My Network+ Journey (2021)

si20

My IT career has been an interesting one to say the least. When I first decided I wanted to be in IT, I went to do a networking course at a local college. Unfortunately, the instructor got sick and never showed up to a *single* lesson.

As a result of that, my networking knowledge never really got off the ground. I'm great with theory, but if you ask me to configure a Cisco/Juniper....nope. Not gonna happen. I got into security and got my WAPT, Pentest+, OSCP etc and luckily never really needed to configure a Cisco device.... but as I'm in the "2nd quarter" of my IT career, I've found that I was seeing more and more topologies, more IPv6, more IoT - it suddenly dawned on me that networking has been my achilles heel.

Last year I did my WAPT, Pentest+ in six months - I attempted AWAE but it was far, far too painful and too hard for me, as a non-programmer. So  this year, I've got 2-3 more certs in mind: Network+ and eJPT. I wont explain my reasoning for eJPT here, but for now, I'll update this thread once per week as I've done with previous certs until the exam date!

Please bookmark this and check back if you're interested!

si20

So, I've just done a 4 day intensive Network+ crash course (4 hours per day for 4 days, = 16 hours total) run by Anthony Sequeira. It has been an enjoyable but rough ride. I missed around 5-10 mins of the first day, and the remaining 3 days ALL linked back to that exact section I missed. Ugh!!!

So my plan is to read the book by Todd Lammle, do the CBT nuggets course and also run through the Professor Messer stuff.

CBT nuggets is 18+ hours long. And Messer has 102 videos covering the N10-007 exam. I've got a very, very long way to go as my networking isn't fantastic. But I'll do this. I'm determined. I want this cert!

si20

Update: the CBT Nuggets course is by far the best resource I've been using so far. The Sequeira crash course was *good* but it was a long 4 days and I think it expected you to have *some* networking knowledge. The CBT Nuggets course is pretty much designed for someone without much/any networking knowledge. I also find that the CBT Nuggets videos stick almost exclusively to the Network+ content. I *think* Sequeira did, but he did also stray off sometimes too.

I did a practice test for chapter 1 and got 23/25 - if that carries on, I don't think the course will be too bad for me, however, I *know* for a fact it does get a bit more difficult especially in the subnetting chapter(s) so I wont be over-confident until I'm happy with subnetting.

But so far, it's proving to be a fairly enjoyable course!

si20

I likely will take 3 days off studying this now - but still very much enjoying the course. CBT nuggets has been great. I'm up to video 20. Each video is approx 5 mins long, so I've done 1 hour 40 mins worth of videos so far (16 hours in total) so I'd say I'm on track to get this done within the next 3-4 months which is what I'm hoping.

I've made around 20 pages worth of notes - specifically around VLANs so far. I'll update this Sunday evening.

si20

Long overdue an update. Took around 2 weeks off to focus on some personal things I needed to do before continuing. I'm now on video 35 (so I've done 15 more videos since the last post) which equates to 75 minutes of study. I know, I know, it sounds poor when you put it like that - but I've watched some of the videos 4-5 so they sink in. I'd probably say my study time has been closer to 3 hours.

Anyway, there hasn't been a topic yet that I didn't understand after 2-3 replays of the videos. I think so far the Network+ should be achievable.

I *need* to try and get it done within 2 months really, as my workplace wants me to do the eJPT and EnCE certs this year (ugh, 3 certs in one year...that's rough!)

si20

Network+ postponed - my employer requires me to do the eJPT. I will return to Network+ once the eJPT is complete. Hoping to smash the eJPT course within 2 months or so.

si20

Back after a long while...3 months to be exact. In that time I passed my eJPT but I had a relationship breakup which stalled my progress completely on the Network+. So I've carried on where I left off today. I'm now on video 44/200+ of the CBT Nugget course. A long way to go but I understand all the topics so far...so there's some hope.

khaledit2015

i was reading your post good job si 20  is eJPT  hard or not what recourse should I follow .

si20

khaledit2015 said:

i was reading your post good job si 20  is eJPT  hard or not what recourse should I follow .

It's hard for me to say whether you'll find it easy or difficult, but it's definitely an achievable cert. It's not super hard, but it's not a breeze either. The content is VERY dry and bland, but all that you need to pass the cert is in the training. There's just one thing missing from the training that's in the exam... and unfortunately, it takes a fair bit of thinking outside of the box to do it. 

si20

Figured I should give another network+ update. I've just finished video 50. Had to re-watch these past videos several times to fully understand the topic. Networking is a bit of a challenge for me, but the CBT Nugget videos are pretty good to be fair.

I've got many, many videos left but I'm quite happy with my understanding at the moment.  I've pushed out the exam date as there was no way I could take it in 6-8 weeks and pass. I think I will be taking it in October realistically.

si20

Video 63 done. And I just took a practice exam and hit 88%. No idea how it fares to the real exam, but I think I could do this, providing the practice exam is anything like the real one. I'll keep pushing on!

si20

Checking in with good news. Passed the network+. I scraped it by 1-2 questions. That was by far the hardest exam I've done in a long time. Harder than Pentest+ by a long shot. Many, many, many questions asking "What's the best of the following options" and hosts available etc. Absolutely tough as nails. Happy to have scraped it and I can now move on.

volfkhat

Congrats on the pass :]

But honetsly.... it didnt really matter if you "passed"..
The reason you went down this road was because you had a "knowledge gap" when it came to networking.

Studying the curriculum is important.

But truly Understanding the material is most important.

I hope your newly attained knowledge serves you well going forward!