I'm back and my brain is full
Thanks so much to my fill-in bloggers for bringing good posts and traffic over to me.
Matt, Shea and Sar did a great job, as I knew they would.
I'm back from a week of bootcamp.
No, I was not called maggot, nor did I have to do pushups, but I might have preferred that..
Let me tell you, this class was the most difficult week I have EVER had, including Calculus in college.
Studying for the Cisco CCNA exam is freakin' brutal and as you can see, 
my brain is flooded with it.
8-5 in the class including labs on switches and routers and practice testing, then we studied in groups after dinner till around 11 or later and then some Monday through Thurs.
Out of 22 people that took this bootcamp, all but one was a working IT pro (the other worked FOR Cisco in a different capacity) and only 11 opted to take the CCNA test on Friday.
The first guy was sent in as a "ringer" by the teacher to scope it out and give us feedback. He was sure this guy would pass easy. He failed by 2 questions. His two other ringers that went in an hour later passed. I just got an email from a study buddy and it looks as if about half passed in total.
I am opting to study more on my own and with a co-worker and take it in a week or two.
This is no cram and pass test. You have to know your routing protocols and commands on production switches and routers (all command line, of course, none of that GUI stuff) down pat.
Microsoft tests are like a 20 question driving exam compared to these practice tests and questions I have been taking this week.
This was a very humbling experience to see how much I absolutely do not know...
10 comments:
Welcome back, Mike. Damn, that week sounds painful. Sounds like you'll need a vacation as soon as you take that test!
Welcome back. "No chi- er, IT professional left behind."
thanks, guys and gals.
yea, I never thought I would look forward to a monday morning at work (though the alarm at 6am still hurt).
there is such a thing as your comfort zone, and getting back at my own desk, with my issues and supporting my particular networking project actually made me feel better.
And like I actually knew something.
And thanks for the visit from a new face!
I;m sure there's some lurkers out there, I been getting some decent hits lately, but they all must be lurking.
My brain's full just reading your synopsis! Glad to help out, but good to have you back, Mike. I know you'll do well on that exam. :)
Welcome back! Also, I understand nothing in that last paragraph.
Jay- hehe. Me neither. Nothing. Wait, no I get the first sentence.
I like your drawing.
ps. I hope you pass your test. It sounds hard.
It is hard.
I have been doing some more practice testing while at work and it's tough.
Cisco routing and switching is basically that which ties us all together on the Internets and in our offices.
The data you send and receive on your PC at your desk has to be moved from one place to another, and for the most part, the equipment behind the scenes that moves it all is made by Cisco.
Routing is just that. Taking your data and routing it to where it's supposed to go. Whether it's only in your company, or from one side of the world to another.
In simple terms, the data hits a switch first. Imagine your data cable at your desk, patched from there to a closet in the office into a port, just like the one at your desk, lined up with a whole bunch of other ports just like it: your officemates.
And from there, the data is routed to the proper place.
And if only it was that easy in technical terms, rather than simple terms.. :)
What happens if I press this button?
Magic happens.
The internets, right in your BRAIN!
Mmmmm, brain spam.
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