CCNP in 6 months?!

Has anyone ever gone from just getting your CCNA to CCNP in 6 months? I was looking at an employers job page and some of the qualifications were to receive a CCNP within 6 months.

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wycked67

I am not sure that can be done

wycked67

Wait. Is this a dead thread?

Jackace

It's doable, but it would require a lot of work and study.

prtech

It's possible. I did ROUTE in 3 months. Took a few months off then studied for SWITCH in a little over a month. I didn't study for TSHOOT, I took it the same time as SWITCH.

fiftyo

Definitely possible, I did route in about 7 weeks. It's all about study technique, as you are not limited to ammount of 'things' you can learn within one day.

atorven

I reckon it's very much doable, depends entirely on your motivation.

Master Of Puppets

In my opinion it is pretty doable but if you don't have experience it is going to be really really hard.I think what would determine this, for the most part at least, is whether you are new to networking or not.

Danielh22185

I work with a guy that did it. He also is extremely smart and has years of networking experience. For the novice it is challenging. I set myself goals to do it in around 8 months. I am finding even that with work and other life events, its hard.

atorven

I reckon it's very much doable - TSHOOT should take considerable less time than ROUTE and SWITCH.

eliasertulongah

Would love to trying that out, just started working on my CCNP ! Who is with me?

Iristheangel

You can do it or set a goal for it but I would recommend giving yourself a little slack. What you learn studying for the exam is much more valuable that those initials. If you get to the point where you are compromising learning it just to rush to pass the test then I would recommend backing off and studying longer.

fiftyo

Iristheangel wrote: »

If you get to the point where you are compromising learning it just to rush to pass the test then I would recommend backing off and studying longer.

Elaborate if you will. As I see no point at all going through the same material for 6-12 consecutive months. You are at that point only repeating what you learn, not developing your learning. Imo, the cert is just there to give you guidience, what you do after it is what actually matters.

Iristheangel

What I said was clear: cutting corners and rushing to pass a test will lead to not learning the material
If yoi are just chasing after certs instead of knowledge, then you're not going far in your career. And yes, sometimes rereading and labbing is required to learn. No person has 100% retention the first time they read something

Mrock4

I have been "going through the same material (CCIE R&S) for like 3 years, and I still don't know it!

fiftyo

Iristheangel wrote: »

What I said was clear: cutting corners and rushing to pass a test will lead to not learning the material
If yoi are just chasing after certs instead of knowledge, then you're not going far in your career. And yes, sometimes rereading and labbing is required to learn. No person has 100% retention the first time they read something

Depends on how you read you input on the topic, you could simply based on what you wrote skip over other topics less important. However what I'm saying is, if you refeer back to the same material over a long span of time i.e 6-12 months, you wont be learning anything new, thus, stalling you knowledge. A lot of this comes down to study technique as well. If you just sit down for 1-5 hours straight labbing/reading/watching vods your retention will be extremely low. As well copy pasting notes from the book wont give you much retention either.
And on the no person part, you ever heard of autism?

Mrock4 wrote: »

I have been "going through the same material (CCIE R&S) for like 3 years, and I still don't know it!

I'll be real dodgy and say that's beside the topic. The CCIE is a much broader range of subjects, and you are not refeering to 1-3 sources in this case.

networker050184

Sure there is no point in going through the same material for six or seven months if you have learned it already, but if it hasn't all sunk in then you need to keep going over it. Whether that takes 5 minutes or 5 months it really depeneds on the person and their learning teqnique. We can't all be autistic.

Iristheangel

Autism still doesn't mean 100% retention. Skipping over parts you deem "less important" does not seem like a way to conduct yourself in business or your education. Oh well. We all learn how we learn. Great post, Networker.

fiftyo

networker050184 wrote: »

Sure there is no point in going through the same material for six or seven months if you have learned it already, but if it hasn't all sunk in then you need to keep going over it. Whether that takes 5 minutes or 5 months it really depeneds on the person and their learning teqnique. We can't all be autistic.

Valid points, however, Imo you should lay weight on learning how to study as you advance through more complex topics.

Iristheangel wrote: »

Autism still doesn't mean 100% retention. Skipping over parts you deem "less important" does not seem like a way to conduct yourself in business or your education. Oh well. We all learn how we learn. Great post, Networker.

I may have misformulated myself, I'm absolutely not saying ignore topics, however there are topics on the exam which does not hold the same weight as others. So if your goal is simply to pass in the shortest period possible, perhaps its more benefitial to lay more time on the 'heavier' topics. Which is not hard at all to figure out, seeing how of it is covered in the books..
As for myself I just used the route cert as a benchmark for my current knowledge, I went on to read routing tcp/ip/rfcs/labbing etc. after passing the test.

RouteMyPacket

I think an experienced Engineer could buckle down and get it done, spend 2 months on each test. Perhaps a good reader with the ability to retain the information could do it as well but that person would provide little value in the real world.

Again, it could be done but it's not for the timid or the weak IMO

lunchbox67

If the point is JUST to pass the test and have a paper to hang on the wall there are many ways to get it done.
IMO that is a waste of time.

Iristheangel

@Lunchbox and RouteMyPacket - I completely agree with you.

I certainly didn't mean my first post as anything controversial so I'm not exactly sure how it turned into a debate. I see a lot of people come and go on these forums that focus and stress more on the time that it takes to get XYZ certification and end up failing the first attempt or not retaining the knowledge that they don't immediately apply. That's not to say everyone that gets the certification quickly is like that because there are a lot of people here that have a lot of experience in networking that can get through the tests quickly thanks to that practical work experience. I just think the newbies and the people that put pressure on themselves to finish it by X amount of time should know it's ok to go longer if they need to or if they feel like studying some more can be beneficial to them. I never said anywhere that anyone should just keep re-reading the same thing over and over again if they're not learning anything

instant000

Yes, you could easily do it within 6 months.

Keep in mind that you really only have two tests, and the third one (TSHOOT) just encompasses stuff you should have learned while studying for the other two.

It's really a matter of figuring out how you best learn, versus how you best prepare for tests.

In my case, those are almost two separate activities. I can learn the whys and hows behind things, and retain that. (learning) The exacting detail of the implementation is something that I rehearse and memorize for a test, but after some time passes, I'm going to be there using "?" or consulting documentation for the exact steps in the future. (But, really, the configuration stuff is the simpler parts of it. It's knowing the why behind it that makes it all flow together. .... any junior level could paste in a working config, but not have the foggiest idea of why or how it works)

nerdydad

fiftyo wrote: »

I'll be real dodgy and say that's beside the topic. The CCIE is a much broader range of subjects, and you are not refeering to 1-3 sources in this case.

True, but the CCNP is a much broader range of subjects than CCNA also. I'm not saying it can't be done, but if you don't have a lot of experience it will be a challenge, especially to do it right. You can take TSHOOT pretty much immediately after you finish the other 2, but without much experience how well are you really going to do? Most experienced engineers I know take between 3 and 6 months for each of the exams, the OP says that he just received his CCNA. I would further add that an inexperienced CCNP will probably have a harder time to find a job because they will be looking for the CCNP salary without the experience to back it up.

instant000

phoeneous wrote: »

People actually read those?!

With regards to RFCs, yeah, you kinda end up reading those, especially when you read through documentation, and it refers to RFCs ... you have to do the due diligence and check out their sources, you know? (Especially when the authors, such as K. Clark, R. Perlmann, Chris Bryant, et.al, recommend them to you.)

Mrock4

I downloaded all of the RFC's and threw em' on my tablet. Is it pathetic that I read them (for short periods) on flights?

nerdydad

Mrock4 wrote: »

I downloaded all of the RFC's and threw em' on my tablet. Is it pathetic that I read them (for short periods) on flights?

Not by my definition, but my definition may be somewhat skewed.

fiftyo

phoeneous wrote: »

People actually read those?!

Nothin' like a good ol' saturday night drinking tea while reading rfcs!

@iris I beg you pardon if you feel like this turned into a debate, that wasn't really the point. I'd just like this dicussion for newly grown CCNAs thinking about rushing CCNP.
However you will be better off learning how to script/ccna:sec/jncia, while you really learn how to study effectively.
As you get into the real world the problem you run into is, you don't really know how to implement what you actually learned. You will be overwhelmed with the ammount of things around you, mainly politics/monitoring/ticket systems, and so on.

Iristheangel

Sounds like you're working the wrong job or in the wrong environment. It sucks to be drawn into that crap. I avoid jobs like that.

In my current role, I'm designing, implementing and troubleshooting routers, switches, ASAs, ISE, WiFi, and even (ugh) VoIP every day. I don't work in operations so I'm not usually assigned tickets unless I'm on call that week and something breaks. I'm more of a engineer role than a operations role. That's a big part of the reason I didn't even think about studying for the CCNP until I was neck-deep into the networking work - I'm using the technology and theory every day. The best retention comes from practical use and a combination of studying. I always recommend the newbs to find a job in networking when they get their CCNA but before they get their CCNP.

f0rgiv3n

I did something similar to prtech. I have 4-5 years of network experience and took Route first, after 3 months of hardcore studying. Then (because most of my experience is with switches) I took Switch about a month later, and TShoot the day after Switch. Depends on your background and if you've had the opportunity to see these things in action. If it's all new material, I don't think it's viable.

aaron0011

Iristheangel wrote: »

and even (ugh) VoIP every day.

Ha, CUCM is way more fun than some boring routing protocol like OSPF.

ROUTE is what is really keeping me from pursuing CCNP. Maybe I'll change my mind one day.