Certification advice

Hey all!

I'm fairly new to the IT world

I passed my CompTIA A+ last year and have secured a tech-support role which I'm happy with. However, I'm wanting to improve my skill-set. I was going to take Network+ but as a colleague said I might as well go for Cisco CCNA since more employers would recognize this certification and they would teach a lot of the stuff in Network+ anyway..

I have a subscription to CBTNuggets which seems to be a good resource. My questions are:

- What training material would you recommend?
- How much study did you do? What practice exams did you take?
- How easy was it to find a related job after you passed?
- What was your overall experience with the exam? Do you feel it was a good investment?

I'm wanting to eventually get into the design and implementation of networks, as well as security, so any advice on this would be appreciated!

Thank you!
Keith

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huntert

ccent 100-105 exam cram by Anthony Sequeira and books by Wendel Odom or Todd Lammle. Also there are a lot of courses on Udemy.com

Neil_Anderson

Hi Keith,

Following on from what huntert said, you can get the highest review rated CCNA course on Udemy for just $10 using this link. It has over 30 hours of HD video tutorials, flash cards and full hands on configuration and troubleshooting lab exercises, and a stellar 4.9 average review rating.

Full disclosure... I'm the trainer

HTH,
Neil

Neil_Anderson

PS. I talk about the value of getting the CCNA near the start of the course in the 'Why Passing the CCNA is Going to Turbo Charge Your Career' lecture. You can see the lecture as a free preview without enrolling in the course. I compare the amount of search results for 'CCNA' on IT job boards to other certifications to show how in demand it is. The CCNA is by far the best certification to get to break into or boost a career in networking.

Neil_Anderson

To answer your other question about practice exams, you can check out my video on YouTube.

koz24

ktmerritt wrote: »

- What training material would you recommend?

I'd start with Wendell Odom's book personally, but some do prefer Todd Lammle's. I'd also say How to Master CCNA by Rene Molenaar from networklessons.com is pretty solid for a quick read.

For labs I'd go with "101 Labs for CCNA" and use PacketTracer to lab them out. Or if you want a more structured experience you can go with the Network Simulator by Odom and Wilkins.

- How much study did you do? What practice exams did you take?

A lot of people like Boson. There are many many vendors for this, and you shouldn't buy them all since they're in the $100 range each. Just use them for late-stage preparation and don't fall in the trap of studying the practice exams.

- How easy was it to find a related job after you passed?

A CCNA isn't going to get you a job on it's own weight but it will help your overall image tremendously. If you are brand new to networking and only have an A+ and very little if any experience, you have to start here.

I'm wanting to eventually get into the design and implementation of networks, as well as security, so any advice on this would be appreciated!

CCNA Security and/or CCNA Cyber Ops would be great after the Routing & Switching track. You could look at the CCDA as well, but it's more of a marketing exam. For design you will want a CCDP at minimum(3 CCNP-level exams and the CCDA). My guess is, and don't quote me on this, is there will be far more network security-related positions in the future than design jobs. You can strive for a design role after you get some experience but without any and no CCDP, it's not a realistic goal. Based on what you said you will likely end up as a NOC or Analyst or something similar to start. If you are still in college now would be a good time to look for internships, they would help a lot.

Good luck!