If Cisco training is your aspiration, and you’ve no practical experience with network switches or routers, you most probably should start with a CCNA course. This teaches you the necessary skills to set up and maintain routers. The world wide web is built up of many routers, and big organisations with several locations also rely on them to keep their networks in touch.
Because routers are linked to networks, it’s necessary to have an understanding of how networks work, or you’ll struggle with the course and not be able to follow the work. Find training that features the basics on networks (CompTIA is ideal) before you start the CCNA.
Getting your Cisco CCNA is all you need at this stage – you’re not ready for your CCNP straight away. Get a couple of years experience behind you first, then you will have a feel for if this next level is for you. If so, you’ll have significantly improved your chances of success – as your experience will help you greatly.
It’s essential to have the current Microsoft (or Cisco, CompTIA etc.) accredited exam simulation and preparation packages.
Make sure that your practice exams are not only asking questions on the right subjects, but are also posing them in the way that the actual final exam will formulate them. This can really throw some people if they’re faced with unrecognisable phrases and formats.
It’s a good idea to have some simulated exam questions so you can check your knowledge at all times. Practice or ‘mock’ exams prepare you properly – then the actual exam is much easier.
Usually, trainers will provide a bunch of books and manuals. Obviously, this isn’t much fun and isn’t the best way to go about taking things in.
We see a huge improvement in memory retention when multiple senses are involved – learning experts have been saying this for decades now.
The latest home-based training features easy-to-use DVD or CD ROM’s. Through instructor-led video classes you’ll take everything in by way of the demonstrations and explanations. Then you test your knowledge by interacting with the software and practicing yourself.
You must ensure that you see some example materials from the company you’re considering. It’s essential they incorporate video, demonstrations and various interactive elements.
You’ll find that many companies will only provide training that is purely available online; and while this is acceptable much of the time, consider how you’ll deal with it when you don’t have access to the internet or you get a slow connection speed. It’s much safer to rely on actual CD or DVD ROMs that will not have these problems.
If your advisor doesn’t question you thoroughly – it’s more than likely they’re just a salesperson. If they’re pushing towards a particular product before learning about your history and experience, then it’s very likely to be the case.
If you’ve got a strong background, or sometimes a little commercial experience (maybe some existing accreditation?) then it’s likely your starting point will be quite dissimilar from someone who is just starting out.
If this is going to be your initial effort at studying for an IT examination then you should consider whether to practice with some basic Microsoft package and Windows skills first.
It’s so important to understand this key point: You absolutely must have proper 24×7 professional support from mentors and instructors. You will have so many problems later if you don’t follow this rule rigidly.
Don’t buy training courses that only support trainees with an out-sourced call-centre message system when it’s outside of usual working hours. Companies will try to talk you round from this line of reasoning. But, no matter how they put it – you want support at the appropriate time – not as-and-when it’s suitable for their staff.
Be on the lookout for training programs that use several support centres across multiple time-zones. Every one of them needs to be seamlessly combined to enable simple one-stop access and also access round-the-clock, when it’s convenient for you, without any problems.
If you fail to get yourself 24×7 support, you’ll regret it very quickly. It may be that you don’t use it during late nights, but you may need weekends, early mornings or late evenings.
(C) Scott Edwards 2009. Hop over to learninglolly.com/Cisco_CCNA_Certification.html or Cisco CCNA.
