Passed CCNA! / My Journey / What's Next?

So finally, I have conqured the CCNA.

I took the 2-exam path.. a brief listing of my experiences..

2013, I enrolled myself @ a school here that offers Networking Academy. We used the old curriculum (Exploration v4.0) and went over the 4 modules in over 10months. Having been caught in the middle of transition to the new exam by September 30,2013. I decided to take the necessary actions to adapt on this changes.

First, I used the Odom 100-101 book + CBT Nuggets to review for the 1st exam. Took me 2months of reviewing and finally sat on the exam on Jan 03 of this yr and passed with a score of 841 (passing was around 800). So happy and determined to finish the second exam in the next month or so.

Next, just as like the first exam, I used Odom 200-101 + CBT Nuggets. Took me almost 2months before finishing the review materials as life got in the way a couple of times. I was confident and positive about the exam coz of the fact that i read the book TWICE. I felt like nothing will i ever forget about the material. But, when i finally took the exam on Feb 25, i failed...My score was 815 (passing was 825). I went home with a heavy heart, specially because i did not finish the exam on time. I still had 4-5 items left unanswered. I told myself that if only i had the chance to even guess those remaining questions, and hit 1(or 2) item correct, i might have passed.. My lowest was LAN Switching (55%), and IP Services (67%),the rest we're in 80+. I guess my brain just converged and went to a blocking state. Or forgot to put in redundancy route and had a lot of single point of failure lol. I know what I need to brush up on my next attempt...

I went on my cave (room) and went back to study. I took Lammle's 200-101 book this time, to have a 2nd point-of-view on things. And true enough, I saw some terminologies used on the exam that had me on the guessing game. I knew this book was filling in on the gaps i had. After 3weeks, finished the book once, and re-took the exam again yesterday Mar 17th. When taking the exam, i felt like my brain just bundled an ether-channel. There's no way it will be converging this time...And it's like it also put in 4 forwarders in GLBP mode,load balancing the packets of information round-robin style as it travels around my brain lol. And FINALLY, passed the exam,with 986 (missed some items in WAN Technologies).

I felt the biggest relief of my life (so far), after a year of fully preparing for this exam...

Now...I need advice on whats next? I read an article a couple of months ago that says, having a CCNA these days does not land a job in networking so easily, coz companies doesn't require you to configure devices that much already. Most are already been setup by previous/senior staff. If that is so, what other base networking topics that I need to learn?
Simply put, if you are the senior staff, what would be the core skills that you would look for in order to hire a newbie like me?

CCNA is my only cert at this time.

...and sorry for the long post

Find more posts tagged with

Free for TechExams community: Cybersecurity salary guide

Compare cert salaries and plan your next career move

Button

Comments

networker050184

Congrats on the pass! I wouldn't worry too much about more certifications right now. I'd concentrate on writing a solid resume, make sure your interview skills are up to par and start applying.

zxbane

I agree with Networker's recommendation, start putting your knowledge to use!

rembot00

Thanks for the advices guys! I'll update my resume and spam it on job sites now

Hopefully somebody calls me for an interview any time soon. Also,I'm thinking of getting my feet wet on some Microsoft stuff,while waiting for an interview..I frequently see it goes hand-in-hand with CCNA in most networking job descriptions..any thoughts?

MrPuzzlez

Congrats on a battle well won! With such an accomplishment, take what you've learned and apply it in the field. That way, it'll stick.

networker050184

rembot00 wrote: »

Also,I'm thinking of getting my feet wet on some Microsoft stuff,while waiting for an interview..I frequently see it goes hand-in-hand with CCNA in most networking job descriptions..any thoughts?

Depends on what you want to do. If you want to work with Microsoft then it would be a smart move. I personally never have, or have any desire to, work with Microsoft servers or desktops.

PCHoldmann

Congrats!

rembot00

Thanks! As for the next step..i think ill just go ahead and read stuff about the Microsoft MTA Exams.. I sometimes lurk on the Microsoft subforum here and i read comments such as "its the easiest exams I had ever take" lol so i think it would be a good way to add some new knowledge while waiting for job interviews

[Deleted User]

The MTA certification exams are not that bad. With the knowledge you gained from your CCNA, you can easily knock out the MTA's just walking in and leaving in 15 minutes.

Dakinggamer87

Congrats on pass!!

spawn_of_jorel

Gratz!!!

fov001

congrats man! I will be taking ICND2 at the end of the month, wish me luck! lol jk

Job wise, it is true what you say. like previously advised, take time to build a solid resume (you can also pay someone to help you)

I would also practice my CCNA skills for retention, since employers will expect you to know CCNA level topics very well.

knah

986? Niiiice. Like you, I got burned by taking the Exploration v4 classes during the upgrade to the 2013 exams. Sounds like we passed on the same day! Congrats!

rembot00

fov001 wrote: »

congrats man! I will be taking ICND2 at the end of the month, wish me luck! lol jk

Job wise, it is true what you say. like previously advised, take time to build a solid resume (you can also pay someone to help you)

I would also practice my CCNA skills for retention, since employers will expect you to know CCNA level topics very well.

I still practice labs on packet tracer now..i'm confident on labs/hands-on relating to CCNA material. I was just quite "lost" at this moment, coz so far ccna is the only thing I know doing lol. That's why im trying to have an idea what other base skill set are needed in the network systems field. It would suck to be asked by an interviewer if I know other technology besides configuring cisco routers and switches,and embarrassingly admitting to them "nothing else"

knah wrote: »

986? Niiiice. Like you, I got burned by taking the Exploration v4 classes during the upgrade to the 2013 exams. Sounds like we passed on the same day! Congrats!

yeah,got about 50-60% of questions was repeated from my 1st take to the 2nd take..and the new material i encountered was luckily, the things that i can answer even without multiple choice..thanks to the Lammle book as well, the "written lab" @ the end of every chapter makes you answer without choices.