Instructor moments that make you say: "Huh?"

YFZblu

So recently I started taking AAIT/CCNA classes at a local CC - I figured if I'm getting my CCNA, I might as well breeze through some courses and get college credit for it. In my LAN class, we had a Cisco Academy Instructor who said a couple of strange things, and I thought we could get together and share moments in class or whatever that seemed a little 'off'.

1. She told us the CCNP was actually EASIER than the CCNA. Who am I to argue? I'm not quite done with my CCNA and definitely haven't looked into the CCNP stuff yet, so I wasn't in a position to say anything. Note: Our Instructor did not list CCNP in her introduction and list of credentials; just a CCNA and work experience. I know we all interpret information differently, but this just sounded inherently wrong.

2. During an explanation of routing logic the Instructor actually referenced Test King!! It was very subtle and I don't think anyone in the class caught it, but she said something like: "Router A sends a packet to Router Test King...."

Am I nit-picking or is my Instructor saying some really weird things?

blargoe

Unfortunately, some of the instructors that you will encounter will be people who could never cut it in the real world. I had a CC instructor, toward the end of the 4th Cisco Academy course, advocate using brain **** to "tie up the loose ends and catch the trick questions" that Cisco would throw at you. Now, he was a great teacher and I learned a lot in that class, but the fact that he urged us to do that stick in my craw now.

Luckily I haven't had any out and out stupidity from instructors, but it does happen. Maybe it happens more in CC type environments (public schools) than it does with for-profit, professional training companies like GK or NH or directly through the vendor (ie, Microsoft), which is where I have had the bulk of my IT training.

halaakajan

CCNP easier than CCNA ? d-_-b

vCole

Well, CCNP isn't as broad as CCNA. I've heard some people say that they found the CCNP easier than the CCNA.

kurosaki00

What blargoe said (man what a difficult screen name!)

My favorite kind of professors are the one that actually work in the field, or worked for many years.
But you do find people who just certified to be able to teach that exact class. Sometimes people that are just CCNA teaching CCNA, which I think it shouldn't be permitted.

But concentrate in the material, read the books, play with labs, search online, watch videos. The material will never lie or play with you.

Somnipotent

Actually the CCNP IS easier than the CCNA. Why? Because you're diving deeper into the core technologies one at a time. You're not blasted with dozens of different topics and theory all at once. That's the reason they broke up the CCNA, to make it more accessable because as an entry level certification, it's friggin' hard as crap, especially true if don't know the difference between a router and a switch. CCNP is harder to achieve in the sense you can't take a composite test and be done with it. You HAVE to take all 3 exams. 3 is MUCH better than the 4 in v5.

As far as TK goes... I guess the instructor must have gotten his CCSI (if he has one) through less than honest means.

apr911

We had a vendor send us "one-of-their-best" instructors at work when we were considering bringing their devices into our environment. The instructor sat down with about a dozen of us and started to run through the devices capabilities. It quickly became apparent that he didnt have clue 1 what he was talking about as he started to makeup or re-write well established RFC's on the fly.

Our techs called him on it and then proceeded to grill him for the next hour. Turned into quite a debacle.

So while the the instructor may be referencing test king in their presentation, as long as they are technically acurate and know what they are talking about I wouldnt sweat it too much.

As for the CCNP being easier than the CCNP?

Well I cant speak for CCNP R&S as I dont have that one but I do have my CCNP Security and in my experience, Id have to agree. For the most part, the individual CCNP exams were easier than the CCNA composite exam. Now the entire process for getting the CCNP Security was certainly harder than getting the CCNA because there were 4-5 exams (4 Pro, 1 Associate) beyond the CCNA and there was more to learn but the individual exams were in fact easier.

Just a thought.

rsutton

About 10 years ago I attended Heald college. in the introductory computer hardware class the instructor passed around a few motherboards and was explaining what each part was. She pointed to a PCI slot and said "this is where you would put your memory sticks". I was younger then and called her out immediately, in front of everyone, clarifying what the slot actually was. She didn't care for me much after that day. In hindsight I should have called her out after class when no one was there so she could have made the clarification herself, as she saw fit.

MysticPytthon

I attended some Active Directory 2008 course. The instructor, had a bunch of certs (mostly MS), including MCT asked the students, if they were trying to learn AD, or if they just wanted to take the test. That way he could focus on the tests, or on learning the actual thing.


Anyways, the students weren't planning to take the tests, so the instructor "focues on AD".


Some time later, he actually offered a special preperation course for 70-640 and 70-642. The course was 5 days, and all students passed both exams, some with very high scores. Later out I found out how. The preperation course, was actually learning the students how to download braindumps, and then for the rest of the week, they would just sit and learn them.

netsysllc

MysticPytthon I would say that is really sad, and a part of the reason certs do not mean a whole lot in the real world.

UnixGuy

YFZblu wrote: »

...

2. During an explanation of routing logic the Instructor actually referenced Test King!! It was very subtle and I don't think anyone in the class caught it, but she said something like: "Router A sends a packet to Router Test King...."

..

Two words:

1) Unethical(cheater)

2) Incompetent.



But she's doing a good job preparing students for real-world IT jobs where people lie and **** their way..

N2IT

When I originally went through the community college A+ class years ago the instructor handed out a hand typed study guide. Didn't have any cheater markings on it but the handout smelled like a **** to me. I ended up getting a job before then and never took the exam until about 3 years later. By then the exam changed and I just used Mike Meyers and Messers material, (the course used Jean Andrews book).

You gotta live with yourself and if you claim the dumped cert you better know something about it or you will get called out.

I personally called out tech with A+, N+ and a CCNA. He clearly dumped and I flat out called him out. Not in a mean way, just in a joking light and the rest of the techs laughed along. It was a good time to be honest.

That's why I stress less is more. Some of the most competent techs I have met have very little certifications. They are interested in the purity of the technology not the paper.

jesseou812

Those who can, do. Those who can't, teach.