Hey everyone,

I searched for the keyword CCNA, but it hasn’t appeared for a while.

I’m actually learning the concepts, I’m on STP.

I’d like to hear about your experiences, how long it took you, which website you’re learning from, etc.

Have a great day!!

  • litchralee@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    31·
    3 days ago

    I don’t have any network certificates. And IMO, I’m not entirely enthused about them, but I recognize they’re a required checkbox for getting one’s foot in the door, kinda like having a college degree, esp for certain government employers. But I digress.

    My networking training was on-the-job, where my mentor basically gave me a hard-copy version of this book: The All-New Switch Book, 2nd Edition, by Seifert and Edwards. In this case, “all-new” refers to 2008. But that’s alright because the fundamentals of modern computer networks have not substantially changed, even as we push beyond 400 Gbps and use MPLS to forward Metro Ethernet, or whatever.

    In the end, a fundamental understanding involves switching and routing, the whole OSI layer model and practical realizations of it, Ethernet in detail, IP (Legacy + v6) in detail, and best-practices for network design. What a CCNA certificate might specifically cover is the Cisco-specific CLI syntax for setting up and maintaining a network, but knowing the fundamentals means it’s easy to manage any vendor’s equipment, or even virtual networks for VMs or hyperscalar cloud environments.

    • CamillaTrend@lemmy.worldOPEnglish
      1·
      3 days ago

      816 PAGES? wow > this book

      Today I’m working in a help desk, I would like to get certified to move up to higher levels. I’m just copying what’s above.

      • PinGZ@infosec.pubEnglish
        2·
        3 days ago

        As a guy who started in hell desk a million years ago, worked his way up to a senior network engineer, and is now in charge of hiring teams I can say this…

        The certs help but being passionate about the field helps %1000 more. I interview way too many people that went through the process, checked the boxes, and can’t even talk to me about the tech. When we talk to candidates we want to hear about your curiosity and why you love this field. Sure at the end of the day it’s a job and we don’t need you dedicated to the company, but having a yearning to know how things work is very beneficial.

        For your ccna, go through the basics but focus on learning the main protocols that are vendor agnostic. Look at other network os’s (juniper, artists, etc), learn some virtualization… lots of corps and other companies virtualize and that comes with virtual networking.

        Stick with it, we need you and then some