CCENT and CCNA

eCliPSe said:
Never want my certs to expire! Worked my tail off for them.

Think I will do my CISSP after my CCIE lab. Then R&S and DC.

CCeNT,CCNA,CCNA Voice,CCNA Design, CCNA Security, CCDP, CCNP, CCNP Security, CCIE SEC( Written Only Taking lab in May).
Click to expand...

Impressive. Do you need to go to another country to sit the CCIE lab or does SA have a testing center that can accommodate?
 
jsheed_sa said:
Impressive. Do you need to go to another country to sit the CCIE lab or does SA have a testing center that can accommodate?
Click to expand...

Depends on the lab, r&s and security have mobile labs in SA.
Anything else you need to travel. The mobile lab usually comes 3 times a year, although sometimes its only twice.
Seats are limited to 1 security and 5 r&s per day for 5 days.
 
Yeah Mobile Lab exam 3 times a year. Basically accessing the Brussels CCIE lab equipment. Also In Jan the lab is for R&S, Security and Voice. Then in May and August it is just for R&S and Security. For everything else you have to travel. The most popular is Brussels as you can stay at a hotel about 800 meters away from the testing center and do the CCIE walk :D One day when I do my DC i will give it a bash there!
 
eCliPSe said:
Yeah Mobile Lab exam 3 times a year. Basically accessing the Brussels CCIE lab equipment. Also In Jan the lab is for R&S, Security and Voice. Then in May and August it is just for R&S and Security. For everything else you have to travel. The most popular is Brussels as you can stay at a hotel about 800 meters away from the testing center and do the CCIE walk :D One day when I do my DC i will give it a bash there!
Click to expand...


Not that it makes much difference, but mine didnt access Brussels. I also had issues on my equipment and at one point the lag was quite bad.

My LAP had some weird memory issue which required a reboot, and I had two other issues which I cant really describe but it came down to an oddity on the connectivity diagram. The instructor was awesome though, and offered me an extra 20 or 30 minutes.

I have heard some of them are complete pigs though, and I must say, my guy actually seemed like he wanted us to do well.

Will see in May how it goes for the routing exam, although i am now wondering if i should wait for the V5 lab and just do that.
 
Yeah i have heard some horror stories as well. But on the R&S I would personally not wait for V5 if I had a choice. I booked my lab on the 23rd of May. So come now do the R&S :D
 
eCliPSe & Syntax my 2 hero's and inspirations :D I envy your knowledge and certs:cry:
 
koeksGHT said:
Yeah that's how we are locked in, and they get more and more expensive :P
Click to expand...
I haven't paid for a exam or study material in 4 years. Corporations benefit greatly from having Cisco Certified personnel. Also to be fair R1500 for an exam isnt that much. Now asking my boss for R18 000 for my lab in May and him saying yes without batting an eye is priceless :D
 
Hey all,

I've done the ICND1 and ICND2 courses at Torque IT - but I haven't written any exams...just got too busy with work etc. I was going to write the ICND1 and 2 exams, but now I think I must just do the CCNA exam. I enjoy it sooo much, just struggling a bit with the subnetting, battled a bit with maths at school mostly due to non interest. The rest of the stuff I pretty much get and enjoy so much. Need some help with the subnetting - think I need a tutor :)

I've just bought a Cisco 2600 router, and will have a 2948G switch soon and get another 2600 router. Then I think I will have a nice lab to practice on - what do you guys think?
 
mark.saved.duplessis said:
Hey all,

I've done the ICND1 and ICND2 courses at Torque IT - but I haven't written any exams...just got too busy with work etc. I was going to write the ICND1 and 2 exams, but now I think I must just do the CCNA exam. I enjoy it sooo much, just struggling a bit with the subnetting, battled a bit with maths at school mostly due to non interest. The rest of the stuff I pretty much get and enjoy so much. Need some help with the subnetting - think I need a tutor :)

I've just bought a Cisco 2600 router, and will have a 2948G switch soon and get another 2600 router. Then I think I will have a nice lab to practice on - what do you guys think?
Click to expand...

The new CBT Nugget videos on the updated CCNA exam is very good and explains subnetting well.
 
Well I think subnetting is the biggest challenge for most people in the CCNA certification. Jeremy from CBT nuggets had the best way to work it out. You need to invest time in subnetting (15 mins every single day). When it becomes second nature it will stay with you forever. Also check out the cisco subnetting game on the cisco learning network. Makes it fun.
 
Do all you guys have jobs lined up for when you're qualified?

We've been looking for people with CCNA level skills for a while. We've found plenty of people who've read one of the study guides and far fewer who've actually gone as far as finishing the exam. :whistle:
 
ambo said:
Do all you guys have jobs lined up for when you're qualified?

We've been looking for people with CCNA level skills for a while. We've found plenty of people who've read one of the study guides and far fewer who've actually gone as far as finishing the exam. :whistle:
Click to expand...

I think most people are working and studying at the same time.

Interesting point you raise, CCNA skills.... My previous company and my current position, we have been looking for engineers as well. What we find is that there are people who have stacks of certs, and some of them even believe they are as good as their C.V suggests. They ask for 500k +, and yet when interviewed absolutely fall apart.

For me, someone at a CCNA level should have an excellent theory background , but might be lacking in practical application. So they can define things, but arent 100% sure on the configuration or application of this knowledge.

I dont know how many CCNP's there are out there that we have interviewed, who could not explain to me what gratuitous arp is, or how NAT really works. I am not talking tough questions here, we hardly ever get to things like configurable BGP values, OSPF LSA types, Nexus OTV etc.

We went more than 9 months and at least 30 interviews without a suitable candidate. Currently, we cant find anyone who matches our criteria either. I am also surprised at the salaries that these guys have, they are truly awful at their jobs, and are in the range of 450 - 750k. I dont know how they manage to stay employed.
 
Last edited:
Wow Syntax,

That seems common place nowadays in IT though.

People that got in to make MONEY and who don't seem to know much. I try to weed them out before the actual interview!

Out of interest, what would you consider paying a qualified CCNA who met your requirements?
 
jsheed_sa said:
Wow Syntax,

That seems common place nowadays in IT though.

People that got in to make MONEY and who don't seem to know much. I try to weed them out before the actual interview!

Out of interest, what would you consider paying a qualified CCNA who met your requirements?
Click to expand...

Thats the thing, you can tell someone who enjoys IT and someone who started it because they were told thats where the money is, and now arent that interested.

I would say the pay would be a NET of 10 - 14k. This leaves room for growth and increases in the company until they reach CCNP level.
 
syntax said:
I dont know how many CCNP's there are out there that we have interviewed, who could not explain to me what gratuitous arp is, or how NAT really works. I am not talking tough questions here, we hardly ever get to things like configurable BGP values, OSPF LSA types, Nexus OTV etc.
Click to expand...

Hmmm i have my CCNP R&S got it 2 years ago but the reality is that it depends a lot on what you are exposed to as well. On the routing side of things i am really poor. But because of my work back ground there is very little someone can teach me about switching. But if you give me a lab with routing issues and requirements I can struggle my way through. Even with Cisco VOIP stuff as well. Also Nexus isnt covered in the CCNP R&S? I was under the impression it is covered in the DC track. I am hoping on doing the DC after security.

In the past i have been in interviews where i really sucked badly because of the environment in which the interview was delivered. I see myself as fairly ok. But I crumble when someone stands over my shoulder shouting tasks to complete like I am in the military.

We are also looking for Security engineers with only a prereq of CCNA for months now. Good people are few and good employers are even fewer.


PS I started in IT 7 years ago for R2500 a month as a small company Technical Engineer. My first boss is still today a mentor and a respected friend. Money should not be your main objective. Loving what you do is much more important. There is a bunch of people in IT just because they believe there is tons of cash in it. Which is sad.
 
Last edited:
eCliPSe said:
/snip
Click to expand...

I get what you are saying, and no one knows everything. But, there are basics that everyone kind of should know.
What a vlan is, how it works, why we use them, how arp works, what NAT is, different types and why we use it etc

For security it is kind of the same. I would expect people to know what stateful inspection is, how a state table looks, what anti spoofing / uRPF is, basic idea of PKI, some AD knowledge.

What I do when going through a C.V. is look at what the person has put there, and ask them questions on that. So if they say,
experience in firewalls and VPN's.

I would ask firewall questions, starting from basic and working my way up. If you say you are excellent at firewalls, I expect you to know the hardware architecture of the security devices, how the integrated UTM sections function and what kind of architecture they use etc etc. For vpn's, if you say you are strong on them, I would ask questions like, what is the point of doing a DH exchange? What is the password used for in the VPN? What benefits does IKE v2 and why would you use aggressive mode negotiation

But even in an interview, its pretty easy in the first 2 minutes to see if the guy has potential or not, and if he has the core knowledge or not. Some guys we have hired and flat out said "i have no clue how that works" to lots of the questions, but the questions that are in their field, they know down to the nuts and bolts. That shows they truly take an interest in their job, and most likely just havent had the exposure to other elements.
 
Where can I find the method Jeremy from CBT Nuggets uses aCliPSe?
 
syntax said:
But even in an interview, its pretty easy in the first 2 minutes to see if the guy has potential or not, and if he has the core knowledge or not. Some guys we have hired and flat out said "i have no clue how that works" to lots of the questions, but the questions that are in their field, they know down to the nuts and bolts. That shows they truly take an interest in their job, and most likely just havent had the exposure to other elements.
Click to expand...

That is what happened to me. One VC interview and I was hired within a week. I like the idea of using the peoples CV's to ask questions from. My CV is only 2 pages. So i dont know all that much :D

@mark I will see if i can pm you a youtube clip of it perhaps. But the best thing would be to use the CBT Nuggets material for your prep. I would not have been able to do my CCNA without it (CCNP is an other story).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DCQLphkatqE
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top
Sign up to the MyBroadband newsletter
X