CBT NUGGETS worth it?

Chrisbari14

Has anyone used CBT nuggets for Certification training? If so, has it helped with you receiving your certification?

ITSpectre

YES! I used it for my Sec+ and they are very good. Some of the videos are dry and boring. Cybrary is good too it depends on what cert you are studying for. But CBT Nuggets, a book or two, and Labbing/practice tests are good.

NetworkNewb

I get it paid for by work and like it. I think Pluralsight does a great job as well. If I had to choose, I would look at what certification I was going for, then look up when that course was created on each site (want to make sure it is as up to date as possible) and look up the person who teaches the courses then decide. I don't think there is a "best" one stop shop when looking for whats best.

doctorlexus

Yeah, as NetworkNewb said, it depends who teaches the course. I like the CBT Nuggets courses with Jeremy Cioara and Keith Barker. But not every teacher is the same. Whether or not you'll like a course will often depend on the teacher, and also whether your personality type and learning style meshes with that teacher. I've read some people don't like Jeremy's style because he's so fast and ADD. But for me, he helps keep me engaged.

Verities

Chrisbari14 wrote: »

Has anyone used CBT nuggets for Certification training? If so, has it helped with you receiving your certification?

CBT Nuggets does have some good instructors but there are also some that go off on tangents and are downright annoying...*cough* James Conrad *cough*. If you have a decent attention span then CBT Nuggets can serve you well since their videos can be 25-60 mins long per topic. Make sure you supplement whatever you're studying for with a good book since the Nuggets doesn't cover everything.

Chinook

Verities wrote: »

CBT Nuggets does have some good instructors but there are also some that go off on tangents and are downright annoying...*cough* James Conrad *cough*.

I agree at times James can go off on tangents a bit. I think it's just part of his personality & he's slowed that down of late. Regardless, he is definitely an intelligent, knowledgeable guy. I've really come to respect Keith Barker as a great trainer though. He is clear, concise & right to the point. In my opinion, he is their best trainer.

I'm a long time CBT Nugget advocate. I pay for my own and I think they're worth it. They're a great tool to help yourself understand a topic. I don't think they're all you need to pass a certification exam. In the past couple of years they've shortened the length of the videos to a max of 30 minutes. At times some of those 65 minute nuggets from James or Jeremy were just too much. I use them less for certification pursuits & more to just understand certain technologies. I recently watched the Windows 10 nuggets. I do not support Windows 10 but I was interested in the product. The nuggets were great & opened my eyes to a bunch of features in Windows 10 I'd never paid any attention too.

bettsy584

CBT Nuggets content very much depends on the instructor, they have some excellent ones and some terrible ones. Keith Barker (the networking guy) is 1st class IMO.

In my mind there are 3x main players in the online training space CBT, Pluralsight and INE, each of which have their own strong area's. For example the only place I would even consider training in Cisco would be INE, they guys are a cut above with CCNA/CCNP/CCIE stuff IMO.

CBT have a good variety - quality is mixed. The latest MCSA stuff is terrible I think. Most of Keith Barkers are good regardless of the tech. The other CCIE bloke, who does the Cisco DC stuff is not that great. His delivery is good but the technical depth is a joke in some videos, especially for courses like CCNP DC.

Pluralsight have most of the old "good" CBT Nuggets guys working for them now, so I tend to go there more often.

Chinook

^^. Well to be fair the INE product is networking-centric. The problem is you can't get a monthly subscription so you're forced to pay some serious money for their training.

CBT Nuggets has two networking guys. Keith Barker is their networking & security guy. Jeremy Cioara is their CISCO guy. He is a great teacher but what really shines through is his absolutely love for CISCO. He gets excited talking about it.

It's Anthony Sequiera (sp) who does the CISCO DC stuff.

As for technical depth, CBT Nuggets trainers admit that their training isn't the be all & end all. No where do they claim that you can watch their video series and pass the exam. The only place I've seen that is Linux Academy. I took my AWS certification with Linux Academy. They are incredibly thorough to the point of putting you to sleep. The problem is their recording, sound & visuals are just awful. On some videos I can't hear what they're saying on my iPad.

Clm

What certs are you looking to get ? CBT nuggets are good but there are free to low cost alternatives.

Udemy has classes i have taken there CCNA class i paid 10 bucks for it
Cybrary IT excellent CISSP class
youtube /professor messer

Lexluethar

Depends on the certification, used it for my MCSA and it was great, used it for my VCP and it was trash and out of date.

Do yourself a favor and do the free trial to see what topics of the specific examples are covered. They have quality material, it just may be incomplete

bettsy584

@Chinook - yeah the point I was making it depends on what you are studying which provider is the best.

You are correct on Anthony, he is very keen and delivery is good but the depth is shocking, I did the NetApp NCSA course and it's literally nothing more than the information you can get to a 1 hour webinar dragged out over 10 hours. Jeremy/Keith's stuff is good agreed.

CBT do claim "we are going to give you all the skills required to ace that exam" in many of the series, admittedly not all and it's not a company statement but they could have you convinced that all you have to do is watch the videos. I have also done the AWS CSA course on LA, I totally agree the content is excellent.

TechGuru80

Yes completely worth it. Once you get to an advanced level it probably starts to lose its place...but I am talking about past CCNP, MCSE, CISSP (there might be a CISM course)...as you can see you can get a lot of training out of it. If I was going from CCNP to CCIE I might be more inclined for INE but I've been a subscriber to CBT Nuggets for years. Helped me on Network+, Security+, CCENT, CCNA:R&S, CCNA:Security, CEH, and my Associte of ISC2.

knownhero

Think this needs to have a sticky poll.

NetworkingStudent

I have tried CBT Nuggets in the past, and I wasn't impressed.
The videos I watched had a lot of sloppy writings on a white board.
I'm not sure how I'm supposed to follow along, when I can't even read the trainer's notes.
Maybe this has changed...?
Also, the price per month seems a little high VS other IT Training Providers.

---

Currently, I use plural Sight and IT Pro TV.
Both of these training providers have their pluses and minuses.

IT Pro
I really like how it FEELS like IT Pro tv is talking to you.
Also, these guys have virtual labs and practice tests included in your training plan.
It takes IT pro longer to produce videos, because they're filming the training videos similar to the way someone would film a TV show.
What is really great is you can ask questions on a special q and a forum that they have. This foum lets you interect with the trainers and other customers.
Another cool thing is I had issues with their site in the past, and I have had their customer support reps email in in 24 hours or less.
Sometimes the response has happened in 1 hour or less.

---

I like Plural Sight for content and price.
These guys have a lot of content, I believe they have over 5,000 courses.
--
I provided some links below for some trials for these websites below:
How To Get Six Months Pluralsight Free Subscription
Google
On Google type:
"it pro security now discount" and you should be able to get a discount on IT Pro TV.

Chrisbari14

Thanks for all the responses! I am currently using CBT nuggets and I'm just about done with the network+ video series. I've took the network+ exam before and failed it. I used the Exam cram book, and the pluralsight videos. My company offers CBT nugget training. The issue that I had with the pluralsight videos for this course was that the videos didnt go into much detail. I felt like the videos weren't throughly explaining the information. I must say that Keith Barker explains things and makes it easy and enjoyable to follow along. I've even watched some other videos. Maybe it's my study technique?

NetworkNewb

NetworkingStudent wrote: »

I provided some links below for some trials for these websites below:
How To Get Six Months Pluralsight Free Subscription

Looks like this only give 3 months of free subscription now. (of course there are ways to keep getting them)

Kopite_21

My Company also pays for CBT Nuggets and I find it very good. I'm currently going through the A+ at the moment and I like the way the videos are broken down into byte sized pieces.

On the other hand though I also watch some of the Professor Messor videos.

Chinook

Chrisbari14 wrote: »

I must say that Keith Barker explains things and makes it easy and enjoyable to follow along. I've even watched some other videos. Maybe it's my study technique?

Keith is just a very good teacher. For administrative purposes I had to write the Security+ exam just his nugget series came out. I watched the series and successfully wrote the exam. Granted, I already have more senior security certifications, but I thought Keith was a great educator. He's concise, clear & to the point. He voices the wireshark exam which is on my radar so I'm hoping it's at the same level.

fmitawaps

Lazaro Diaz at Udemy has a teaching style that works for me, I have watched many of his CCENT / CCNA Routing and Switching video series and learned a lot from them.

I've seen some of Jeremy Cioara's video at CBT, but he goes off on too many tangents for me. I lose focus.

EKaiser

I'm not keen on CBT; their audio often seems as if it's being recorded in a wind tunnel.

d6bmg

They are old, for some old school folks like me, I still use it.