Preparing for the CCNP

Even though it's going to be at least 6 months maybe even a year before I start my quest on towards CCNP I've been going through the Cisco CBT's on the Cisco Learning Network. I've been doing 1 CBT a week but might make that 2 CBT's a week until I officially start the studies for CCNP. This is mainly so I don't become complacent with the material I've learned during the CCNA but the work I'm doing at my job now is also helping out a lot. I popped my cherry and configured my first official Cisco Router in a production environment which was really cool and I can't wait until I get to take on more router configuration tasks. For now I'm mainly focusing on learning how to use Cisco Unity Server, Call Manager, and various other tools for configuring VoIP Phones. I'm learning so many new things but the best part is that I'm enjoying the new things I'm learning, this is for sure the side of IT I want to stay in!

Life in the Networking Field

Well I passed my CCNA a little over a month ago now, since then I've finally made my way into the world of networking a few weeks after the CCNA. I'm currently working for a ISP in the NOC (Network Operating Center) downtown in St. Louis. I'm really enjoying my work so far and I'm seeing that there is a ton of stuff to learn! I've been mainly handling simple VoIP tasks and monitoring routers/switches for any indicators of having problems or circuits going down. One thing i didn't realize that the CCNA won't teach are the many acronyms in the world of networking. I'm learning a bunch of new things such as what a LEC (Local Exchange Carrier) is along with gaining a fuller picture of how the internet works on a wider scale with all the big ISP player.

After i gain a better understanding of my my job role and get some experience under my belt I'm moving on to the CCNP. I have been reading up on what I'm going to need and I know that this next cert is going to be a challenge but it should be fun to. hopefully by the time i finish my CCNP and gain even more experience at my exciting new career I'll have a fuller understanding of this thing called networking. Who knows maybe by then I'll be thinking about gaining the highly prestigious CCIE!

I made it!

I'm officially a CCNA after hours upon hours of hard work...was it worth it? You better believe it!

About time to take the test

The last few days I've been a little off track, I've been focusing on a "Plan B" if you will if I'm not able to obtain employment soon. I have been searching and found this really good opportunity but I don't have the capital to fund it. At the current state that I'm in I think it's to big of a risk to take to finance since I have no income coming in. However I'm going to raise the needed funds and sit it on the back burner until the time is right. I will also have a business plan and all that good stuff by then to if it all works out! Anyways I'm so ready for this test I think the only thing stopping me is finding a testing center that doesn't require me to wait to take the exam. If I do fail there's a free retake going on so I'll def. use that.

Honestly the only thing keeping me from passing this thing will be the exam sims. I had difficulty figuring out the solutions in the Boson sims within the recommend 10 minute time limit because there is so many things to look for. I'm just gonna pray that the actual exam is a tad easier than the Boson exams like the ICND1 was. I've also been pndering rather just taking the whole thing at once would of made the CCNA easier. Think about it, if you take the full exam you'll have some ICND1 Q's sprinkled in which will be easy free takes and will take away the amount of actual ICND2 Q's there are. While if you take the ICND2 you're getting all ICND2 questions!

Study Update # 8

I've been doing the same routine everyday for the most part, even though I haven't been posting blogs about it as much. I begin every morning by completing a lab from this LAB workbook I've found along with going through 10-20 practice exam questions after wards. I then follow up in the evening by going through 10-20 more practice exam tests. This really helps give me a feel on what the test should be like and what I need to brush up on. I'm actually going through the Boson exam sims included with the CCNA ICND2 book. If it's anything like the CCENT Boson exams it's about 30% harder then the actual test which is a good thing. I'll be honest though the simulation labs in the Boson exams are KILLING me so far. It's taking way to long to figure out the issues or even worse I can't figure out the issues at all. i need to focus on my troubleshooting steps if I'm going to pass this thing!

Hell Week...day 4

Well I finished up pretty much all the memory tables and open ended questions so I'm pretty much done with hell week. I ended up labbing a simple VTP topology followed by some practice questions regarding OSPF this morning. I later completed a simple OSPF and EIGRP lab this evening along with going over some EIGRP questions.

Hell Week...day 3

I couldn't really find time post yesterday so I decided to do so early this morning. I had some friends come in from out of town so I wanted to show them around a little bit. Yesterday I went through some more memory tables from the ICND2 book along with a few practice questions and a lab. It's going to be more or less the same process for the next few days so I may not make a post until that's all done. I finally decided to schedule my test to which is exactly two weeks out so we'll see how that goes!