Use it or Lose it!

Well gang, I'm back. I'm back on the cert track after a 3 month hiatus to transition out of teaching and into IT (and a whole new city). Sadly, things got way too stressful between moving my entire life and starting a new career so I had to put my quest for my CCNA on hold. I'm starting to look back at my notes and my book and there's a lot that I dont remember (commands and such) and its a bit surprising/disappointing. Here's what I do remember:

Basic switch and router configuration
OSI Model (basically remember nearly all of the CCENT material)
VLANs, VTP (including commands)
RIP (including commands)
Subnetting (thank god)
STP (concepts only)
WAN (concepts only)

I dont remember:
ACLs (cant remember commands)
EIGRP and OSPF
Frame Relay
VPN
IPv6

So my question to you guys is, especially since a lot of you are like me and dont yet work in networking directly, how do you all stay on top of remembering all this when you arent actively using it in your day-to-day? Do you lab every week? Review notes? Reread?

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Comments

veritas_libertas

I'm in a similar position. I don't work in Networking and I'm not going to be able to do any heavy studying for probably a month and half. My goal is to at least read one chapter a month from Odom's book to keep fresh. I also intend to review my 3x5s and notes.

YFZblu

I've found that watching one CBTNuggets video per day is extremely doable as far as some of the theory is concerned. As far as labbing goes, I need to find time at least once per week to keep the commands fresh.

ChickenNuggetz

Glad to hear that I'm not the only one struggling with this! I too was also thinking about labbing at least once a week. I was thinking of creating a rolling lab schedule/syllabus that has me labbing different topics every week, kind of like:

Week 1: VLAN, STP, VTP, Routing between VLANS
Week 2: OSPF Routing
Week 3: EIGRP Routing
Week 4: Frame Relay
etc. etc.

Each week is built upon the previous week, so I would start with the LAN then move into routing, changing routing then eventually WAN topics. Rinse and repeat. What do you guys think?

mapletune

I, personally, would like to be able to lab everyday. Unfortunately, i have a problem with time management & procrastination... so yes, i do find myself forgetting commands.

it's not that big of a problem for exam day as cummulative review makes sure i remember everything i need to know. But i guess experience really is irreplaceable.

Anyhow, for us who don't get to lab often, i recommend the book "Portable Command Guide" from Cisco Press. It's basically a condensed simple lab manual that goes over all of the commands you are expected to know for the exam. it's organized by topic such as RIP, EIGRP, VTP, STP, etc.

txraider09

I try and do something everyday. Either watch a CBT Nugget video, Train Signal Video, play with Packet Tracer at work, or Lab if I have some free time at home.

NetworkVeteran

ChickenNuggetz wrote: »

So my question to you guys is, especially since a lot of you are like me and dont yet work in networking directly, how do you all stay on top of remembering all this when you arent actively using it in your day-to-day? Do you lab every week? Review notes? Reread?

Chicken, even those of us in the field don't do everything on a daily basis. Of those topics, I did not touch EIGRP or RIP this week, and I only briefly touched Frame Relay and STP. Still, it's not acceptable to lose my hard-earned knowledge. I never know when I might need it! And I certainly know I will need much of it when I make my CCIE attempt. What do I do? I create flash cards as I learn and set aside 5-30 minute/day to review. That may seem like a wide range, but I will break it down like so: When I'm learning new material, I need to spend more time reviewing those new concepts. When I'm just maintaining, less review time is necessary.

Week 1: VLAN, STP, VTP, Routing between VLANS
Week 2: OSPF Routing
Week 3: EIGRP Routing
Week 4: Frame Relay
etc. etc.

What do you guys think?

I think, with so many weeks between covering a topic, you will forget quite a bit.

You will still do better than someone who doesn't review.

RouteMyPacket

NetworkVeteran wrote: »

Chicken, even those of us in the field don't do everything on a daily basis. Of those topics, I did not touch EIGRP or RIP this week, and I only briefly touched Frame Relay and STP. Still, it's not acceptable to lose my hard-earned knowledge. I never know when I might need it!

I concur, it's rare that those us that have been in the field for years use a wide range of commands on a daily basis. Honestly, all I have done this week is work on some ACL's in my ASA, configured two new 3560G's and trunked them. Funny, I actually used one of my ol' favs yesterday because it was requested I track a particular machine down

sh mac- | i xxxx

xxxx being the last 4 digits of the MAC

That command is good for tracking down and isolating rogue clients and killing the port etc.

I don't think it's always about knowing right off the top of your head EVERY ios command, it's just not going to happen, BUT an experienced Engineer will know how to effectively and quickly find what he is looking for be it ? or google.com

It really boils down to being able to fully utilize the tools available to you and remaining open minded and humble. Playing the "I'm the Cisco God doesn't tend to go over well with your peers"...I cannot stand those types.

Even with my years of hands on experience, I am building a home lab and going to start from scratch to sharpen myself from the basics on and am looking forward to it.

Mike-Mike

ChickenNuggetz wrote: »

Glad to hear that I'm not the only one struggling with this! I too was also thinking about labbing at least once a week. I was thinking of creating a rolling lab schedule/syllabus that has me labbing different topics every week, kind of like:

I learned this the hard way.... I got my CCNA, then didn't do anything... 3 months later I got an impromptu interview and I was like "uhh, I know that, I have my CCNA"

ok, explain it.

"uhh... you see... uhh"

so I was reviewing with CBTnuggets, but then I got weak on actual commands, but my theory is strong.

I got my CCNA via WGU which provided LabSim, which was excellent. I emailed the company and had them reset my progress, so I'm just going to go through the entire course again.

Legacy User

The title reminds me of the 40yr virgin "is it true if you don't use it you lose it". I have a reference quick study folder thing that I got from ciscokits that has the main points for all the topics. I give it a quick look from time to time.

ChickenNuggetz

dmarcisco wrote: »

The title reminds me of the 40yr virgin "is it true if you don't use it you lose it". I have a reference quick study folder thing that I got from certificationkits that has the main points for all the topics. I give it a quick look from time to time.

Hahaha, yeah I was thinking of that exact scene when I was writing this up! I was thinking of making myself a quick reference guide, mostly to help point out glaring holes in my knowledge.

kast1

I think watching CBT Nuggets videos may help to refresh your memories on certain topics or command lines. I recommend speeding up the videos to about 2x the speed. That way you finish a 30 minute video in 15 minutes or less. It is easy and you can do it will eating your lunch.

I think I have watched the CBT Nuggets videos well over 5 times... maybe more using the above method. This is just to refresh my memories on certain topics and something I like to do.

oli356

2x speed is too fast for me

Struggle to keep up with Jeremy at times and he sounds weird ha.

MickQ

Only here to say that I concur with what NetVet said. I'm in the same boat.

Illumanati

YFZblu wrote: »

I've found that watching one CBTNuggets video per day is extremely doable as far as some of the theory is concerned. As far as labbing goes, I need to find time at least once per week to keep the commands fresh.

Agree and Agree on both points of doing 1 CBT Nugget per day and if you're really "Wanting it", read a chapter in a book devoted for it and also keep your commands fresh by either labbing or reading that Portal Command guide.

drkat

Did mostly voice this week, fixed some dns issues on a 2k3 server... Honestly on a daily basis .... I just troubleshoot.. so it's a gamble of how the equipment is configured.

In my queue:
Calls Failing over PRI
Connectivity Issue(s) - bouncing
Remove DN from ATA
Corporate Directory listings (CME)
Configure PRI
RTP port mirroing/troubleshooting
Caller ID issue

-- yay?