Motivation

Hello all, I've been using this site for just under a year and was wondering what people do to get, and stay, motivated for a certification test. I'll explain my current scenario to see if that helps.

I was studying for the CCENT certification and was doing okay for about two months until everything just stopped. I understood the content, I've always been good at theory and the actual application part was easy to understand, but I took my first practice test and did horrible. I realized that my study process was all wrong and I decided to scrap the two exam approach and just go for the one exam route.

My question is: Do you think this is a good idea? Also, how do you think I should be studying? I used the same plan as I did for the A+ and Network+ but that doesn't seem to work. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

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Comments

HeroPsycho

My motivation? My first IT job lasted an entire 3 months, so now I'm paranoid the other shoe will drop with every job I've had since. For me, fear is a good motivator.

ilcram19-2

it just depens on the person, i wanna be one of the few not one of the bunch,

they way i do it when i study is readu the book once usually 1.5 weeks then read it again but this time taking notes of what it is important, then mesure my self with any testing engine, the if failing check for weak area and fix them, now this is not enough specially with cisco go back to your notes and book and make sure you know the material

jscimeca715

Thanks for the ideas, ilcram how long did you study for the CCNA and did you ever get frustrated with the material?

nicklauscombs

jscimeca715 wrote:

Thanks for the ideas, ilcram how long did you study for the CCNA and did you ever get frustrated with the material?

im studying for the CCNA right now and believe me it's tough, however stick with it and get some hands on practice and it will start all making sense and fitting together. The CCNA is definitely not an exam to take lightly.

jscimeca715

You're telling me Nicklaus...fortunately I have the ability to take my time and not rush which I'm thankful for. It's not something that work is forcing me to get in a specific time period. Thanks for the advice.

itdaddy

jscimeca715

dude what you need to do is make your own home network for example
at my home I have virtual machine running on vmware 6 i run DCs, DNS servers,
DHCP seerver, cisco routers, frame relay routers turned into FR switches, and a wifi access point
that goes to my laptop. what I am saying is this get it into your mind you are building a city
and network of PCs and cisco networking equipment whether virtually or physcially
go to my lab itdaddy dot wordpress dot com and look under categories Home lab
look at my topoology map and pictures. It has taken me some time to build like under 2 years but I am gettingthere. all are function. I am building a firewall with ISA 2004, Pix 501 and SOHO 831 and a 2610 router i try to build firewalls that interface my ISP and my internal LAN.
I practice stuff the only way it will stick for me is if I actually do it. I wasnt blessed with the ability with doing a few labs and reading some questions and passing an exam! I have to actually set my system sup and have them work. I made my blog for study too. IT is really
for me to use and study. I put on my blog the harder stuff and the easy stuff leave off or
combine it with the hard stuff. But my blog i sfor me to study and if someone gets enspired great! But make a cool blog to help others while helping yourself and make a system at home
you need goals man! goals! make your system. I have my own Exchange 2003 server running my email @itdaddy.net and am using Dyndns.com dns system etc... at first I had no clue but through trial and a lot of work have built my own Outlook web access server/ exchange 2003 server and of course its corresponding DC and DNS server. Sets some goals and keep you map current topology. but have a goal just dont practice sims build something to help others and your energy will come. dude i cannot wait to get home and tweak something on my system to watching breath!!!!!!!!!!!!!! geetrr a goal and gettter done! read other blogs on ccna and ccie
and listen to their life stories! go for it!!!!!!!!!!!!

my 2.3 cents

~

itdaddy !

Luckycharms

-- I stole this from a movie...But it is a good qoute ---

Thomas Edison tried over 1500 different ways to create a light bulb and failed every time.. When asked about it he said i didn't fail 1500 times I just found 1500 different ways how not to create a light bulb.. But he only need one to create one.

-- Man I butchered that sorry ... but you get the point----

Every one learns differently and it might just take you a little bit longer to grasp some of the concepts. ( Remembering them and Understanding them are TWO DIFFERENT THINGS!!!)

Honestly -- when studing i don't ask WHAT ... I ask Why?? Why is STP build the way it is?? Why did they do that instead of something else???

As for motivation ... you are the only one that can motivate your self... everyone gets burned over time... its just how you deal with the burn that matters in the NEVER ENDING RACE FOR CERTS...

ooh by the way sorry to hear about the test... Don't get frustrated ... Just keep trying...

ilcram19-2

for ccna wow i had bad experiance with that one took me 3 months and fail twice, i decided to take the intro and icnd route fail intro once and fail icnd once, believed me i was pissed, i was already a ccna i just needed to prove it to cisco , you are a ccna too and probably ccie u just need to make it official (i read it somewhere), eventually the stuff will become easy just keep studying and make sure you know the material is just a test you can always take it again, reallity is totally diferent compare to a test, a month a ago didnt know how to configure vpns on cisco routers, now i migrated about 12 sites from a sonicwall to a 2821 i also created a DMVPN mesh with qos for voip for another 7 remote offices, so once you get the comcept you be able to do anythiing, u just need to put a lil effort to it

jscimeca715

Damn, I knew this was going to get me some good information, especially the previous three posts. Thanks for all your help guys, ultimately it's up to me but these are good experiences to draw from.

jbaello

What's motivating me is a promise of a comfortable life, cars material stuff etc. dinner, vacation

undomiel

The challenge. I like taking tests. They're fun to me. I hate doing homework and studying though.

Also the fact that it will help to get me out of the hellish job I'm currently in. That's pretty motivating as well.

Aldur

jbaello wrote:

What's motivating me is a promise of a comfortable life, cars material stuff etc. dinner, vacation

Honestly, thats not a bad motivation at all. I keep telling my wife that we'll go on a honey moon as soon as Im done with school. You have to put in your time and take a few hits before you can get that better life that we all want.

snadam

my wife for me is my motivation. anything I can do that would further my chance of bettering our lives is pretty damn good motivation. Its cheesy, but its pretty true. That and the inevitable fact that I will hate my job at some point.

nel

jscimeca715,

Dont let one test dishearten you into thinking that you dont know the material. Many folk dont do well on practice tests but can pass the real thing! Just be realistic and go over any material you aint sure of, use the memory tests in odoms books too etc.
You've been studying hard for the last 2 months, keep it up and re-think if youre going to ditch your original plan because remember icnd2 is a different and bigger beast than the ccent.

If you need a buddy to help you set a target, pm me because im also studying the ccent.

and follow the tips everyone has mentioned!

UnixGuy

The hope to expand my responsibilities at work

itdaddy

Honestly, thats not a bad motivation at all. I keep telling my wife that we'll go on a honey moon as soon as Im done with school. You have to put in your time and take a few hits before you can get that better life that we all want.

couldnt have said it better trying to teach that to my 17teen year old son..
and well almost imposibble!

butu i tell myself that to if i had t live life over hee he
i would at 18 to 20 party my arse off
from 20to 27 or 26 buts my arse on my degree and certs
at 27 be CCIE and live high on the hog the next 5o years!
but i was a dum ass! and wasted alot time chasing stuupid shitttt!

itdaddy

The hope to expand my responsibilities at work

Unix guy sounds a bit medicated! you knwo you want to be at the TOP of the FOOD chain
like us all! he heee hee

itdaddy

The challenge. I like taking tests. They're fun to me. I hate doing homework and studying though.

udominal

that is why you have to build you own home city..make it like a production network
and make it function it drives me to create and then I can build the same for my on the side job
business prospects. make it fun not study!

now study that is boring is studying politics or history. i just finished a class
in us history.........BORING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! essay essay make me puke!
i would rather to do calc or java! no shrit!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Turgon

jscimeca715 wrote:

Hello all, I've been using this site for just under a year and was wondering what people do to get, and stay, motivated for a certification test. I'll explain my current scenario to see if that helps.

I was studying for the CCENT certification and was doing okay for about two months until everything just stopped. I understood the content, I've always been good at theory and the actual application part was easy to understand, but I took my first practice test and did horrible. I realized that my study process was all wrong and I decided to scrap the two exam approach and just go for the one exam route.

My question is: Do you think this is a good idea? Also, how do you think I should be studying? I used the same plan as I did for the A+ and Network+ but that doesn't seem to work. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Set long terms goals, but in the short term, set yourself targets that are achieveable. Any long journey begins with a single step!

jbaello

Some whips ninja bikes ducati, AUDI S5, iphone 52 inch 120 hz LCD TV, a nice house, the hottest chiks lol etc... I'm working to make my life better, but again I like the challenge, forget failure I failed probably 7 out of 10 times in life, but it never been an obstacle I just kept on going and pushing and improving, cause you don't have a choice anyway, we're not born with a silverspoon in our mouth...

Slowhand

HeroPsycho wrote:

My motivation? My first IT job lasted an entire 3 months, so now I'm paranoid the other shoe will drop with every job I've had since. For me, fear is a good motivator.

His best motivators is fear. . . fear and surprise. His two best motivators are fear, surprise, and an almost fanatical dedication to IT. . .

Seriously, though? What motivates me are a couple of things. The first being that working in IT has allowed me to do something I enjoy for relatively good money. Studying for certs has always been a good way of opening up to new concepts, learning the baseline for new technologies, and giving myself markers on where I am in my development. The truth, though, is that I probably won't be in IT forever. This coming fall I'm gearing up to go back to school and work towards a degree in EECS, and more likely than not I'll be doing graduate work after the Bachelor's is finished.

How does work and certifications help with that? It's simple: I've got about five years' experience in the industry, I've got several certifications under my belt, and I'm about to wrap up an Associate's degree in Computer Information Systems. That basically means that I was able to land a part-time sysadmin job, instead of having to serve coffee or flip burgers while I'm doing the school-thing. Not to mention that I'll be able to spend my summers working contract-gigs or projects if I have to, and I'll look all that much more attractive to the two schools I have in mind for doing graduate studies if I have real-world work experience to put on my application(s).

I've got a long road, very little money to get me from here to the end, but working in IT has helped me a great deal. Certification-studies aren't all that difficult, compared to some of the things ahead, but they give me a sense of fullfilment that would otherwise be lost if I "just" went to school. That's what keeps me motivated to study for certs, because those things are not only what I enjoy, but a vehicle to get me further along the road of what I really want to do with my life.

cacharo

snadam wrote:

my wife for me is my motivation. anything I can do that would further my chance of bettering our lives is pretty damn good motivation. Its cheesy, but its pretty true.

My wife is my #1 as well. Anyone who will take a day off work so I can use her car (mine broke last week) and stay at home with our infant twins when it is my day to do so to let me take a test deserves all the credit.

nel wrote:

jscimeca715,

If you need a buddy to help you set a target, pm me because im also studying the ccent.

and follow the tips everyone has mentioned!

Don't take Nel's comment lightly. Someone with similar interests can really help boost the motivation and add a little competitive spirit to it all. Dynamik and I live near each other and never would have met without the aid of TE. Now we try to meet and test together every couple months or so. Since Dynamik is such a cert demon I am even trying to take the 294 and the 620 both in June just to keep up, its obviously hard work but if you know someone else is planning on you being ready by a certain date it pushes you that much harder.

undomiel

cacharo wrote:

snadam wrote:

my wife for me is my motivation. anything I can do that would further my chance of bettering our lives is pretty damn good motivation. Its cheesy, but its pretty true.

My wife is my #1 as well. Anyone who will take a day off work so I can use her car (mine broke last week) and stay at home with our infant twins when it is my day to do so to let me take a test deserves all the credit.

I'll second this one. Hats off to the supportive wives! My wife scheduled to take work off yesterday to go up to Prescott with me when I took the test. Unfortunately it didn't pan out as there was a jury duty conflict at her work so she had to stay and cover for that person. But I still really appreciated the thought.

snadam

cacharo and undomiel; I may be young (25 here soon), but I know that a happy wife brings a happy husband. So in the end if she is happy, I will probably be as well.

jbaello wrote:

Some whips ninja bikes ducati...

ahh, I miss my fast toys.

I had a Ninja zx6r and 06 350z track edition with mods. I got rid of them all right before and after I got married. Even though my wife said it was cool to keep them, i decided that I could only get myself in more trouble with them. Every once in a while I have the urge to go get another bike, but realize my time would be better spent with the wife and friends than going over 100mph somewhere...so, Im starting to collect firearms

NetAdmin2436

This site!

I see people getting there certs left and right and it proves that I've been sitting on my a$$ for the past 4 years....and it motivates me to do something to boost my career. I know certs don't 100% guarantee you a better job, but it definitely gives you the edge. Yes, fear or the comfort knowing you can find a new job quickly if need be does motivate me too. Money is another one, I need some new furniture.

Turgon

NetAdmin2436 wrote:

This site!

I see people getting there certs left and right and it proves that I've been sitting on my a$$ for the past 4 years....and it motivates me to do something to boost my career. I know certs don't 100% guarantee you a better job, but it definitely gives you the edge. Yes, fear or the comfort knowing you can find a new job quickly if need be does motivate me too. Money is another one, I need some new furniture.

Certs help, but as a lever to get into gainful employment. From there, experience is key, and well choosen certs on the side!

Slowhand

NetAdmin2436 wrote:

This site!

I see people getting there certs left and right and it proves that I've been sitting on my a$$ for the past 4 years....and it motivates me to do something to boost my career. I know certs don't 100% guarantee you a better job, but it definitely gives you the edge. Yes, fear or the comfort knowing you can find a new job quickly if need be does motivate me too. Money is another one, I need some new furniture.

I definitely agree, this site is a big boost to the ego/reality-check-gland when you're studying. It's a good thing to be able to talk to people working on the same things, to see people just starting out, and to touch base with people further down the path than you are. It gives you a sense of "I can do this", especially when it comes to more advanced certs that can leave you feeling like they're just too big to ever conquer. Seeing other members going for, and passing, things like CCIE, CISSP, and MCA helps reinforce the concept that what one person can do, another can do.

JDMurray

From reading this thread so far it seems that fear (fear of loss opportunity or employment, fear of redundancy or incompetence, etc.) and banding together with other people with the same goals are the greatest motivating factors. The members of TechExams are happy to supply both.

Thomas Edison tried over 1500 different ways to create a light bulb and failed every time.. When asked about it he said i didn't fail 1500 times I just found 1500 different ways how not to create a light bulb.. But he only need one to create one.

And careful with the Edison quotes; the Nikola Tesla people will sling this one at you:

“If Edison had a needle to find in a haystack, he would proceed at once with the diligence of the bee to examine straw after straw until he found the object of his search. I was a sorry witness of such doings, knowing that a little theory and calculation would have saved him ninety per cent of his labor.” -- Nikola Tesla

Slowhand

JDMurray wrote:

From reading this thread so far it seems that fear (fear of loss opportunity or employment, fear of redundancy or incompetence, etc.) and banding together with other people with the same goals are the greatest motivating factors. The members of TechExams are happy to supply both.

Thomas Edison tried over 1500 different ways to create a light bulb and failed every time.. When asked about it he said i didn't fail 1500 times I just found 1500 different ways how not to create a light bulb.. But he only need one to create one.

And careful with the Edison quotes; the Nikola Tesla people will sling this one at you:

“If Edison had a needle to find in a haystack, he would proceed at once with the diligence of the bee to examine straw after straw until he found the object of his search. I was a sorry witness of such doings, knowing that a little theory and calculation would have saved him ninety per cent of his labor.” -- Nikola Tesla

You know what they say. Behind every hard-working, never-say-die innovator is a contemporary to call him an idiot.

bencairney

My motivation just now is that my job is not as secure as it always has been and I want to be in the best position I can if i need to start looking around.

Also I started on the mcse track in 2003 and still am nowhere near completing as I haven't really had too. Now its a priorty and others at my work are doing the same which helps with the motivation.