Just Joined The CCNA Club :D
djfunz
Member Posts: 307
in CCNA & CCENT
What a ride these last eight months have been. I took the ICND1 exam a month and a half ago after 5 months of on and off studying and passed. With the impending move to San Francisco, I have since the ICND1, been in absolute study mode. Hours every day. Weekends consisting of only studying. My goal was to nail this certification before the move. Well, it's paid off. I'm finally at a point where I feel it was worth it. I passed the ICND2.
My study materials this time around were a little different however. I still used Jeremy's videos for introduction but I decided to use Todd Lammle's book this time because I wanted to compare his writing style to Wendell Odom's. I find him very similar to Jeremy. He doesn't go as in depth as Wendell, but it's a much easier read. I still went back to Odom's book though to get a better understanding on some concepts that weren't as clear to me. The chapter on Routing Theory for example I thought was much more informative than anything I read in Todd's book. So for my easy comparison for those that are curious here it is.
Todd Lammle = Jeremy Cioara
Wendell Odom = Chris Bryant
My study materials this time around were a little different however. I still used Jeremy's videos for introduction but I decided to use Todd Lammle's book this time because I wanted to compare his writing style to Wendell Odom's. I find him very similar to Jeremy. He doesn't go as in depth as Wendell, but it's a much easier read. I still went back to Odom's book though to get a better understanding on some concepts that weren't as clear to me. The chapter on Routing Theory for example I thought was much more informative than anything I read in Todd's book. So for my easy comparison for those that are curious here it is.
Todd Lammle = Jeremy Cioara
Wendell Odom = Chris Bryant
In addition, I also came across Dan's Courses. VERY nice what this man is offering for FREE! I watched almost all his ICND2 material and did the labs in Packet Tracer many many times. It was in my personal opinion, pivotal to my success.
The test itself, I thought was just a tad more difficult than the ICND1. I might have received a different pool of questions than some here, but overall I wouldn't say it was very much more difficult. That being said however, I did score lower this time around. After seeing that I passed with a 902 with no time to spare, I literally did a fist pump in front of the camera. I'm sure whoever was watching had a laugh.
Thank you everyone for answering my questions along the way. Lets just say, my recent question on Frame Relay was very helpful.
The big question is what to do now? I'm moving to the Bay Area this Tuesday. A nice 11 hour direct flight and really haven't decided on a path yet. I was thinking of reading Network Warrior to get another perspective on CCNA level topics. I was also considering picking up a book on some Network monitoring programs like Nagios. Perhaps a better understanding about using Wireshark would also be helpful. Or should I just jump onto CCNP ROUTE? I want to be as employabe as possible when I arrive over there.
What do the wise ones here recommend?
The test itself, I thought was just a tad more difficult than the ICND1. I might have received a different pool of questions than some here, but overall I wouldn't say it was very much more difficult. That being said however, I did score lower this time around. After seeing that I passed with a 902 with no time to spare, I literally did a fist pump in front of the camera. I'm sure whoever was watching had a laugh.
Thank you everyone for answering my questions along the way. Lets just say, my recent question on Frame Relay was very helpful.
The big question is what to do now? I'm moving to the Bay Area this Tuesday. A nice 11 hour direct flight and really haven't decided on a path yet. I was thinking of reading Network Warrior to get another perspective on CCNA level topics. I was also considering picking up a book on some Network monitoring programs like Nagios. Perhaps a better understanding about using Wireshark would also be helpful. Or should I just jump onto CCNP ROUTE? I want to be as employabe as possible when I arrive over there.
What do the wise ones here recommend?
WGU Progress - B.S. IT - Completed
Comments
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Puffy
Member Posts: 54 ■■□□□□□□□□
Congratulations djfunz.
For me, I headed straight into my CCNP studies since I still have about one more year before I complete my Bsc. programme. -
SharkDiver
Member Posts: 844
Congratulations!
All of the things you mentioned would be a good addition to your current knowledge. If you have the time and money though, I'd opt for the CCNP. -
Gholden85
Member Posts: 10 ■□□□□□□□□□
Just a quick question, and sorry for the hijack, but what are the Dan courses that you mentioned? I just finished up Sec+ last week and I'm going to be jumping into ICND1 next week, so I'm looking for the resources I need to start studying.
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Puffy
Member Posts: 54 ■■□□□□□□□□
danscourses - YouTubeJust a quick question, and sorry for the hijack, but what are the Dan courses that you mentioned? I just finished up Sec+ last week and I'm going to be jumping into ICND1 next week, so I'm looking for the resources I need to start studying. -
rogerp007
Member Posts: 8 ■□□□□□□□□□
Congratulations on passing the CCNA, my advice is to take a weekend and then get straight into the CCNP, you won't find the material very different and you will be keen to learn more, the CCNP is perfect preparation for the big CCIE!
Roger
UK -
ChickenNuggetz
Member Posts: 284
Congrats on the pass! What would you say was the most difficult topic that you studied? Any advice for future test takers?:study: Currently Reading: Red Hat Certified Systems Administrator and Engineer by Ashgar Ghori
Certifications: CCENT; CCNA: R&S; Security+
Next up: RHCSA -
zrockstar
Member Posts: 378
Great job, it seems like the Bay Area is a pretty good location for networking work from what I have seen, and I'm sure the CCNA will help you tons! -
djfunz
Member Posts: 307
Thanks everyone. I'm really looking forward to reading Network Warrior. I was perusing all the reviews on Amazon and it seems like a great addition to the library. Something to read for the eleven hour flight. After that, I guess more CBT Nuggets and Odom's ROUTE book? Only resources I've seen so far.
I've lined up a couple interviews with some recruiters when I've landed stateside, so hopefully something positive surfaces.ChickenNuggetz wrote: »Congrats on the pass! What would you say was the most difficult topic that you studied? Any advice for future test takers?
I personally reviewed many topics more than once. I had to keep hammering home the features and differences between OSPF and EIGRP. Memorizing the needed commands to configure NAT and ACL's also took some time.
Personally, the easiest topics for me were VLSM and Route Summarization. Using wildcard bits however, took some getting used to.
Overall, I found going through the material much easier for the ICND2 than for the ICND1. Perhaps because ICND1 focuses so much on theory and completely new concepts that I've never before had any experience with. The OSI Model and Subnetting alone were huge pills to swallow.
Once one is comfortable with all the questions in Odom's and Lammle's book along doing all the labs provided by Dan without watching the videos. it should be pretty straightforward.
Good Luck.
WGU Progress - B.S. IT - Completed -
amyjakson
Registered Users Posts: 2 ■□□□□□□□□□
Hello i am Aleajonshon new user from UK
I want to appear for Advanced Cisco Unified Wireless Security certification exam please guide me for all process including admission and exam preparation. -
Ivanjam
Member Posts: 978 ■■■■□□□□□□
Hello i am Aleajonshon new user from UK
I want to appear for Advanced Cisco Unified Wireless Security certification exam please guide me for all process including admission and exam preparation.
Aleajonshon aka amyjakson from UK: I take it that you already have CCNA Wireless? The information below is from the Cisco website:
https://learningnetwork.cisco.com/community/certifications/ccnp_wireless/iauwsFall 2014: Start MA in Mathematics [X]
Fall 2016: Start PhD in Mathematics [X]
