As I have mentioned in other posts, I am studying for the Cisco CCNA certification.
After getting nowhere studying for CompTIA's Network+ exam, I gave that up and switched over to studying for Cisco CCNA instead.
Right now, I just completed reading Chapter 5: Analyzing Ethernet LAN Switching in Volume 1 of the CCNA 200-301 cert guide book.
The author of the book is Wendell Odom.
Wendell Odom has a website that can be used in conjunction with both volumes of the CCNA 200-301 cert guide book. The website, Wendell Odom's CCNA Skills Blog, has a lot of really good information about studying for CCNA and networking. I should geat around to reading the supplemental material on his website for each chapter of the book.
Now that I am at Chapter 5, I will DEFINITELY take a look at what he refers to as Config Labs, which are meant to be short exercises about using the command line interface for Cisco networking equipment.
Speaking of the command line interface for Cisco networking equipment, I really should try using the exercises on Pearson Vue's network simulation tool that came with both volumes of the CCNA 200-301 cert guide book.
The Pearson Vue network simulation tool that is included with the CCNA 200-301 textbooks is meant to be an abridged version. If you want all of the exercises, you have to buy the complete version of the network simulation tool from Pearson Vue. That said, Cisco has a rather interesting program called Packet Tracer. Packet Tracer is Cisco's version of a network simulation tool. Unlike Pearson Vue's product, Packet Tracer is free from Cisco. A couple of years ago, you could freely download Packet Tracer from Cisco's website. Now, you have to create an account with Cisco IOT download Packet Tracer. Can you study for CCNA using Packet Tracer? It certainly looks like you could. I have a former co-worker at SSA's Tier 1 IT help desk who told me that he only used Packet Tracer when he studied for CCNA. Over on Amazon, I did find a book that contains 101 labs for Packet Tracer for those studying for CCNA. However, the authors assume that you already know how to use Packet Tracer.
Another interesting feature on Wendell Odom's blog is the section about career planning for networking. Thus far, I have completed the first step of six in constructing my own career plan. Like many people, I just assumed that earning the A+, Network+, and Security+ certifications was the way to go. Since I ran into a roadblock with Network+, I have had to make some adjustments. I can see earning the CCNA certification. I can also see earning Cisco's CyberOps Associate, which is Cisco's version of CompTIA's Security+ certification. Speaking of Security+, I see that ISC2 now offers their own cyber security foundations certification, which looks pretty interesting. Speaking of ISC2, the CISSP certification is rather interesting. A few years back, I had a roommate that was trying to study for the CISSP. He didn't get very far as he gave me his copy of ISC2's CISSP Study Guide. A couple of years ago at my company's Christmas party, I met a GS-12 who works in SSA's Security Operations Center. He told me that the only IT certification that he has is the CISSP. All he did, he said, was to study, study, and study for the CISSP until he could pass the exam. However, from what I can tell, the CISSP certification is meant to be an advanced level IT certification for an individual that has been working in IT for several years. Lastly, I can also see earning the certification for Microsoft's Azure, Google's Google Cloud, or Amazon's Amazon Web Services.
Career planning is a sensitive subject for me. When I graduated from New Mexico State University back in 1995 with a bachelor's degree in Economics from the College of Arts and Sciences, I didn't know what I wanted to do. No one asked. I found myself in Liberal Arts Purgatory. I was one of those people that graduated from college with no idea on what I wanted to do. If I could go back and redo college, I should have been a computer science major. When I was in the Army, I had ZERO career planning. Someone should have councelled me about giving up the dream of attending Officer Candidate School and give serious thought about what I needed to do about becoming a Warrant Officer instead. Now that I am working in Information Technology, it is very easy to get overwhelmed and frustrated with all of the various things that one can do with the various certifications that are out there. Plus, there are those IT certifications that have a high demand (CCNA, Azure, AWS, CISSP, Security+) and those that do not (A+, Server+).
For now, my main focus is to earn the CCNA certification.
My other goal is to get a new IT job. Given all of the competition here in Maryland for IT jobs, I might have to go back to Arizona and look for a new IT job out there. There are all kinds of IT jobs both in Phoenix and in the Maricopa County area. Many of those jobs do not require a security clearance. For someone that no longer has a Top Secret clearance, that is definitely music to my ears.
