CCNP courses from a Cisco Learning Partner?

Basically, I'm being offered the chance through my job to take some sort of training. Rather than go to some other vendor specific course, I've considered pushing for some CCNP classes while I study on my own.

Can anyone here vouch for the CCNP classes offered by Cisco learning partners?

I realize they are offered by many different companies and the quality of the class probably differs greatly, so I was just curious if anyone here has ever taken any classes first hand, or heard any reliable reviews from those who had?

The last thing I want to do is convince my boss and end up dropping $2,000 per class, only to be disappointed.

Just as a side note: I don't plan on coming back from a 5 day course and being able to immediately pass the exam with no other study. My plan is to use the class as a crash course, more or less. I plan to study for each exam before and during the class, on my own, in hopes of being able to pass the exam after a little bit of review. Overall, I'm hoping to devote around 3 months to each exam, which would be about how often I could get to a class.

Thoughts?

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Comments

mikej412

The official courseware is probably the best single source to use to prepare for the exam -- so you could become very popular with your co-workers who want to borrow it after you take the courses.

The quality of the classes will depend on the instructor. The best instructors probably split their time between teaching and doing. But a bad instructor with lots of practical experience could still be worse than an great instructor with no practical field experience.....

Most places will let you sit in on part of a class to form your own opinion of the instructor/training. Make sure you find out if they have multiple instructors (or contract instructors) -- let's face it, to make a sale a lot of places will happily show you their best instructor.....

I say it's probably best to learn (and hands-on practice) as much of the exam blueprint topics from the Cisco Press books before the class, and then use the class as your exam prep.

The Official Training is usually always worth it when work pays (and you don't have to sign away your first born if you leave the company within a year of receiving the training).

iproute

I took such a class a year ago for BSCI. It was very good and informative. I actually put off doing any personal study time until just recently but many of the concepts discussed there still stick in my head.

mikej412 wrote: »

The official courseware is probably the best single source to use to prepare for the exam -- so you could become very popular with your co-workers who want to borrow it after you take the courses.

The instructor also echoed this comment. I still have the material, which I plan on digging up.

mikej412 wrote: »

The quality of the classes will depend on the instructor.

I happened to get Rahim Raoufi (CCIE# 8918 ) which was a phenomenal instructor, not only knowing the material, but delivering it so you can retain it. I guess it's a sort of luck of the draw thing. Good luck.

I personally prefer something more like CBT Nuggets though. 1) it's cheaper. 2) you can go back and watch it how-ever many times you need to. I requested the CBTNuggets CCNP pack taught by Jeremy Cioara as my training for this year. I have the Cisco press book but haven't done much with it.

/usr

I really liked Jeremy's CCNA videos, but in all honesty, I found his BCMSN videos absolutely horrible.

iproute

/usr wrote: »

I really liked Jeremy's CCNA videos, but in all honesty, I found his BCMSN videos absolutely horrible.

That's unfortunate. I may have to lean more on the Cisco book for that test. The BSCI vids seem to be getting the job done though. The test will tell (10/16).

ColbyG

/usr wrote: »

I really liked Jeremy's CCNA videos, but in all honesty, I found his BCMSN videos absolutely horrible.

Really? What didn't you like about them. Without CBTNuggets I doubt I'd have gotten my CCNP (or maybe even NA) as quickly, if at all.

/usr

I found them more or less completely lacking any real technical detail. I feel as though I can read 5 pages of any given chapter in the official guide and learn more than I can watching an entire video of Jeremy's.

I am only talking about the BCMSN videos here. I liked his CCNA videos and I haven't checked out any of the other CCNP videos he's done.

At best, I feel like the CBT Nugget videos for BCMSN would be a brief introduction to the material, nothing more.

iproute

/usr wrote: »

I found them more or less completely lacking any real technical detail. I feel as though I can read 5 pages of any given chapter in the official guide and learn more than I can watching an entire video of Jeremy's.

I am only talking about the BCMSN videos here. I liked his CCNA videos and I haven't checked out any of the other CCNP videos he's done.

At best, I feel like the CBT Nugget videos for BCMSN would be a brief introduction to the material, nothing more.

Interesting. I'll post my thoughts when I get there (my company's already purchased them as noted).

/usr

I mean, by no means am I the authority on BCMSN training material, so take that for what you will, it's only my personal opinion.

I also found Jeremy's sense of humor and ridiculous stories completely over the top in this set of videos.

Your wife petitioned the president to get dogs the same rights as humans, huh? I don't see how that really relates to CEF at all, but apparently you do, Jeremy.

ColbyG

/usr wrote: »

I found them more or less completely lacking any real technical detail. I feel as though I can read 5 pages of any given chapter in the official guide and learn more than I can watching an entire video of Jeremy's.

I am only talking about the BCMSN videos here. I liked his CCNA videos and I haven't checked out any of the other CCNP videos he's done.

At best, I feel like the CBT Nugget videos for BCMSN would be a brief introduction to the material, nothing more.

I'll rewatch it. I've been meaning to brush up on my STP for the IE anyway.

/usr

/end rant.

/usr

That's the thing that killed me, too. The NA videos explained STP as much, if not more, than his BCMSN videos.

ColbyG

/usr wrote: »

That's the thing that killed me, too. The NA videos explained STP as much, if not more, than his BCMSN videos.

Really? I just went through some of the STP vids and they seem to be pretty detailed. I was surprised Root Guard and BPDU Guard weren't covered, but I went to the security vids and he went over them pretty thoroughly there.

What do you think is missing? I didn't watch them all the way through, just quick skipping around, but nothing big stuck out as not being covered.

Cyanic

/usr wrote: »

I also found Jeremy's sense of humor and ridiculous stories completely over the top in this set of videos.

Your wife petitioned the president to get dogs the same rights as humans, huh? I don't see how that really relates to CEF at all, but apparently you do, Jeremy.

I can see where humor in training has value, but a political comment like that is just plain unprofessional and inappropriate.

iproute

Cyanic wrote: »

I can see where humor in training has value, but a political comment like that is just plain unprofessional and inappropriate.

I don't think I'm understanding how the comment is political. If he indicated approval or denial (mainly approval) of the wife's ridiculous request, that might be seen as political. I haven't seen the video yet, so I can only base an opinion on what's been shared here; but I'd guess that he was trying to convey that a thought or idea about the topic was ridiculous.

ColbyG

iproute wrote: »

I don't think I'm understanding how the comment is political. If he indicated approval or denial (mainly approval) of the wife's ridiculous request, that might be seen as political. I haven't seen the video yet, so I can only base an opinion on what's been shared here; but I'd guess that he was trying to convey that a thought or idea about the topic was ridiculous.

They're really blowing it out or proportion, IIRC. It was just his goofy way of teaching. He talked about how his wife treats dogs like people and he treats them like dogs, etc, etc. Nothing too political or out of bounds, IMO.

Cyanic

Ya, I read into that, and I have not seen the video.

aldous

/usr wrote: »

I mean, by no means am I the authority on BCMSN training material, so take that for what you will, it's only my personal opinion.

I also found Jeremy's sense of humor and ridiculous stories completely over the top in this set of videos.

Your wife petitioned the president to get dogs the same rights as humans, huh? I don't see how that really relates to CEF at all, but apparently you do, Jeremy.

or completely wrong like in the ccna ones where he claims des was broken by a 12 year old swedish girl which is pure rubbish