Obtaining CCNA certification.

ryanator

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In my current job, I will be required to obtain my CCNA certificate to handle the network side of things out here. This has me a little worried as I never had much experience with networking and always found it very difficult for my abilities. I'm at the point of my life where I know what fits me and what doesn't. It's based heavily off the command line interface and I don't have the knack for that. It's Greek to me and I struggle with DOS or coding like things. I never liked programming because it's was like learning a foreign language and I see networking as the same way. I'm a very visual based learner and work with my hands type of person.

This would be a great opportunity for growth or expansion to carry with me, but like I said, it's going against my grain of abilities. I can't even setup and install the simulators (virtual network programs) correctly without running into many errors. I'll try to give it a go.

Anyone else have similar experience or have taken the CCNA?

 
I think you will do fine. You have all the basic knowledge. Lots of times those certs only want your money anyways (they will give them to whoever pays the fees). I mean you won't be able to fly though them without some knowledge but in the end you will get it. At least give it a try, your a smart guy, I am sure that you will be fine. I had to take a class for a cert thing over here and I had 0 knowledge, they really only cared about the fee and basically passed everyone that showed up. I miss DOS, I always have been a more of a backend man myself. Just got to try, but I bet you will do fine. I miss the computer fields somedays and are jealous of you guys.
 
Thanks, I hope I"m able to do well enough on this. I heard the CCNA, while being the most popular and recommended, was not easy. I need someone to guide me through everything in a class. Many things I can do off tutorials, but this has a lot of things to setup.

I always have though about how nice it would have been to have one of the main 3 jobs specialty's that you can work remotely; Database administration, Programming, or Web Design. But those take years and a good knack to be fully great at those.

 
I have also heard it is not easy. Not trying to scare you, promise. But I'm confident that you will need to put in some serious study hours. It is not a show up, pay your money and they push you through type of thing. DaveC can verify that. But you can do it!
 
It is not a show up, pay your money and they push you through type of thing.
A $100 bill slipped into a handshake will go along ways.

 
Just become "the eyes and ears of an institution"...
 
I have also heard it is not easy. Not trying to scare you, promise. But I'm confident that you will need to put in some serious study hours. It is not a show up, pay your money and they push you through type of thing. DaveC can verify that. But you can do it!
Yeh Cisco has made it alot tougher than it used to be. IPV6 blows!

 
I took classes aimed at giving a CCNA long ago, likely somewhere in the 2000-20002 timeframe. Lots of subnetting and messing with actual router hardware. I've always heard the CCNA takes studying and knowing the content. Put in the time and effort to study and I'm sure you learn the content and be successful.
 
So what the point of the certification for? Just saying you understand networks and can troubleshoot them?
 
Just to clarify my own intentions, is that I fully intend to actually learn the stuff so I can apply it to the real world, as there's no good to using shortcuts. I don't care for having titles, certificates, or acronyms besides my name compared to having real skills.

With my job, they want me to handle the network side of things for the whole region, which would be a nicely sized undertaking. Most things would be repetitive with setting up switches, but also need to have the ability to troubleshoot any issue that comes up, hence the reasoning behind getting the certificate. I think they do it right by making the exam difficult to weed out people who try to take shortcuts. It forces people really understand the full spectrum of the basics of networking to an intermediate level.

 
Remember it's just all water flow and dams. A bunch of pipes. That's how I always picture data flowing in my head.
 
I took the training in 2006/7. I could tell it was much more comprehensive than the college training we had in 2003. My brother got three certs from Cisco in 2013 I believe. He spent major hours on each one. (something like 100 hours on the CCNA)
 
I took the training in 2006/7. I could tell it was much more comprehensive than the college training we had in 2003. My brother got three certs from Cisco in 2013 I believe. He spent major hours on each one. (something like 100 hours on the CCNA)
Hey, we are trying to encourage him not take him out back and kick him in the nuts...
I kid as I know my bro is smart, way smarter than I, and can handle it.

 
Hey, we are trying to encourage him not take him out back and kick him in the nuts...I kid as I know my bro is smart, way smarter than I, and can handle it.
:D

 
I kid as I know my bro is smart, way smarter than I, and can handle it.
And more handsome. :sneaky:

 
Well actually, we all have to be honest about ourselves and abilities, and Networking is a bear of skill with all it's matrix like stuff. Like I said in my original post, I don't have a knack for programming or dos like things with learning bunches of acronyms and many new terms. I see it like a foreign language and and very poor at learning that. However, I need to have a lot of training and simulators or hands on work to make any sense of it. I'm the type that needs to work hands on first, then learn the meanings later.
 
The routing protocols + subnetting / supernetting and IPV6 are some of the tougher parts. I with you on the programming stuff. It ain't much fun. My wife is studying for CMS work (Drupal) and she enjoys the programming side of things. (PHP, JavaScript, MySQL etc etc). It seems tedious to me.
 
I kind of wonder how long Cisco will be in the forefront for network hardware devices. They are shifting focus to software and subscription services. That is where they are experiencing most of their growth as a company now. Reoccurring revenue $$$$$
 
They are shifting focus to software and subscription services
Everyone is going this way, I personally hate it. I am a 'one time fee' man myself.

 
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