Taking this class.. Whoa is it difficult, it's the first time I've felt real pressure on my tests. Every test so far has had pretty bad results... Atm passing with low C, going to try to go into full tryhard mode soon haha. Was just asking because if you are, damn you're good. (Also any tips? ;w; )
Is it even worth getting Cisco Certified? From what I'm seeing most of the stuff you learn through the certification process is stuff learned if you have any dealings with routers, internets, and such.
If you do network administration you might need it. Otherwise just get your COMPTIA A+ (speaking of which, I should do that. Maybe get me a job that isn't minimum wage)
A+ is in the same room as us, it seems so much easier and way more hands on, lucky mucks. ;P But hey a college class is a college class, expected as much :L
Neither of them are very practical is the issue though. Why on earth do I need to know what each of the pins on a VGA cable are for, along with a few other silly questions. I'm imagining Cisco Certifications is also kind of silly and overly impractical. (Theory is good for teaching concepts, but it has little value as actual knowledge, especially in computer troubleshooting/IT crap). The A+ is also meant to be very diverse in its coverage, unlike your networking certification, so its probably less in depth about stuff and more surface level "hey this is what this does and how it does it." I also recall my HS's IT guy telling me that the Cisco one was pretty tough, so good luck.
Most of the work and such is easy, but these tests are crazy.. So many acronyms I have to remember! D: And yeah.. Like I said earlier, employers just like to see the piece of paper saying you know all this stuff, including all this weirdly in depth stuff that you'll never use. Really difficult in depth stuff! Again, acronyms, ahhh.
I can name more acronyms than I can define words at this point. And this is stuff I've picked up via overclocking, being a nerd in general and doing IT for 4 years at my school. My warning to you: printers (especially USB) and Windows turns into a very unique kind of Hell. Especially with people who don't understand that when it's not working, STOP PRINTING THINGS! Edit: no classes, just google and asking questions. School is for losers According to CompTIA's practice questions, I'd get an 80%. Cool.
Yes I have my CCNA and yes it was very difficult. I manage an ISP Helpdesk now and I've already forgotten most of what I learnt. Use it or lose it. The OSI model is an extremely helpful framework for troubleshooting though. I have CompTIA A+ and MCITP also. Qualifications are good and I always look for these when recruiting people into my team but that's just so I know that they atleast have a base knowledge of all the networking and system protocols and concepts, etc.
On the pretest for CISCO I made a ~60%+ so not bad, but could be better of course! XP I got 39 our of 60 or 70 questions iirc?
73.6% on my CISCO one final. 79.3% in the class. Just gotta do a few more assignments and I'll make a B. Then onto CISCO 2 ;w;
Basically a piece of paper saying you can configure and troubleshoot CISCO devices and networks. Mandatory for a job in the field as a network overseer.