Cram book in the mail today. Officially started preparing for the exam. Will be buying the voucher soon and scheduling the exam for mid August. If I feel ready to take it before then I'll just reschedule it. After Network+ will do CCENT and then CCNA. But depending how it goes with this new job and how much expereince I get, I may just go for the CCNA and skip the CCENT.

New job has been great. Went on my first field site job Tuesday. Had to rack and stack a new Cisco 3650 switch, two HP ProLiant DL360p Gen8 servers and a NetApp. Then cable it all to the switch using the port mapping provided by the network admin. Also had to configure the UPS using PuTTY. Last thing was to clean things up doing some nice cable management using Velcro strips. For my first time racking and stacking and cabling, I think it went pretty well. Those servers and NetApp where heavy. So far I'm loving the work. Tomorrow I fly out to Maryland to do similar work, nework refreshing of old equipment.

--chris--

I did CCNA in 6 months (6sh lol). I started from almost nothing (short internship) and passed CCNA. Net+ wont be easy if your starting from scratch, but 4 months should be very doable.

Armitron77

@=Techie19;

Happy to hear you like your job. Good luck on studying for the Network+. I myself have an interview tomorrow for a networking position. Anyway, I am little more than half-way done the ExamCram book you just got. I should be taking the Network+ exam some time in June. After that, Security+ and then CCENT. At least that's the path thus far. It could change. Once again, happy for you Techie19 and good luck.

crazboy84

@=Techie19

those pictures are my worst nightmare.... if the person that set that up is still there they need to be fired for pure lazyness. no color coding no labeling what are u suppose to do if a remote port goes down?

You can really take this opprotunity as the new guy to take that mess and make something uniform and beautiful out if it. It will really go a long way in impressing your boss.

As far as the N+ is concerned it should literally take less than a month to study. It is THE easiest cert test out there. Watch prof. messers videos and takes some practice tests you should be ready in a few weeks.

Armitron77

REMOVED UNNECESSARY QUOTED REPLY FROM PREVIOUS POST

Totally agree with you when you say that the person who set up the cabling should be fired. Laziness is an understatement. It shows no consideration and no pride in one's work ethic. As for as the Network+, you are the second or third person to say that the Network+ exam is the easiest to pass and the studying should be completed in a few weeks. My question is how? The ExamCram book on average has about 23 pages per chapter. There are 11 chapters in total. Would like to hear your feed back on this.

thomas_

@=Armitron77

I used Mike Meyer's All in One book to study for the Network+ which has around 680 pages of material to read and I did it in about a month with approximately 30 hours of study time. I would do the quizzes at the beginning of the chapter and then read the chapter. I also took the practice test a few times that was included. I took notes in a notebook and then types them up into flash cards, but I didn't really do luch with the flashcards once they were typed up.

You just need to put in the time. If you can get through a chapter a day that would put you at 11 days. If you spent a week reviewing the material you would then be at 18 days, well within the three week window. It all depends on how much you study each day, how much you retain, and how averse you are to failing the test. The more averse you are, the more you'll want to study to ensure you'll pass.

crazboy84

@=Armitron77
Professor Messer, CompTIA A+, Network+, Security+, Linux, Microsoft Certification Training

Professormesser.com is 100% free and covers by video everything you will need to know to pass the test. I used his videos for A+ which is two tests and much more difficult than N+ because it covers more topics. Watch all his videos and afterwords each video has 3 to 5 questions, if you fail his lil test, watch the video again. there are also lil chat rooms that you can ask questions there on the site about the test. Then go to a site like quizlet.com and poke around for practice tests. Once you are getting 90% on practice tests your ready for the exam.

I have my A+ and CCENT and ive never opened a book. I dont learn from books its not my style i hate reading. I just passed my CCENT monday and am circling back to N+ next week because i have a free voucher that expires in june.

Techie19

@--chris--
Wow, that's awesome. I recently read online that the new revision to the CCNA exam is much harder than the previous one.

@=Armitron77

Yeah, I'm really loving this role. Good luck on your interview and your cert path.

@=crazboy84;

Well, the cable management situation is on the to do list. We are going to be refreshing most of the equipment in these LAN rooms and will then be doing some killer cable dressing.

With regards to the Net+, I am really in no rush. Well, I have to take it before August 31st to take the N10-005, but I'm going to take my time. I will dedicate 1-2 hours a day to studying and taking practice tests. Even if I take one week for each chapter, I should be good. I expect to actually be ready for the exam sometime in July.

@=crazboy84

I love Prof Messer's videos. They helped a lot when studying for A+. I plan to use his videos again for the Net+.

Congrats on the CCENT.