Just a reminder to stay on top of your certifications, knowledge wise

NoNameNoob

I started studying for the CCNP R&S exams in January and was able to get certified in August. During this time I was and still am working in a NOC as a tier 1 person. We don't receive any type of ccnp level work but I wanted to increase my knowledge. After passing the CCNP in August, I began studying for security+ out of personal interest. I passed the exam in October. Followed by that I ended up joining WGU and started studying for those classes to work towards getting my degree.

I recently ended up taking a peak at some job boards and saw one I was interested in. I applied and have an in person interview next week for a network engineer role. Now i'm putting back WGU studies for the time being to review networking. If I had this interview in August after passing the ccnp and everything fresh in mind, I'd be feeling pretty confident. Here I am 3 months later and in that time frame I haven't been keeping up with my labs or reading in depth to keep networking fresh. I'm not saying I forgot all the information but Im not where I would like to be right now, just because i've been studying different topics.

I'll have to make a point from here on out to set a side a few hours a week for studying/labs to keep everything fresh. Staying on top of everything you learn is pretty tough but I guess it'd be a lot better if your job role involves what you studied. Well.. back to studying. Thx for reading.

TheFORCE

Good luck man.

yoba222

This is why I'm not going to go beyond CCNA and why I sort of dread putting in 50-100 hours towards learning Python over the next 2 months. All that hard work will just atrophy if I ever take a break. Good luck with the interview and if things work out and you land the job, maybe you can keep your CCNP skills sharp on the job.

Cisco Inferno

This sure does happens. Happening pretty hard for the details with my MCSA. I actually dont mind losing those if I remember the concepts and theory which I do, plus I've worked in it.

EANx

Some people take a class or get a cert because work requires it. Sometimes they do so because they think it will let them get ahead and still other times because they genuinely enjoy learning the technology. If you've started to forget and are tripped up, lean on #3. If you aren't missing every asked question, some interviewers will give bonus points for passion.