Have some Cisco Learning Credits to burn...

So my boss told me that he has some Cisco Learning Credits that we need to use by the end of the year and I'm on the fence on what to use them on. I'm already studying for CCNP Route and will then be working on TSHOOT but I feel like I have enough training and labbing materials so it seems like it would be kind of a waste. There are also a few ISE classes and an ARCH class that seems interesting to me but I do have the INE ISE bootcamp already as well as a couple ARCH books that I haven't cracked out yet.

Anyone have some suggestions for what to use them on or just some advice to help me narrow down some of my options? Thanks!

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Master Of Puppets

You're planning on doing the NP in security after that so maybe something in that direction(in case you're short on material for that)?

Iristheangel

LoL. Actually, no I'm not short on material for that. My parents got me the complete CCNP Security book set for Christmas last year. Being a nerd is sort of a family tradition.

Master Of Puppets

Kinda cool if you ask me

It seems you're set, as far as material goes, for those 3 tracks. Some healthy and beneficial sidetracking into one of the other Cisco realms then?

Pseudo_node

How about a QoS class? Strengthening your QoS skill-set is never a bad thing!

Zartanasaurus

You're already thinking in the right way since you don't want to spend them on something you can easily do yourself. So think expensive, like Nexus/UCS training or some such.

Iristheangel

That's actually a great recommendation, Psuedo! That's actually one of my weaker areas

Iristheangel

@Zartan - Our Cisco Rep has been giving me free one-off day training classes for UCS every couple months so I've had some exposure. I can't take a Nexus class because even though we're looking to buy a few in the upcoming year, my boss really insists on me taking classes relevant to existing technology and architecture we currently are utilizing

networker050184

Find the longest and farthest away class as possible. Make it a mini vacation.

pert

Pseudo_node wrote: »

How about a QoS class? Strengthening your QoS skill-set is never a bad thing!

Why? Where are all these industries that need QoS besides voice? I find QoS as complex as it is useless. I don't understand why people need to run QoS in core or aggregation unless they have a bad design or inadequate funding.

networker050184

pert wrote: »

inadequate funding.

That's why. Not everyone can afford excess bandwidth everywhere. Should they just let junk traffic have the same priority as mission critical traffic? The answer is no and QoS is how you make that happen.

googol

Iristheangel wrote: »

LoL. Actually, no I'm not short on material for that. My parents got me the complete CCNP Security book set for Christmas last year. Being a nerd is sort of a family tradition.

I'm THE nerd teaching everyone else, add me to the family! lol. I've always just purchased books on amazon or preordered them before Christmas comes around..but not a bad idea...hrm.

My vote is for UCS as well, along with their manager, etc. Whole another level of virtualization and networking. I wish I could get some training on that. Another idea maybe is to go with the SDN route of Cisco ONE, but looks like thats already been mentioned too with Nexus.

SteveO86

Maybe you can buy your Cisco Live tickets early

Or the previous suggestions.

1. Take a class for something you are currently studying for and knock it out that much quicker.
2. Go with the cool UCS/QoS/Nexus class

I've got some learning credits and I'm saving a few for Cisco Live next year. Along with DC stuff since I've got a few DC projects coming up.

Iristheangel

Funny you should mentioned Cisco Live... I actually convinced my boss to send me to San Francisco for it next year. If you're going, we definitely need to get a beer or something

santaowns

I have the best solution, have your boss hire me as a remote admin, and then I will use them to better myself.

win win, i win cause i get the job and knowledge and you win cause you dont have to wonder what to use them on.

SteveO86

Definitely! When it gets closer I'll probably start up another 'who's going to live' thread in the Cisco forums.

Iristheangel

Thanks for the advice, guys! I think I'm going to go with QoS. I don't really have a lot of experience playing with QoS except using auto QoS or applying macros to interfaces (Cisco-switch and cisco-phone FTW!) and deeper understanding is necessary with where I'm going in my career.

I have enough materials and hands-on opportunity for ISE, CCNP Security, and Route to not be able to justify using credits to go to an additional class on top of it. I get free UCS classes every couple months so not really worth going to even more when I can use it for something else. I can't use it for Nexus because we're not upgrading to Nexus equipment til next year so they won't want me to take classes until it's closer to that time.

As always, thank you all for the advice!

filkenjitsu

CCNP SPCORE and CCNP SPEDGE MPLS for the win! CCNP ADVROUTE for Multicast and Multihomed BGP as well

filkenjitsu

Dude, QOS is used in all Service Provider networks! When your network spans 26 states, you need QOS. You are thinking too small...

pert

networker050184 wrote: »

That's why. Not everyone can afford excess bandwidth everywhere. Should they just let junk traffic have the same priority as mission critical traffic? The answer is no and QoS is how you make that happen.

Of course not, which is why I mentioned it.