Time for the CCNP. Oh Which way to go first...

Hello all,
Throwing my hat into the ring after getting my CCNA last June. Been lurking around trying to look for recommendations on books and videos and found some great ideas. I'm also a product of the CIsco Network Academy. So far, I have yet to decide on whether to take the route or switch exam first. After reading a few threads here it seems that most people get ROUTE out of the way first. We'll see how it goes. I use to be a System Admin but recently got promoted to a Datacenter technician for the company I work for. Now I get a lot more experience in the switches, routers, cabling concepts, etc which is really cool.

PS: Congrats to all who recently posted that they passed their exam. Hopefully in a few months I can say the same.

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Comments

rowelld

Depends on what you're more comfortable with. I'm attempting SWITCH first because I work more with switching.

Dieg0M

I went ROUTE -> SWITCH -> TSHOOT. Everyone agrees to go TSHOOT last. I would say go ROUTE first because there is more material and topics to be covered. Pass it while your motivation is still high.

RouteMyPacket

What have you done more of, what are you more familiar with? Regardless, the material is going to be deep

AwesomeGarrett

I would recommend ROUTE as its the hardest exam of the certification. My reasoning was that I didn't want to spend the money on the other exams and then choke on ROUTE. Plus routing is more funner, that's right I said more funner.

RouteMyPacket

AwesomeGarrett wrote: »

I would recommend ROUTE as its the hardest exam of the certification. My reasoning was that I didn't want to spend the money on the other exams and then choke on ROUTE. Plus routing is more funner, that's right I said more funner.

ROUTE is for you traffic cops...Security is where it's at...see you traffic cops send the traffic down a certain way right, well Security kicks its butt after you send it down that path..we beat it down and or at least frisk it before letting it carry on. lol

bermovick

I'll add my vote for ROUTE as well, mainly because it's the "biggest" of the three. Taking it first means it's still 'fresher' in your head when you're dealing with the remaining 2. Doing switch first means there's lots of time for that material to fade.

Kurgan

Thanks for all the responses everyone!
Cisco press recently had a holiday sale so I picked up the eBooks for SWITCH and ROUTE. I think I'll also grab their portable command guides as well. A friend is letting me borrow his CBT nuggets so to start out I think I have a good basis.
I've seen many comments about how their books aren't the best for studying and you would always need alternative stuff. Unfortunately my wallet is a little thin due to the holidays.
I believe I will start with ROUTE. Its not my strongest point but I think I know enough to get a good start. I'm going to review all my previous notes to get myself acquainted with anything that may have slipped my mind, etc.