Off to kinda a "Surprised" start to the Year....

Nafe92014

First off, Happy New Year ya'll. Holidays sure fly fast when you get older.:D

Anyways........

So today was our first day of our Winter Term. Our schedule indicated that we would have 1 hour of Cisco 1 and and hour of Database Design (SQL). Our term goes from January 4th to February 26th. But, when my instructor came today, halfway into Cisco 1 this morning hes like "This is ridiculous." So he spent 10 minutes talking to the Dean of our program then comes back and says this: "So instead of 1 hour Cisco/1 hour SQL for 2 months, were going to do 2 hours of Cisco in the morning until the END of January, then do SQL starting February." Long story short, the reason why they had it like this was because of student feedback last year that they wanted more flexible time to get other courses done.

Basically what this means is that we have 3.5 weeks instead of 2 months until the Cisco Netacad Written and Practical exams (and my instructor enjoys Skyrim, so hes going to reference the names for the practical topologies...ugh ). So basically, I have 3 weeks to practice subnetting and IPv6 configurations before the exams....

Also, we went through 7 chapters in a month and have 3 left. It's going to be a busy year for sure as I'm planning to take my CCENT in May. Has anyone else had a sudden change in their courses like this before?

advanex1

Don't worry so much about the CCENT. I feel like a month is more than enough to get the basics down of cisco. If you wait until may, you may find yourself way over studied or at that point, just disenchanted with studying for cisco anymore.

Now, don't get me wrong... I'm not trying to determine your study pace but don't be afraid of the shorter timeline.

Nafe92014

I wont be just focusing on Cisco, as I have a 3rd of 9 Microsoft AD course I am focusing on as well. The reason why I'm thinking May is because the first 2 Cisco courses cover the CCENT while the remaining 2 courses in Year 2 cover the CCNA. Network Routing 2 goes from March until mid April. Heres an overview of the courses in my program at my local college. Courses | Network Administration Technology | Assiniboine Community College

advanex1

I see, so you're saying Networking Routing 1 & 2 cover CCENT? Interesting. Well, either way.. you should be VERY prepared for the CCENT exam.

pinkiaiii

not surprised at all,in our course since we started in September they decided to add linux system administration-due to the current market as it was explained many employers are looking now not only for grads that have got their ccna but linux on top as well.At first it was exciting to hear since we would not be only getting our CCNA but a go for 3 linux certs,linux essentials and other 2 cant remember names,long story short while many have had runs in ins with linux at some point,but course only started 2 months later -all of them being part time courses,and once got past chapter 3 on linux basics it felt like i was thought how to use PC from the scratch ,just single basics of terminal,ways to navigate not to mention dozens of commands that are case sensitive and various similar ones that can either do same result or narrow stuff down,i had to actually make sure some symbols existed on the keyboard.

so while the course is covered by college-it seems like doing CCNA from scratch and having to learn linux which brings me back to times when GUI made its appearance,feels like being thrown back in time.Now the hard dilemma is it worth risking between two when ccna alone consumes most the time and learning it as you progress in weeks,thus thinking if ill manage ccna i might do linux on the side.Since if i was full time in college 40h week at least then i guess in years time it would be possible to manage both but not when you have limited time between home and work and ccna exam is already scheduled for around mid april.thus getting 4-5h at average just to catch up on single course as good as one can push.

volfkhat

Bah!

I suspect your instructor may have done you all a disservice.

I have become Highly dubious of crash-course, accelerated training classes.

i've never learned much from them.

Learning IOS is like learning a new language.
Learning Linux is also like learning a new language.
Learning How to Subnet is like learning a new type of Math.

You can't just rush through something in 3.5 weeks... and expect the same level of Understanding as slow-pacing it for 7 weeks.
It takes Practice (over Time) in order to fully grasp new concepts.

With that being said,
i went from ZERO to CCENT in 90 days.
I spent 30-45 minutes a day on Lectures/labs.

I found that "Slow & Steady" is what got me to the Finish-line.
(i also didn't try learning OTHER new things at the same time)

i don't really have an answer to you guys dilemma.. only my own personal insight.

pinkiaiii

Well i got cornered today as all class was told that linux is contributing towards our semester total score given that its 10% of total score-to achieve guess diploma to say we will graduate as network administrators on top.

while i cant complain since scheme is that college is covering all ccna course thus better chances at getting hired when finished as having something to show for,but again volfkhat is on top with answer that two are identical to extent time they consume if starting from almost 0.

Thus seems more like industry around ccna is taking new heights and if one isnt enrolled in full time course and basically living and eating around the course in mind day and night its a bit of a boot camp situation-which i suppose is good for people that need accelerated renewal on stuff they already know,but not someone who is doing stuff that 5 months they barely knew anything about it.

Not sure how SQL compares to that but guessing its nothing easy as compared with rest.