CCNA - Do I need any real experience to take CCNA?

Author

Do I need any real experience to take CCNA?

jmr2c

2004-01-21, 12:31 pm

I'm a total newbie to certifications. I have just received my bachelor's in information systems, but I really don't have any network experience. Can I go for my CCNA directly, or would I have need some practical experience first? Or maybe another certification like the A+ first?
Any feedback MUCH appreciated, thanks!

New and confused

Silkysmoothe1

2004-01-21, 3:38 pm

quote:
Originally posted by jmr2c
I'm a total newbie to certifications. I have just received my bachelor's in information systems, but I really don't have any network experience. Can I go for my CCNA directly, or would I have need some practical experience first? Or maybe another certification like the A+ first?
Any feedback MUCH appreciated, thanks!

New and confused

Well, can you define experience?
a) Hands on experience?
b) book experience, only?
C) I think I understand what your asking nevertheless, it's always best to be clear.

I had No hardware experience other than PC hardware. No serious software exposure other than end user stuff.

I studied all Cisco prep guides, all Todd L.
Syngress study guide. Exam Essentials. One virtual Lab,"used once".CCNA for dummies/ and just a few more smaller/shorter books. I studied for roughly 4-months here and there, maybe 3-5 hours weekly. I then buckled down for the Last month leading up to the test, studied each day for maybe a 2-3hours. I didn't want to take this test again, i hear it's harder the 2cnd time around. I passed, I was kinda upset that the test took me only maybe 10-mins. All that studying for that short test. PS. I studied the entire night before test, I didn't go to bed, I couldn't I was to nervous. The last 6-months of studying was about to culminate, and a verdict given. I wanted to walk away smiling, and i did. So can you.

Good luck,,

,,,silky,,,

jmr2c

2004-01-21, 3:53 pm

Thanks for the feedback silky. Yes, by experience I meant hands-on training. I've read a little but that's about it, never really had the chance to work on one.
Thanks again!

lmorehart

2004-01-21, 4:14 pm

Anyone who hires you to configure Cisco equipment as part of your job is going to expect a certain level of expertise. I would at least find a way to actually work on routers & switches. The way I did this was to sign up for a Cisco Academy-approved class at the local Community college. I even got a grant to pay tuition, since I'm unemployed due to the current US economic woes.

Demijohn

2004-01-21, 5:41 pm

All you need is the $$$$$. Cisco has made the tests more difficult because they want you to have a certain amount of experience, even if only in simulation. But if you've read this forum for very long you know that there are folks that study a few cheat sheets and pass the tests a few days later.

smrkdown

2004-01-21, 6:13 pm

When you aquire a certification such as the CCNA it is to show that you possess a certain level of proficiency in that specific area of study, not just that you can pass the exam. Even if experience isn't 100% necessary to pass the exam, it is necessary in order to perform work on a switched or routed network that uses Cisco equipment.

Silkysmoothe1

2004-01-21, 9:03 pm

I guess maybe what "Demijohn/smrkdown" mean is, as Cisco rep/partner, one should really know there material in and out.

I do not know all the material there is to know about these routers and switches, there is more to learn. I do know that I can and do work with Cisco networks/technology now, where as before I was just a paper cert. So maybe you don't need to be CCIE/or other to take this test.

Imorehart has a good avenue. You should look into the school, otherwise you should look into some simulators, "Free". BUT, to answere you question. You simply need the will and patience, ambition cause you'll use them both.

again,,good luck.

rahul_does

2004-01-23, 11:13 am

Hello All, I am preparing for The Exam and all these encouraging posts help.

I spend about 3-6 hours per day on ICND and am planning to take the test in Last week of February.

I think this is The Best place to put forward doubts. Like SexyLexy cleared one of the major ones I was having about the exam.

Thanks once again.
Rahul.

jmr2c

2004-01-23, 3:51 pm

I noticed a book called "CCNA jumpstart", geared towards people who would like to go for the CCNA but don't have much network experience. It's a book to get you started on CISCO networking concepts, before actually starting to study for the CCNA. Anyone heard of it, have any idea if it's good or not?

boyam

2004-01-27, 5:09 pm

I have not yet written the CCNA yet,, but I am planning to do so. I have been working with Cisco Equipment for 6 or 7 years. I ran into a situation where I had to send a backup router to a guy who wrote the CCNA and passed (I assume, he uses CCNA in his signature) and I told him not to plug this router into your network for nooo reason. This router uses EIGRP. Only use it when the original goes bad. He asked me why and I thought I would fall out of my seat. I said, "you are the CCNA and you don't know???". Now I would deem this to be a very elementary routing question. For those of you who don't know, since this new router was a duplicate of another router, if the router is plugged into the network, there's a strong possibility EIGRP will propogate routes to this router and devices could possibly begin to use the new router and essentially bring the WAN link down.

I said all of that to say this, I really think one should have practical experience to go along with these certifications. I know alot of people use certs to jump start their new career in IT sometimes and that is fine, if you can't get the "hands on" you need, then purchase some routers and switches for your home to practice on. When I went on my interview for this company I work for, my immediate supervisor gave me an ip address of one of their routers, allowed me access to it and told me to print out the route table for the router. My second task was setup a frame relay link for a new WAN connection. I had to do this without having manuals and the internet for help. Without my hands on experience, I would have failed.

I hope this real world example helps some of those who are riding the fence to make a decision and see how important it is to have the hands on experience. Holding the CCNA cert doesn't mean much if you aren't using it.

Silkysmoothe1

2004-01-27, 6:05 pm

quote:
Originally posted by boyam
I have not yet written the CCNA yet,, but I am planning to do so. I have been working with Cisco Equipment for 6 or 7 years. I ran into a situation where I had to send a backup router to a guy who wrote the CCNA and passed (I assume, he uses CCNA in his signature) and I told him not to plug this router into your network for nooo reason. This router uses EIGRP. Only use it when the original goes bad. He asked me why and I thought I would fall out of my seat. I said, "you are the CCNA and you don't know???". Now I would deem this to be a very elementary routing question. For those of you who don't know, since this new router was a duplicate of another router, if the router is plugged into the network, there's a strong possibility EIGRP will propogate routes to this router and devices could possibly begin to use the new router and essentially bring the WAN link down.

I said all of that to say this, I really think one should have practical experience to go along with these certifications. I know alot of people use certs to jump start their new career in IT sometimes and that is fine, if you can't get the "hands on" you need, then purchase some routers and switches for your home to practice on. When I went on my interview for this company I work for, my immediate supervisor gave me an ip address of one of their routers, allowed me access to it and told me to print out the route table for the router. My second task was setup a frame relay link for a new WAN connection. I had to do this without having manuals and the internet for help. Without my hands on experience, I would have failed.

I hope this real world example helps some of those who are riding the fence to make a decision and see how important it is to have the hands on experience. Holding the CCNA cert doesn't mean much if you aren't using it.

Well boys, that's telling it like it is. Very nice Boyam. About your interview, I wish i could enter a few commands and get what it was I needed, For an interview. Again, very nicely put.

edmonds_robert

2004-01-27, 8:14 pm

quote:
Originally posted by boyam
When I went on my interview for this company I work for, my immediate supervisor gave me an ip address of one of their routers, allowed me access to it and told me to print out the route table for the router. My second task was setup a frame relay link for a new WAN connection. I had to do this without having manuals and the internet for help. Without my hands on experience, I would have failed.

Now that's a technical interview!!!

boyam

2004-01-28, 9:41 pm

Hey, this company was going to turn me loose on their cisco equipment, and looking back on things, I would do the same thing if I were in my super's shoes. I've seen on a few forums where a person has inherited a network and needs to do simple things on their router and want someone on the forum to help them with it. This disturbs me, And, oh yea, they have cert acro's following their name. To me it is an embarrassment and evident that the person talks a good game, but when the rubber meets the road they are a deer in headlights. (Bad Cliche's, but you get my point)

I've seen a few instances when a company uses EIGRP and are using a subnetted class B address. Come to find out, whoever configured the router forgot to turn off summarizing which uses the straight class B mask and caused routing issues. I wonder how long the guy worked on the problem when it only took me 2 seconds to fix? You best know what you're doing if you work on my equipment.

Ok, down I come from my soapbox (LOL)!!

Sponsored Links