Passed today

Passed today. Tired of studying, wife is tired of me studying, just going to relax for a while. Maybe get a haircut and get a job.

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rji

Congrats. I am taking it on Wednesday....like you I need a haircut and a job, so bored of studying!

rogue2shadow

Congrats! What was your study methodology for this exam?

cisco_trooper

Congrats! Take a much deserved break, recharge your batteries, and then move on to the next one.

alan2308

Congrats!

SharkDiver

The good news - You passed. Congratulations.

The bad news - The studying never ends.

briangl

rogue2shadow wrote: »

Congrats! What was your study methodology for this exam?

Thanks for all the congrats.

I started off by reading the Authorized Self-Study Guide by Catherine Paquet. Good book, I guess, but much more in depth than I needed. Just seemed like so much extraneous information. I see it as good for a reference book, but just too much for my little brain to absorb and retain. I got about ¾ of the way through it when I realized it.

I stopped reading the book and used the CBT Nuggets videos. Excellent material and presentation, he has a way of keeping things interesting, sense of humor helps. I took extensive notes in a wire bound notebook. I kept reviewing the notes once I was done with the videos. I took it to work with me and studied every spare minute. I have the videos on my main laptop and I have GNS3 set up on an old laptop. It was a little slow but not bad. I have the Cisco Networking Academy lab manual. I didn’t do all the labs, they just got to be too long for me. I also have the Transcender for this, that was a big help. I would go through the flash cards for a topic then do the test for that topic. I just kept going through them all until I was scoring in the 90’s for each topic on the test part, I wasn’t scoring that high in the flash card part. Then I started taking the practice exams that cover all of the topics. They were 50 questions each, and I was scoring in the 90’s at that point. The Transcencer gives you 90 minutes for the 50 question tests, I was taking about 30 minutes to get through them. As Jeremy says on the CBT videos the actual test is 90 minutes and 60 questions so you have to move a little faster. ( He says this in a video, so I don't think I am violating the NDA ) I was still doing the topic tests in Transcender the night before and the morning of my test, I was scoring 100% on all of them at that point. I had made a few of my own flash cards on index cards, lists of Symmetric and Asymmetric algorithms and a few other things. I reviewed these in the car when I got there and wrote them down once I got my dry erase sheet and marker.

I finished the test with just a little over a minute remaining. I thought I was going to blow my last 20 minutes or so on one question.

I would recommend knowing the SDM very well, the sections that are covered on the test that is. VPN, Zone Based Firewall and IPS. Double check the exam blueprint, I am going from memory here. Not just how to configure things, but how to verify configurations. Know about layer 2 security, I used Packet Tracer for configuring this on switches. Committing commands to memory, concepts, technology, etc.

I need to take off from studying and concentrate on actually get a job in the field. I actually love studying and learning all this stuff. I fall short when it comes to being able to get someone to hire me to do it. I’ve always been that way, a very technical person but not good with people. Not a sales personality to say the least. I feel like I really need help finding a job. It’s very frustrating. If someone would just hire me, they would see what a good employee I am; very hard working, loyal, always strive to do the absolute best job I can, etc.

I keep running into the "not enough experience" thing. And I will ask once again, rhetorically, “how do I get the experience without the job”. I mean I can’t even get someone to hire me to do help desk, I have been trying since I got my A+. Do I need a CCIE to do help desk. ( That’s rhetorical also ). Sorry if I am starting to rant, just feeling frustrated again.

Thanks again and good luck to everyone.

jamesleecoleman

For experience...

Have you tried internships?

check out: Job Search | one search. all jobs. Indeed.com

whatthehell

Congratz and good luck with job search!

JohnnyBiggles

briangl wrote: »

...
I need to take off from studying and concentrate on actually get a job in the field. I actually love studying and learning all this stuff. I fall short when it comes to being able to get someone to hire me to do it. I’ve always been that way, a very technical person but not good with people. Not a sales personality to say the least. I feel like I really need help finding a job. It’s very frustrating. If someone would just hire me, they would see what a good employee I am; very hard working, loyal, always strive to do the absolute best job I can, etc.

I keep running into the "not enough experience" thing. And I will ask once again, rhetorically, “how do I get the experience without the job”. I mean I can’t even get someone to hire me to do help desk, I have been trying since I got my A+. Do I need a CCIE to do help desk. ( That’s rhetorical also ). Sorry if I am starting to rant, just feeling frustrated again.

...

I feel almost exactly the same way. I'm studying for this as well & plan to take the exam next month sometime, but after each level of academic achievement (especially with Cisco material), you feel like you should be qualified and good enough to score some kind of related work so to not let all that knowledge go to waste. I'm not afraid to work hard, it's just getting in the damn door. I'm not a 'call-center' kind of person either, nor help-desk... but do communicate well otherwise and I'm damn good with hands-on kind of work, ESPECIALLY when left to do my own work.

I planned to put myself in a position to all but guarantee employment, and decent to great paying employment... and at times I feel like I'll be a damn triple CCIE by the time I get work.... but from what I've learned, having CCNP status or higher can actually work against you without experience... since it's all textbook/paper knowledge but not real world experience!! You just can't win, can ya! I'm going to continue anyway with high hopes. I bet CCNP on the resume will get you at least a few more interviews. It has to. There has to be SOMEONE out there willing to take that chance!! I just don't want to start too low in the pyramid or on the salary scale -- I also need better money and more importantly, a chance to actually apply all this info and not let it go to waste!! I feel your pain!!