0 to CCNP realistic time frame?

TechnicalJay

Hey Guys,

I just seen an older thread and a forum member was talking about how a guy went from 0 to CCNP in 3 years but he also said he studied every day. This seems like a long time for studying every day even with no prior knowledge.

Is this realistic? Meaning Net+, CCNA CCNP in a 3 year time frame? I would guess half of that but what do I know

Iristheangel

3 years? Yeah... that's completely realistic if you're not studying every day. Probably 1.5-2 years if you're faster and putting the daily hours towards it.

TechnicalJay

Thanks

Silverymoon

I would spend as much time as it takes.

koz24

You could skip Network+ and save yourself some time. It all depends on what other things you have going on. CCNA -> CCNP took me 9 months.

hurricane1091

I've been in IT for 2 years and have gotten my entire list of certs here + a BS degree and am over half way done studying for CCNP Route. So it is very realistic. Realistically you can get CCNA and CCNP in less than a year if you really wanted to.

Silverymoon

The quickest is one month per exam. I am spending a year.

Iristheangel

Silverymoon wrote: »

The quickest is one month per exam. I am spending a year.

One month for CCNP Switch exam or Route with zero experience? I would question that being a legitimate pass right there. The book alone for CCNP Route is 880 pages so even at reading 50 pages a day - which would be a stretch to do so and still retain the information - it would take about 18 days. That would leave you with less than 2 weeks to lab it up and/or watch videos. I would question the candidates ability to retain all that information and have the timeframe to really do complex labs that are at a CCNP level in a 2 week timeframe. Even without a job, studying fulltime, I would say that without any experience that most people would be skeptical of that pass

fmitawaps

I would say that a CCNP with no job experience is not as good as a CCNA who has been at it for several years. The CCNA person probably isn't in jobs that require CCNP level knowledge, but you cannot just ram through the tests and pass CCNP and think you're as good as someone with 5+ years on the job, because you're not.

And I don't think any job recruiter who knows about IT will be fooled.

It's not about just passing a test. It's about really knowing what you're doing. When you're a network admin and have a sudden serious problem, having several years of past job experience to think about for a solution will be very useful. Can't get that from a book.

Silverymoon

Iristheangel wrote: »

One month for CCNP Switch exam or Route with zero experience? I would question that being a legitimate pass right there. The book alone for CCNP Route is 880 pages so even at reading 50 pages a day - which would be a stretch to do so and still retain the information - it would take about 18 days. That would leave you with less than 2 weeks to lab it up and/or watch videos. I would question the candidates ability to retain all that information and have the timeframe to really do complex labs that are at a CCNP level in a 2 week timeframe. Even without a job, studying fulltime, I would say that without any experience that most people would be skeptical of that pass

Seen it done, could do it myself but you only know the stuff for the test. The Switch book has 402 pages that you have to read and the Route book has approx 600 pages. It is doable but you will forget the stuff very quickly. More time you spend the more likely hood you will maintain it over the long run. I regret doing the CCENT in two weeks and the CCNA in 2-4 days and passing the exam with no issues. 900+ in ccent and 850+ in the ccna. Used the complete video course. Payed for that later.

Iristheangel

Zero experience and passing each CCNP exam in a month? That's shady right there. There's people on this forum that studied daily for months and still failed with professional experience. "Knowing the stuff for the test" means knowing the topic list and having labbed it enough to deal with both the simulations and multiple choice questions, not knowing the questions on the exam. I'm sorry but I've never seen a video series that has *all* the topics covered in enough depth for the CCNP or even the CCNA exams - though you might be able to slide by mostly with videos for CCNA.

Ehhh... we'll just have to agree to disagree on that one. I got to admit - I'm a bit skeptical of your 2-3 days for CCNA if you don't have experience. I don't know what study materials you used but I've never heard of any legitimate pass without cheating in that short of a time

shodown

I think it depends on your job that you are currently doing. If you are working for a large WAN or SP, passing CCNP exams would be pretty easy if you are doing BGP/EIGRP and OSPF on a daily basis. With that said a month would still be unrealistic in my eyes. But if one of my co workers said hey were going to pass all the CCNP exams in 6 months and studied everyday it would be realistic.

Iristheangel

shodown wrote: »

I think it depends on your job that you are currently doing. If you are working for a large WAN or SP, passing CCNP exams would be pretty easy if you are doing BGP/EIGRP and OSPF on a daily basis. With that said a month would still be unrealistic in my eyes. But if one of my co workers said hey were going to pass all the CCNP exams in 6 months and studied everyday it would be realistic.

You're completely right. Someone with a bunch of experience and hands on every day for years? Totally makes sense because then they know most of the core knowledge and it's learning the esoteric stuff. For the people with zero experience like the OP? That's a different story. Not to be discouraging to the new people here but it's more of a realism thing and be ready to study and commit to the time it takes vs taking short cuts to get that certification done in an arbitrary time you have in your head. A legit CCNP or even CCNP who knows their stuff and passed by putting the work into studying == gold and it'll pay dividends.

Silverymoon

Iristheangel wrote: »

Zero experience and passing each CCNP exam in a month? That's shady right there. There's people on this forum that studied daily for months and still failed with professional experience. "Knowing the stuff for the test" means knowing the topic list and having labbed it enough to deal with both the simulations and multiple choice questions, not knowing the questions on the exam. I'm sorry but I've never seen a video series that has *all* the topics covered in enough depth for the CCNP or even the CCNA exams - though you might be able to slide by mostly with videos for CCNA.

Ehhh... we'll just have to agree to disagree on that one. I got to admit - I'm a bit skeptical of your 2-3 days for CCNA if you don't have experience. I don't know what study materials you used but I've never heard of any legitimate pass without cheating in that short of a time

Zero labs are required to be able to pass the test. Just good memory, and the ability to follow things in a monkey see and monkey do fashion. It just helps with memorizing the steps to practice but a lab is not required. Remember that if you go at it 100% for a month you can pass no problems. If you want to **** and use a **** then 3-5 days at most. Depends on the number of questions. Edit: need to learn to proof read.

shodown

You are right, if you just wanna pass the the test you can just read over and over and grasp the concepts and commands needed to pass the exams with the labs. I think less than 1 percent of the world population has that mental capacity, and I imagine that the 1 percent who does, they aren't trying to be network engineers.


The rest of us normal folks need to lab to get a strong idea of how all these things come together, and we have to remember. What are we taking these exams for? Jobs right. So it makes no since to pass exams and have no real CLI time and expect a good paying job. It baffles me on this site of all the people who want to take short cuts to get to the high paying jobs. It just doesn't work like that.

Iristheangel

Memorizing answers isn't really passing a test. It's cheating a test and that's not what the OP was asking for help with. Passing a CCNP without any labbing or getting your hands dirty and just "memorizing steps?" Yeah. Not realistic. Not possible without cheating. Sorry. Calling it as it is. If you look at the sheer amount of commands, syntax, theory, and raw information in a CCNP-level exam and try to memorize that without any labbing - well... you're either to fail horribly or **** but you'll quickly weeded out in a technical interview.

Silverymoon

Iristheangel wrote: »

You're completely right. Someone with a bunch of experience and hands on every day for years? Totally makes sense because then they know most of the core knowledge and it's learning the esoteric stuff. For the people with zero experience like the OP? That's a different story. Not to be discouraging to the new people here but it's more of a realism thing and be ready to study and commit to the time it takes vs taking short cuts to get that certification done in an arbitrary time you have in your head. A legit CCNP or even CCNP who knows their stuff and passed by putting the work into studying == gold and it'll pay dividends.

There is nothing there that is hard, its the amount of configuration and topics that make the CCNP Route require the time it takes. The more time you spend the more practice you get the better you become and the longer you retain that knowledge. One month is doable but its also unwise in the long run. A CCNP route, switch or tshoot, exam each done in one month is possible and I have seen it done with my own eyes (no cheating). A very high IQ guy did the whole thing in one month but hes not normal. Seen cheaters do the whole thing in one month, with ease. I have seen them on forums from time to time complaining they failed one because the **** changed. On one forum it was 12 people. lol

Personally I have done three months for route, 2 for switch and going to do one month for TSHOOT. I know I can do Route in one month and a bit if I want too. Switch in one month would not be hard but don't know about TSHOOT. I am using the FLG and not the OLG.

koz24

I spent 4-5 months on ROUTE and read the FLG, OCG, Simplified, and How to Master and labbed like crazy. Failed it on my first shot and I had professional experience. I don't see how you can pass ROUTE in 1 month legitimately but maybe a networking genius can do it.

networker050184

It took me about 3 months per exam but there were four in those days. So about a year. I wasn't starting from scratch though. There was also a job change and relocation in there so with 100% focus I could have probably knocked them out in a month or so each. Life never seems to shake out that way though.

hurricane1091

I'll go ahead and say this, I didn't lab much for the CCNA but I have labbed everything for the CCNP. I'm an entry/mid level network engineer and get to dabble in stuff beyond my years. Now, we're doing all the good optimization and redundancy that you would ever want and working with it makes things easier for me when it comes time to lab. But there's just no way you'll really understand the purpose of all the OSPF area types for example and how they all work (which means knowing how OSPF calculates the cost, how LSAs work, how timers work, etc etc etc). I worked on Chapter 9 for hours yesterday and it is just 40 pages long, and I still have a handful left.

TLDR; takes time. You could pass CCNA and CCNP in a year like I said, but that doesn't mean you will be that good with no experience. I'm on Chapter 10 on the RnS and have been at it for 2 months (went slow around holidays) and am starting to watch the videos for first 9 chapters as I read Chapters 10-17 and lab, then will watch those videos, then cram and probably re-lab certain stuff and go take it. But, I don't really care about the certification right now - I just care about being actually good at this stuff.

Iristheangel

@Networker and Hurricane - Great responses.

@Networker - I have no doubt you could have kicked the CCNP exams - especially route - in a month. It's your wheelhouse for sure and you have a lot of experience to bank on.

@Hurricane - I feel you. I did lab the CCNA a lot but that's sort of how I had to learn it and put it together. I think I could have passed that one without as much labbing. For the CCNP, I had about a year of experience in networking when I started it. It took me about a year to finish the whole thing off. Switch I felt was easier just given what I was doing on our existing LAN at work and it still took 3 months because there was a lot of stuff I wasn't configuring at the time at work (FHRPs, Private VLANs, etc). Route was a LOT more difficult for me. I think Danielh and I commiserated on that between his CCNP thread and my own. I had to rely on multiple books and videos to really get the content to click. The CCNP requires you to understand not only how to configure on thing at a time but how to configure the different aspects together with some light troubleshooting - this kind of understanding can't be accomplished without labbing which is why people end up building labs or picking out their favorite simulator for the CCNP exams. By the time you get to the TSHOOT exam, if you've passed Switch and Route the good ol' fashioned way, it's a breeze. If not, you're hosed.

Silverymoon

Iristheangel wrote: »

Memorizing answers isn't really passing a test. It's cheating a test and that's not what the OP was asking for help with. Passing a CCNP without any labbing or getting your hands dirty and just "memorizing steps?" Yeah. Not realistic. Not possible without cheating. Sorry. Calling it as it is. If you look at the sheer amount of commands, syntax, theory, and raw information in a CCNP-level exam and try to memorize that without any labbing - well... you're either to fail horribly or **** but you'll quickly weeded out in a technical interview.

I passed by just memorizing the steps from the book and the materiel. Labs really did not add to the experience but if the lab covers more than the books its of value to me. The stuff is so simple and there are videoes that you can watch on youtube. It's not important to do labs, this is from a guy who went far beyond the CCNP labs and built a VM server (CSR 1000v routers) and 4 physical switches (3560's). I have a tacacs+ACS server and a Radius server. 802.1x with Windows 2012 as a server and the port with a Windows Vista VM. I have 6 x 2900 series routers for the serial links for the frame relay. You really don't need it and its a waste of money. It took months to work out and setup. It's not needed and the time is better spend studying the material and watching instructors showing you how its done.

Example:- https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL6Tc4k6dl9kLGyJvPuLrIMXjv3AqYXbkv

networker050184

It's a test. Anyone can figure a way to pass it. Saying labs are not important is extremely short sighted though in my opinion. Cramming enough book info into your brain to pass a multi choice test is one thing. Mastering and implementing the technologies is a whole different story. So if your goal is to simply come up with a passing score there are many way to do it that does not involve a lab.

joelsfood

I did CCNA RS from scratch in one week, as a systems guy with minimal network experience, but I was also studyint 8 hours per day, had lab setup, etc.

I think I averaged 2-3 months per CCNP:DC test, using the equipment every day and with 3 years of UCS experience under my belt. Coming from a true 0 to CCNP is not a quick game. Of course, if you have a good memory, you can **** it in a few days. It'll show up quick once you start getting jobs/assignments though

Silverymoon

networker050184 wrote: »

It's a test. Anyone can figure a way to pass it. Saying labs are not important is extremely short sighted though in my opinion. Cramming enough book info into your brain to pass a multi choice test is one thing. Mastering and implementing the technologies is a whole different story. So if your goal is to simply come up with a passing score there are many way to do it that does not involve a lab.

I did the labs from the Route lab manual and I could do the labs from start to finish without looking at the steps in the book. What I did find, was that labs made the whole experience more gratifying. It helped confidence, to see for myself that I could do the labs but learning from the book and white papers are enough with the videos I posted above. I found that making my own labs would make them less focused and sometimes you spend to much time doing technologies and topics that are not on the test or related to the test. Packet Tracer 6.3, IOU (Cisco CCIE lab builder or CCNP learning labs or VIRL are enough). Physical labs on VMwares servers you can have 20+ CSR1000v routers on a meaty PC, 90% of the CCIE features and 4 physical switches. Its overkill but we kid ourselves that we need it. TSHOOT labs only work if you don't know whats going on, if you know the fault you can't forget that and it's always in the back of your head what the issue is.

If I was to do it all again, I would do the Cisco learning labs for Route and not the Route lab manual. All I got from it was the fact TcL existed which I had not known existed before.

NetworkNewb

joelsfood wrote: »

I did CCNA RS from scratch in one week, as a systems guy with minimal network experience, but I was also studyint 8 hours per day, had lab setup, etc.

GTFO! one week? that is insane.

Silverymoon

joelsfood wrote: »

I did CCNA RS from scratch in one week, as a systems guy with minimal network experience, but I was also studyint 8 hours per day, had lab setup, etc.

I think I averaged 2-3 months per CCNP:DC test, using the equipment every day and with 3 years of UCS experience under my belt. Coming from a true 0 to CCNP is not a quick game. Of course, if you have a good memory, you can **** it in a few days. It'll show up quick once you start getting jobs/assignments though

There's maybe a **** for the test but there is none for the interview or as a network engineer. If you are going for a CCNP job you can bet at the interview that one guy in front of you has a CCIE.

[Deleted User]

I agree with Iristheangel on this one. It's possible to get it in 3 years but will you have a true understanding of the information, probably not. I did my CCNA R&S while in college but I also did my other certs while in college because I had good study habits from studying 24/7 for college classes.

Network+ and CCNA R&S can be done in a 6 month timeframe. You would have to use the CCNA in 60 days book to pass in that amount of time. Network+ could be done in 2 months if you study for 2-3hrs a day.

Once you get your CCNA, start looking for experience in Networking because having a CCNP with no networking experience can be a huge problem.

hurricane1091

Iristheangel wrote: »

@Networker and Hurricane - Great responses.

@Networker - I have no doubt you could have kicked the CCNP exams - especially route - in a month. It's your wheelhouse for sure and you have a lot of experience to bank on.

@Hurricane - I feel you. I did lab the CCNA a lot but that's sort of how I had to learn it and put it together. I think I could have passed that one without as much labbing. For the CCNP, I had about a year of experience in networking when I started it. It took me about a year to finish the whole thing off. Switch I felt was easier just given what I was doing on our existing LAN at work and it still took 3 months because there was a lot of stuff I wasn't configuring at the time at work (FHRPs, Private VLANs, etc). Route was a LOT more difficult for me. I think Danielh and I commiserated on that between his CCNP thread and my own. I had to rely on multiple books and videos to really get the content to click. The CCNP requires you to understand not only how to configure on thing at a time but how to configure the different aspects together with some light troubleshooting - this kind of understanding can't be accomplished without labbing which is why people end up building labs or picking out their favorite simulator for the CCNP exams. By the time you get to the TSHOOT exam, if you've passed Switch and Route the good ol' fashioned way, it's a breeze. If not, you're hosed.

I started this job in April, and it's a good place to learn but I was finishing my WGU degree and was not able to study for CCNP until end of November. Honestly, some of the stuff would be hard to grasp without having a job in the field and having someone like my boss to answer questions. I remember I read a few chapters of the CCNP route book the week I started here lol, and I would read stuff like route redistribution and think no one actually does that. Then I realized we do it, realized why we do it, how it is done, etc. Seeing is believing honestly. And honestly, I hate being unsure of stuff - I like to know what I am talking about. So it only makes sense to give 100% effort to studying and labbing.

I am using CBT nuggets + OCG for the CCNP Route. I never do anything with switching, so I feel like that might be harder actually but I hope not lol. They had me start with IOS upgrades here while I just learned the environment and technology, then I started doing the primary MPLS circuit migrations from T1 to Ethernet, as well as the backup internet links, which evolved into troubleshooting down circuits, traffic analysis, diagrams, working with vendors, etc. Now I am working on correcting out DMVPN environment and I just relocated an office and have the next brand new office opening. It's just a process and it really involves starting from the bottom, getting good with that stuff, and moving up.

I think labbing is important for a career but even just for studying. I rarely do anything right the first time and often have to use debug commands now - which I never did before. But from doing it wrong on the lab, I remember it a lot more. It's cool to debug EIGRP and OSPF and ISAKMP and all those things and see the logs to actually see what is happening.

Silverymoon

It's possible to get it in one month with exam level understanding of the information. It takes about 200 hours of study for one exam, if you do that 1-3 hours a day for most of a year or 10 hours a day for 20 days. It's up to you in the end, those 20 days will be tortuous but you will get there in the end. 600 (3 x 200) hours of study for 2 hours per day is 300 days or nearly a year. Say you have ten days a month to study at 3 hours per day that's 360 hours per year. So two years approx. I know its a bad example but you get the idea. Some people also eat certifications for breakfast, one guy I know did 8 in one year. Lots of MS ones and no cheating.

TechnicalJay

kMastaFlash wrote: »

I agree with Iristheangel on this one. It's possible to get it in 3 years but will you have a true understanding of the information, probably not. I did my CCNA R&S while in college but I also did my other certs while in college because I had good study habits from studying 24/7 for college classes.

Network+ and CCNA R&S can be done in a 6 month timeframe. You would have to use the CCNA in 60 days book to pass in that amount of time. Network+ could be done in 2 months if you study for 2-3hrs a day.

Once you get your CCNA, start looking for experience in Networking because having a CCNP with no networking experience can be a huge problem.

When I do get my CCNA, will it be hard for me to find a networking job with no networking experience? I currently have a desktop support position right now and I will have been here for 2 years in March.