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College teaching old curriculum.. (SECUR, CSPFA)
oRis1024
Member Posts: 9 ■□□□□□□□□□
Hey guys, i don't have any specific problem, just thought you may share your thoughts or advise something..
A little background. I'm going to a local community college. Trying to do dual program: Networking and Security. They have a Cisco Academy there, four courses of which i have just finished(my first year). These were the up to date CCNA curriculum that came out this or last year (version 4). Received CCNA this week.
This summer i'm taking what they call "Secure Administration" course and just today i found out that it is also Cisco's curriculum - great. In the classroom we have enough PIX'es, routers and switches for every student to have one of each. The only problem is that this cisco curriculum maps to the SECUR and CSPFA exams, which would advance you quite a bit in CCSP a few years ago. Today these are marked retired - replaced with newer ones.
I haven't asked any questions, but i figured that to prepare students for the new exams they would have to get ASA's on the scene and recertify the instructors - but these are only my guesses.
Now i don't even know how much effort i should put into this class. The curriculum looks great to me, that is there is a lot to learn and it's got the Cisco's practical approach - with labs and tests, but just knowing that there is technology that's replacing it brings no motivation at all..
So, does anybody know about these exams, will they prepare me for any of the newer ones? Any advise on "how to be"? Thank you.
P.S. the replacements of those today are 642-503 SNRS (replacing SECUR)and 642-523 SNPA(replacing CSPFA)
A little background. I'm going to a local community college. Trying to do dual program: Networking and Security. They have a Cisco Academy there, four courses of which i have just finished(my first year). These were the up to date CCNA curriculum that came out this or last year (version 4). Received CCNA this week.
This summer i'm taking what they call "Secure Administration" course and just today i found out that it is also Cisco's curriculum - great. In the classroom we have enough PIX'es, routers and switches for every student to have one of each. The only problem is that this cisco curriculum maps to the SECUR and CSPFA exams, which would advance you quite a bit in CCSP a few years ago. Today these are marked retired - replaced with newer ones.
I haven't asked any questions, but i figured that to prepare students for the new exams they would have to get ASA's on the scene and recertify the instructors - but these are only my guesses.
Now i don't even know how much effort i should put into this class. The curriculum looks great to me, that is there is a lot to learn and it's got the Cisco's practical approach - with labs and tests, but just knowing that there is technology that's replacing it brings no motivation at all..
So, does anybody know about these exams, will they prepare me for any of the newer ones? Any advise on "how to be"? Thank you.
P.S. the replacements of those today are 642-503 SNRS (replacing SECUR)and 642-523 SNPA(replacing CSPFA)
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sprkymrk
Member Posts: 4,884 ■■■□□□□□□□
Just my opinion here, there are two ways to look at it.
1. It would be better to learn about the newer stuff for the purpose of being current and for obtaining useful certifications.
2. On the other hand, you should still put forth honest effort in the class. Those products are still out there in the real world in production environments. You never know what knowledge will get you a good job. I got my NT4 certification just on the advent of W2K and it got me a great job with a company I still work for today. I immediately followed up with my W2K certification, and having learned NT4 first made the transition smooth.All things are possible, only believe. -
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networker050184
Mod Posts: 11,962 Mod
Just because a technology is no longer taught in a class doesn't mean it isn't still relevant in the real world. Cisco has EOL a lot of products that are still widely used such as the 2600 routers and the PIX firewall. People with these skills will still be needed in the work force for years to come. Also you can learn the all the fundamentals on older equipment that apply to newer appliances.An expert is a man who has made all the mistakes which can be made.