Just passed A+ 220-801 I feel...

[alkemyst]

Like a boss even though it's just a simple cert compared to many others. I take the 802 in 2 weeks, then I move on to CCNA.

I think the CCNA will be pretty easy for me because it's a topic I really enjoy.

Do not under estimate CCNA.

If you are doing the Route / Switch one it's very challenging. If you are doing any other CCNA, they are just multiple choice tests and not very difficult.

If anyone is reading this and looking to renew their CCNP R&S, realize the test is being changed and you will have a harder time re-certing if you don't do it now.

I had no clue, but my renewal was due last month (I took TSHOOT, my favorite Cisco test evar!).

If anyone wants advice on Cisco tests (not braindumps) PM me and I can tell you my strategies and some good resources.

OP, read 1examamonth.com if you are going CCNA, it used to be paid material, Wallace made it free now. I recommend videos first and then take a deep dive into the books. I recommend both the Cisco Press Exam and Study guides as they don't seem to be complete alone and some authors I really can't get into.

 

[alkemyst]

Congrats!

I always wanted to get some certs, but the fact that they expire has always been a turn off for me. All that work and studying and it's only good for a few years. I suck at theory stuff and memorizing lists and such so it would probably take me as long to get a cert than the time it's good for. In college the Cisco courses were based on CCNA I would bomb the tests but get near 100% on the practical parts. Want me to setup a network in a specific way and make it work? No problem. Ask me to list which of these 10 items are considered part of some list that we had to memorize? Forget it. I was the same way in programming. Stop asking me all these theory questions, just tell me what you want the program to do and I'll write it.

IMHO certifications should expire, just like they do on elevators and fire extinguishers.

Personally, based on some of your 'technical' posts here I think you over estimate your skill sets. I doubt you'd be a good trouble shooter of a failed network/network emergency.

I personally don't know anyone today that would want all that gear you have in your place instead of just visualizing it on the internet somewhere.

 

[alkemyst]

Congrats.

I wouldn't advise you to tackle the CCNA, however, unless/until you have some hands-on with real-life Cisoco gear. I'm glad you enjoy the topic, but the line of Cicsco certifications are designed for those who actually have experience.

Realistically, you'd look over or under-qualified, and your resume would be trashed.

CCNA doesn't need hands-on. CCNP would be hard to past without some experience, but I did it in six months (plus my wireless CCNA) after getting hired as an entry level network engineer. I didn't have any real experience at all.

i did have to study my ass off though and I purchased the Network Simulator from Cisco and TreyRandom that used to be a member here let me beta test a lot of CCNA stuff from Boson that helped me a lot. It's pretty awesome when you can report back that the question and answers are flawed.

Boson's CCNP TSHOOT simulator for R&S is AWESOME!

 

[alkemyst]

pop quiz...


Which of the following is an example of an APIPA address?

a) 10.20.30.40
b) 169.254.43.40
c) 172.30.22.159
d) 192.168.23.110

Shit, I have been doing this for several years now and I don't know what APIPA means unless I google it, but process of elimination when you know enough to be dangerous would be b.

 

[destrekor]

I finally forced myself to study the more benign details that I usually let myself forget because I store "* google" as the reference in my brain instead.

I think I could have passed both without studying, but I am too poor to take that kind of gamble, so I probably over studied.

I took the 802 on the 9th, and the 801 on the 10th. I scored somewhere about 820 on the 802, and around 850 on the 801.

Alky, my first time ever seeing APIPA was on some of the practice questions I used. I was like, WTH is that?
I've always known the 169.x.x.x addresses, their purpose, and why they pop up... but not once had I ever seen "APIPA" anywhere.


I should have taken the A+ back when the material was most fresh in my mind, in 2006. At that time I had just finished the CCNA curriculum (Semester 1-4), and had previously made it to a National competition for what was basically an A+ multiple choice exam competition. Take the test, and who scored highest moved on at each level. That was when CompTIA was still throwing in IRQ and other bullshit that you just never dealt with in 2006 (and our competition had similar asinine questions, including IRQs, post codes, etc).

At that time I felt like I was walking away from IT, just didn't care to gamble on cert costs, and I missed the free voucher from Cisco by a few percentage points on the final curriculum exam. I probably would have had both had I felt like paying for them back then.

Now, years later, with unemployment an issue, I figured now is the time. A buddy informed me that is was basically all Windows 7 and modern stuff, no IRQs anymore, so I made a point of actually preparing so it wouldn't even be a question whether I'd pass.

Since CCNA material is so far out of mind, and I haven't actually worked in routing or switching save for very basic efforts, that won't be my goal for awhile. I would like to get the Network+ or Security+ in the near future. Hopefully I can snag an employer who will send me to take such exams, rather than having to pay out of pocket.

 

[SheHateMe]

The A+ was insanely easy. I aced the first test. Went back in two days and aced the other one.

 

[james1701]

It bites that we now need CEU's to keep it lol.

 

[SheHateMe]

You need CEUs or you just take a higher cert test to renew it.

 

[Red Squirrel]

IMHO certifications should expire, just like they do on elevators and fire extinguishers.

Personally, based on some of your 'technical' posts here I think you over estimate your skill sets. I doubt you'd be a good trouble shooter of a failed network/network emergency.

I personally don't know anyone today that would want all that gear you have in your place instead of just visualizing it on the internet somewhere.

I've troubleshooted plenty of networks and other stuff and worked in healthcare and other industries. The networks and hardware itself is usually easy, it's the highly proprietary closed source software that can be a pain in the ass. These days I'm more into telecommunications though and touch a bit of everything like fibre optic transport, power, telephony switching etc... only really scratch the surface of all of that stuff though in my current job. Got tired of the BS that comes with server support. It's 90% politics, 10% actual technical.

When I first started at help desk my first task was to setup a Cisco PIX and RSA SecurID to work together for VPN access, so the onsite techs can go deploy it at a school board. Basically a side project between calls. Give me the time, tools and resources and I can figure out stuff on my own, a cert wont help me at all. Just because I might ask a few questions does not mean I know nothing. I'd eventually figure it out on my own but it makes more sense to see if someone already knows instead of wasting time.

And why the hell would I want to colo my personal stuff when I only need it for my own use? The only reason to colo/rent something in a DC is if it needs internet presence/uptime and you don't have the proper connectivity to put it on the internet. Most ISPs don't allow public facing servers nor offer stuff like multiple IPs or static IPs not to mention you typically don't have access to redundant ISPs from a house. For something I use for myself it's way easier to have it setup at home and have physical access to set it up exactly how I need, not to mention it's cheaper as it cost next to nothing to run once the equipment is bought. Oh, and 1gbps access. 10gb if I really wanted to. Not to mention if my net goes down I'm not dead in the water. Would also be kinda hard to collocate environmental controls. Need some very very very long relay control wires.

If I had a proper connection that allowed servers and multiple static IPs and other such features I'd probably even host my web stuff at home, but that is a separate server in a data centre. Static IP, 100mbps up/down, etc...

 

[james1701]

You need CEUs or you just take a higher cert test to renew it.

renew. 30 every three years too keep it after you take it.

 

[ultimatebob]

import bitchaboutcerts as bitch

for OP in thread:
print "congrats"
bitch.certsAreUseless()
bitch.shamelessMoneyGrab()
bitch.bitter()

Hey... Some people are good at memorizing information long enough to regurgerate it during a certification exam, while others are actually good at applying that information to solve a real-world problem. A few are good at both.

 

[FelixDeCat]

I have lots of experience but no certs. If I take the A+ can I start making $160,000 per year?

 

[waggy]

I have a A+ cert i got back in the 90's.

 

[VulgarDisplay]

I have lots of experience but no certs. If I take the A+ can I start making $160,000 per year?

People look down on the a+ I know. But hr people love it. I don't even get calls back on applications even though I list out all my experience with PC's and networking.

The times I do get any acknowledgement they ask if I have the A+ and before I did I never heard from them again.

No I won't make 6 figures, but I will get an entry level job and start getting job experience that will look good on a resume next to some better certs like the ccna.

Ccna should not be too hard for me I already did the network academy and got a 100% in the first three sections and a 99% in the final section. The other guys in my class were clueless.

 

[MtnMan]

There is a world of difference between A+ and CCNA. You better know the IOS command line, and plan on about 6 simulator questions that contain multiple parts.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Certs are all about how good you are at memorizing stuff. Sadly some companies do in fact like seeing them and rank it higher than experience. Stupid system but it's how it works.

My company is fairly lax on it thankfully, though if I wanted to work in the network department they typically want you to get it while you're in (not required to actually get in) but there's not really a dead set time line. They realize that it's easier to get once you have more work experience. I've been told to not even worry about as I'd probably get in easily and could do it years later, does not really matter much. As much as that job would be fun though as it would be more hands on, my current job rocks due to being shift work, and fairly lax.

 

[alkemyst]

Certs are all about how good you are at memorizing stuff. Sadly some companies do in fact like seeing them and rank it higher than experience. Stupid system but it's how it works.

My company is fairly lax on it thankfully, though if I wanted to work in the network department they typically want you to get it while you're in (not required to actually get in) but there's not really a dead set time line. They realize that it's easier to get once you have more work experience. I've been told to not even worry about as I'd probably get in easily and could do it years later, does not really matter much. As much as that job would be fun though as it would be more hands on, my current job rocks due to being shift work, and fairly lax.

Cisco Certifications are not really memory tests.

They are very practical based.

 

[SheHateMe]

renew. 30 every three years too keep it after you take it.

No...I was saying that you could do CEUs or you can take a higher cert to renew your older cert.

Basically, you can take the Security+ or Net+ to renew your A+

 

[alkemyst]

No...I was saying that you could do CEUs or you can take a higher cert to renew your older cert.

Basically, you can take the Security+ or Net+ to renew your A+

QFT, I can take any CCNP level or CCIE level course to renew my CCNP.

The problem is going the CCIE route puts you on two year renewals.

Those that don't believe in certs will not get far in a real networking career. It works for small shops and the like, but no top level company especially hospitals around here will let you touch their network without them and experience plus usually having to do a mini-job interview before starting.

 

[james1701]

No...I was saying that you could do CEUs or you can take a higher cert to renew your older cert.

Basically, you can take the Security+ or Net+ to renew your A+

True.

 

[MtnMan]

Certs are all about how good you are at memorizing stuff. Sadly some companies do in fact like seeing them and rank it higher than experience. Stupid system but it's how it works.

In some cases this is true, but the CCNA exam has elements where real world ability to work through a problem is the only way you will succeed, often requiring multiple steps to even access the device where the problem exists, using CDP to discover devices and IP's just as a preliminary.

 

[alkemyst]

In some cases this is true, but the CCNA exam has elements where real world ability to work through a problem is the only way you will succeed, often requiring multiple steps to even access the device where the problem exists, using CDP to discover devices and IP's just as a preliminary.

Not to mention they sometimes disable the 'shotgun' commands requiring the tester to dive deeper into their tool belt.

I think RS overestimates his skillsets outside the environment he is used to.

I do consulting work so I am at a different location with different technology and levels of gear daily. It's very challenging and if you just braindumped your cert, you will be fired quickly there is no way you can survive.

 

[MtnMan]

Not to mention they sometimes disable the 'shotgun' commands requiring the tester to dive deeper into their tool belt.

I think RS overestimates his skillsets outside the environment he is used to.

I do consulting work so I am at a different location with different technology and levels of gear daily. It's very challenging and if you just braindumped your cert, you will be fired quickly there is no way you can survive.

Yep, "paper tigers" (people who can pass tests, but nothing else) show their true colors very quickly.

Hired a gang of temps for a major roll out, and asked the temp agency for A+ or at least PC competent. The temp agency sent me a stack of resumes, and I chose 12. One had his A+, and 6 of the 7 MCSE tests under his belt.

Figured he would be a good lead to use on special builds and failures. Day 1, task 1, upgrade the memory on some high-end work stations. Handed him the DSIMMS and turned him loose.

Came by 2 hours later, and none were done. He couldn't add memory to a standard tower workstation. He spent the rest of the day collapsing cardboard and hauling stuff to the dumpster.

Nice thing about temps, call the agency, and tell them to make him go away and send me another one.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Hmm so do they have more practical on CCNA now? When I was doing the tests (through Cisco Academy, but they were meant to mimic the actual exams) it was mostly theory stuff. Mind you that was like 7 years ago so stuff may have changed. If it's mostly practical I probably would not have quite as much trouble. Though I imagine you still need to know all the commands by heart and stuff as they probably disable help and you can't look anything up, so it's still harder than doing it in a real life situation, so it would still be very hard regardless.

 

[alkemyst]

Hmm so do they have more practical on CCNA now? When I was doing the tests (through Cisco Academy, but they were meant to mimic the actual exams) it was mostly theory stuff. Mind you that was like 7 years ago so stuff may have changed. If it's mostly practical I probably would not have quite as much trouble. Though I imagine you still need to know all the commands by heart and stuff as they probably disable help and you can't look anything up, so it's still harder than doing it in a real life situation, so it would still be very hard regardless.

CCNA R&S has ALWAYS had 2-3 lab scenarios on the test and 7 years ago it was more challenging than now with all the online and quick study stuff out there.

I really think you don't understand the market and just have stories to tell.