So I decided to hold off on CCNA Sec for now to start on my CCNP

A little background:

I am a 25n in the army. I have been in 2.5 years and I have 1.5 years remaining on my contract. I will not reenlist. When I first got to my unit, a sergeant in my company asked me if I had any certs or plans to get any. My answer was no. About a year after that, I was reading some random novel and that same sergeant (now a staff sergeant) gave me crap (in good fun) for reading that instead of a Cisco book. Three months later, I got my CCNA and a few more months after that, my CCNA Voice.

That staff sergeant is just starting his CCNP Switch studies and he asked me if I would like to be his study partner. I figured "eh wth" and here I am now. We start monday.

Study Materials:
CBT Nuggets
Cisco Press CCNP Switch
Chris Bryant's CCNP Switch book
And I am contemplating buying the Chris Bryant CCNP videos (anyone have experience with those)

Equipment:
We have multiple 2811, 3825, and 3560 at work to practice with
His personal home lab consisting of 3560/50, 2821, 2811, plus a few others
I have 50 INE lab credits (I don't know how I have these but I do)

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Comments

d4nz1g

Well, CCNA Security would help you in CCNP Route remote access technologies (VPN) and IPv6...
Its not a hard test as compared to CCNP track, and its worth it.

boobobobobob

Wow you'll leave the military ready for the job market. Is this common? Most of my friends that left the military came out with only DUIs.

canoj

d4nz1g wrote: »

Well, CCNA Security would help you in CCNP Route remote access technologies (VPN) and IPv6...
Its not a hard test as compared to CCNP track, and its worth it.

I am not abandoning the security track. Just postponing it. I will most likely pick it back up after Switch but before Route.

boobobobobob wrote: »

Wow you'll leave the military ready for the job market. Is this common? Most of my friends that left the military came out with only DUIs.

LMAO!! The DUI comment is absolutely true. I think there was about 5 or 6 DUIs in my company last year. 3 in the span of a month. But no, this is not common. Besides my sergeant, another soldier, and I, Our battalion does not have any Cisco certified soldiers...And we are a signal unit.

The only other certs that the some soldiers in my unit have are some Comptia's and that is because the unit paid to send us to a class and paid for the test at the end of the week (which is how I got mine).

networker050184

I did the 25N thing and got certs as well. Have never had a problem finding a job. Good luck!

okplaya

If I were into technology during my Army days, I would have done exactly what you are planning to do.

I used Chris Bryant's videos during my studies. For SWITCH and ROUTE they are great. For TSHOOT, it's overkill.

instant000

Oustanding soldier! (I'm former 25B)

You are fortunate to have an NCO who is leading you the right way.

There is something to consider: there are a lot of people out there who are not trying to better themselves. To be clear, you are not competing against them, as they're not going to be qualified for what you're going to be doing. You are going to be competing against all the others out there who are advancing themselves.

Here's to your greater success. Don't hesitate to send a PM or something if you require assistance.

canoj

Thank you guys for the support. I decided to go ahead and purchase the Chris Bryant videos. So far, it seems pretty good. Of course I am not only relying on the videos to pass the exam.

Currently, I am on the STP section and I really want to spend a few more days to nail this down good before I move onto the next section.