In way over me head it seems...?

r1000

Hello all...

A little background... I have been with my current company a little over 2 years...

It's a support job, but we have a lot of access to such things as file servers, application servers, and little bit of exchange and also routers.

I decided to "attempt" to get CCNA. But I just finished the 1st chapter of the Sybex 5th addition, I'm not a slow reader but I have been busy ( closing on a house ), but it took me almost 2 weeks to get past that chapter. I thought going into that there would be a lot of content that I'd be familiar with. But man it seemed new to me... Very complex material.

Was is like this for all you CCNA's? Or should I maybe shoot for MS certs?

Also whats this I hear that the CCNA is only good for 2 years.

Thanks in advance

impelse

Do not worry about that, in the beginning I felt like you (I received some training with Telecommunication before), so keep reading the Chapters for subnetting it is little more difficult (I skip that chapter and review it at the end). You will need to read some chapter 3 to 6 times (that it is my case), but every time that you review and take notes you will feel confortable with the material.

The first time I read the book completely one time, under line the most important parts, I did the labs too, then I began to review the book taking notes. It is a little hard but it pay off.

I will make it.

Raul

iproute

r1000 wrote:

Hello all...

A little background... I have been with my current company a little over 2 years...

It's a support job, but we have a lot of access to such things as file servers, application servers, and little bit of exchange and also routers.

I decided to "attempt" to get CCNA. But I just finished the 1st chapter of the Sybex 5th addition, I'm not a slow reader but I have been busy ( closing on a house ), but it took me almost 2 weeks to get past that chapter. I thought going into that there would be a lot of content that I'd be familiar with. But man it seemed new to me... Very complex material.

Was is like this for all you CCNA's? Or should I maybe shoot for MS certs?

Also whats this I hear that the CCNA is only good for 2 years.

Thanks in advance

CCNA is valid for 3 years, then you get to do it all over again!

mikej412

The INTRO portion of the CCNA overlaps a lot with the CompTIA Network+ certification.... so if you don't have a networking background, that may be a good place to start.

The CCNA is good for 3 years -- but it gets recertified each time you take a Cisco Professional Level Exam -- so Cisco has added the incentive not just to stay current, but to increase your knowledge.

Check out the CCNA Forum FAQ if you haven't already seen it. If you follow some of the "starting out" links you should find some Cisco links to check out -- like the Exam Blueprint/Topic pages and the Cisco CCNA Prep Center.

When you are first starting out you do have to learn a bunch of trivia, but if you stick with it, you eventually hit the fun stuff.

Kaminsky

Why not try Network+ first instead of CCNA ?

It might suit you better in the long run rather than struggling with the CCNA. Also, counts toward your MCSE as an elective with A+.

r1000

Kaminsky wrote:

Why not try Network+ first instead of CCNA ?

It might suit you better in the long run rather than struggling with the CCNA. Also, counts toward your MCSE as an elective with A+.

You know that might not be a bad Idea.... I will look into this option...

Thanks fellas