Starting CCNA/CCENT training. Nervous

Hello,

I just registered for entry level Cisco training at my local night school. I will be taking a Cisco 1, and Cisco 2 class, basically to prepare for CCNA and CCENT. (I will also need to take a Cisco 3 and Cisco 4 class before I even consider taking the exam though, but that is next semester.)

I have little experience in networking, mainly at home using basic Action Tec or Lynksys routers. I am just hoping for some inspiration as I am a little discouraged. Cisco sounds difficult.

I just got my A+ certification last month and decided to skip network+ for now and just go straight for the Cisco training.

Anyway, those of you who were once noobs like me, what am I getting in to here? Am I looking at an exciting time, tinkering with the all powerful cisco routers, or is this boring and repetitive?

Thanks a lot guys (and girls, any girls here?) I really appreciate this forum.

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Comments

dynamik

IT Guy I Hope wrote: »

Anyway, those of you who were once noobs like me, what am I getting in to here? Am I looking at an exciting time, tinkering with the all powerful cisco routers, or is this boring and repetitive?

That totally depends on you. My advice is to expect to be overwhelmed at the onset. However, you'll find if you stick with it, what gave you a hard time a little while ago, now seems like common sense. Just prepare yourself to commit to your final goal and see it through; otherwise, you're going to end up discouraged.

IT Guy I Hope wrote: »

Thanks a lot guys (and girls, any girls here?) I really appreciate this forum.

I can think of at least five!

Good luck, and welcome to the forums!

darkerosxx

To add on to Dynamik's response, compare it to running. You may think you could never run a marathon, but with practice those miles you add to your routine get easier and easier. =p

CCENT was overwhelming for me, but I got through it and eventually got through the second CCNA exam. The worst part was subnetting for me. I just didn't want to do it, so I made it even harder than it was.

Jeremy Cioara said something great on the CCNA Voice intro video... he said that if you want to learn something well, either love it or force yourself to love it. After pushing yourself to really love what you're doing, you eventually will and it will get in your brain easier/faster.

Good luck.

jonny72

IT Guy I Hope wrote: »

I just registered for entry level Cisco training at my local night school. I will be taking a Cisco 1, and Cisco 2 class, basically to prepare for CCNA and CCENT. (I will also need to take a Cisco 3 and Cisco 4 class before I even consider taking the exam though, but that is next semester.)

I take it that's a Cisco Academy course, most likely the Exploration one?

I'm doing Exploration at the moment. Its not that difficult provided you put the time in, which I guess you will if you're going to classes. Mine is distant learning so its kind of just down to me putting the time in.

I just finished class 2 (routing protocols and concepts), I spent about 40 hours studying (basically just reading the course book) and passed the end of class exam pretty easily.

So passing the course shouldn't be too hard. I'm guessing the certification exam will be a lot harder though.

nelsonnr

Welcome to the world of Cisco. I am beginning to love it. Having passed the CCENT I can now begin to taste success although I'm not disillusioned as to how far I've yet to go. I've mostly told myself that CCIE is unachievable, but as I learn more and more I can see how it could be if I work hard enough.

As boring as it sounds, my main advice is to get the CCENT, work your butt off to understand everything and when you pass the exam, you'll feel like your on an escalator to the CCNA - I know I have. I cant comment enough on how the CCENT has made me 'love' Cisco technology, but again I'm not disillusioned - when I compare the CCENT to what I'm learning now for ICND2, that exam was easy and in some ways I am sure I will look back at the CCNA and say, wow if only the rest of the exams were that easy.

I would thoroughly recommend sticking in there - the value and benefit you'll get out of this training is huge and well respected. The guys and girls on this forum are in my mind the best in the business - Cisco Learning Network is great too - but its a bit too polished for me, I love this forum because you see real people, talking about real exams and achieving real success - as I am sure you will too!

Good luck, work hard and it'll be worth it in the end.

cisconooblet

My advice is......when you get through the material and decide to take the test, DO NOT get discouraged if you fail, you most likely will at some point.......I'm like the Abraham Lincoln of cisco tests, I've failed a few times (icnd2,CCNA) but I keep kicking. I feel like I know the material backwards and forwards, yet I can't seem to get past the icnd2 thus yet. No worries though, I got time and money. Oh one more thing....you will never pass the icnd2, or ccna on memorization alone. Buy, borrow, steal a lab and put some time in. So far I've used the Cisco net acad, cisco press study guides, boson netsim/tests, and the cisco press flash card book.....I've put about 4 months now into the icnd2 this time....I'm overkilling it to make sure....test on monday to see if the fight is over yet

TBellamy

The trick for me was to make it fun in any way I could. One thing I did was to pretend I was teaching it to my girlfriend. She was very cooperative in this and actually learned a thing or two about computers and networking. Since we are both major Lord of The Ring fans I made up a network to connect some cities from the story and then configured it on my LAB rack while making up stories about it. It was a fun way to practice and actually helped me learn stuff faster without getting bored. She played the role of "customer" and I played the role of "network consultant". Hopefully I will get to do it for real soon!

LAB Worksheet.JPG

captobvious

Good luck cisconooblet!

IT Guy - I wouldn't sweat it. While Cisco looks daunting, if you put in the time and stay diligent you shouldn't have troubles. Plus, don't buy into "you will probably fail". You will only fail if you THINK you will fail. Confidence is everything in life!

miller811

captobvious wrote: »

Good luck cisconooblet!

IT Guy - I wouldn't sweat it. While Cisco looks daunting, if you put in the time and stay diligent you shouldn't have troubles. Plus, don't buy into "you will probably fail". You will only fail if you THINK you will fail. Confidence is everything in life!

You can doooooo it!

read
study
lab
read, study, lab

ask questions, get answers

pass the exam....

You can doooooo it!

sandman748

If you have little networking experience, you've made the right choice in using the net academy. It does a great job of stepping you through the material.

They're going to throw subnetting at you right away, and I know it confused the hell out of most of us but stick with it and eventually it just clicks. We had 4 guys drop out in the first week because they were intimidated and all of them regretted it. If you bothered to learn binary for your A+ your already way ahead of the game.

As for the material, if you enjoy networking at home, you'll enjoy this. There are parts that can be really dry, but when it all comes together in the end, it's pretty cool stuff.

Forsaken_GA

nelsonnr wrote: »

Welcome to the world of Cisco. I am beginning to love it. Having passed the CCENT I can now begin to taste success although I'm not disillusioned as to how far I've yet to go. I've mostly told myself that CCIE is unachievable, but as I learn more and more I can see how it could be if I work hard enough.

Don't ever think that something is unachievable. Those tend to be self fulfilling prophecies. I've told myself that the CCIE is achievable and that a first time pass on the lab is not something unreasonable to expect. I just have to learn what I need to know, and I know I'm perfectly capable of doing that.

One of my favorite techniques when there's a concept that I'm struggling with it is that I approach it as if I'm going to teach it to someone else. I think to myself, 'how would I explain this to someone who doesn't have a clue in terms they can understand?'. That forces me to order my thoughts and I have to really understand it if I'm going to explain it.

My roommates have come home to find me in the living room lecturing (complete with my whiteboard) to the dogs as they sit on the couch and pant at me complacently. More than once.

On slow days when I'm studying at work, I will grab a whiteboard, go to the front of the NOC, and start explaining the concept of what I'm learning, even if none of them are listening. Since I work with a bunch of Linux admins, they're not too terribly into networking, but sometimes I hit a subject that sparks an in depth discussion, and we all come away a little bit wiser.

IT Guy I Hope

You guys are awesome. Thanks for the motivation.