Looking to take the CCENT Exam

[kygen]

I have been looking into the IT field, and would like to try my hand at it. I am going to study on my own, then take the exam. Would this guide be my best option in studying for the CCENT?

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/cisco-ccent-ccna-icnd1-100-101-official-cert-guide-wendell-odom/1114954402?ean=9781587143854

Also, should I also get certified in A+ first?, or is that not necessary.

[Mute]

Do you have any previous IT experience? The cert alone won't get you beyond an entry level job without experience. I wouldn't do the A+ unless I plan on doing a lot of hardware work. In most corporate environments, you'd be better served with one of the Microsoft certs (along with the Cisco certs) because you'll most likely do a great deal of support on MS based OSes and servers.

[kygen]

No previous IT work per se. I don't mind entry level work, just need to get my feet wet in the field, then try working my way upwards.

[twotacocombo]

Figure out what you ultimately want to do for a career. A+ will get your foot in the door for a desktop support job, which is about half a step up from burger flipper. It does give you a good foundation to build upon, but it's not much of a life. I got mine first semester of college, and kept going from there.

If you're interested in the CCENT, you might as well just plan on doing the full CCNA. The Cisco courses give you a good basic level understanding of networking, which can be useful even if you don't go completely down that path. The material is heavily skewed towards Cisco gear, but a lot of it is general knowledge and will serve you well with any brand.

If you want to deal with Windows servers, the Microsoft Certs will do a fairly good job of getting you there. The official material can be a bit mind numbing, and doesn't always jive with how things really work, so you should definitely set up some VMs and play with the software to get a feel for how it works.

See if your local JC has any sort of networking degree program. I went to Moorpark College, and they had a decent program for exposing you to several different facets of IT work. My courses went through A+, Microsoft workstations and servers, Cisco routing/switching and wireless. I originally thought I wanted to do CCNA-type stuff, but after I got into it I started leaning towards server work.

Specializing solely in Cisco networking pretty much sets you up for working in a larger company at first, where competition for positions is pretty tough, especially for a rookie. If you go the Microsoft route, there are far more opportunities open with smaller companies. Not everybody needs a dedicated CCNA/CCNP/CCIE guy, but if you've got servers you want to have someone around to take care of them. This is just my experience, of course, and the situation will probably change by the time you're ready. When I started school, they said network engineers were in short supply, and we'd find a job easily! Then the market crashed and companies started gutting their IT staff to save their execs' bonus checks ;p

[kygen]

Honestly I'm just trying to find something to do, a Philosophy BA isn't too marketable right now, and I was talking to a fellow CG'er, and he suggested CCENT/CCNA. I figure I'd see how I like CCENT, then move on to CCNA. And thanks for the suggestion about the Microsoft certs Mute and Two, I'm going to look into that also

[Jimmy Deuce]

Suggest you figure out if IT related work is for you before you spend your money and time pursuing certs. Previous comment was accurate A+ will help you obtain entry level support jobs. It has been the standard for years. The biggest factor to getting in to the field is going to be experience. When a job says entry level they really mean 1-2 years of experience. So just know getting in to this field could easily mean working at a very low level near minimum wage job or working an unpaid internship(this is what I did) to gain experience. I did this as a working adult. So it can be done but have to be willing to work at it and be ready for rejection. Certs are plus and at the very least will make you more marketable. I have been in IT for a few years now and I see experience trump most things such as certs. I hope this helps.

[ToxicWaste]

The CCENT is part 1 of the CCNA, it has a high degree of difficulty. I sent you a PM. Certifications seem to carry more weight than a college degree however, the Cisco test are hard, and many people have passed them, but without the hands on experience, it will be hard to do this work if you do get a job!

A+ is the entry level certification which many have, but the job market isn't that plentiful these days.

[bigmike82]

In SoCal, both Pierce and West LA College offer the Cisco Academy curriculum, which prepares you for the CCNA. That'd be a great starting point.

[Cowboy T]

I do this for a living and put one student through the CCENT a few years ago.

First, learning about network engineering is not for everyone. If you're going to get past someone like me in an interview (the most likely scenario), you've got to actually have a clue. If someone has a CCENT and that's it, I'm not even going to bother looking at their resume.

On the other hand, if someone's got a CCNA and some years of experience, I'll look at 'em. I'll ask 'em questions about scenarios I've seen in real-life work. I'll ask 'em to subnet and supernet. I'll put 'em in front of a router and a switch and tell 'em to set up a router on a stick with multiple VLANs. I'll ask 'em how to set up OSPF, since OSPF's supported by multiple vendors. I'll expect you to know how to set up SSH on a router or switch, 'cause I ain't toleratin' telnet, not in this day and age. Oh, and you gotta know how to deal with NAT and PAT. Stuff like that. That's the kind of bread-n-butter stuff we do on a regular basis. And that's before we get to any of the really fun stuff like route-filtering, multi-area OSPF, or multiple routing protocol stuff like bringing BGP into the mix.

Network and systems engineering, which is what I do, is not for everyone. You've got to actually like it to have the motivation to put in the time.

How'd I learn? Plenty of 3am nights with a few routers and switches. Another thing I did was pick up a Cisco router and use it as my broadband router (I've got cable). Forget those Linksys's, D-Link's, and all that. Use a Cisco 2821 or similar. That'll teach you basic setup, including NAT, with this type of router. Also get a managed switch that supports VLAN's, if you can.

[twotacocombo]

How'd I learn? Plenty of 3am nights with a few routers and switches. Another thing I did was pick up a Cisco router and use it as my broadband router (I've got cable). .

Cisco's Networking Academy has a tool called Packet Tracer that's great for this kind of thing. All software-based virtual equipment, so you can set up networks, mess with IOS, generally break stuff and start over, all without having to invest in any hardware. There are some things you just aren't going to learn without getting your hands on real equipment, but this is a great place to start to see if you're even cut out for networking. When I was going through the CCNA courses, you had to be part of a class to get it, but now it's looking like it may be available for general release...

[NYT]

Cisco's Networking Academy has a tool called Packet Tracer that's great for this kind of thing. All software-based virtual equipment, so you can set up networks, mess with IOS, generally break stuff and start over, all without having to invest in any hardware. There are some things you just aren't going to learn without getting your hands on real equipment, but this is a great place to start to see if you're even cut out for networking. When I was going through the CCNA courses, you had to be part of a class to get it, but now it's looking like it may be available for general release...

Packet Trace for free:

http://www.mediafire.com/download/5v5e49khc7b1hep/PacketTracer533_setup.exe

my advice would be to start taking courses at your local CC. if you find that youre a nerd like a lot of us here then you can go to the next step which would be the cisco route. learning the basics by taking a network+ or security+ class would be benificial though i dont know if they offer those anymore.

network+ cert was just a bit harder than the A+, i thought both were pretty useless as employers are looking for experience more than they are looking for paper techs ie certified numbskulls.

[den888]

Cisco exams are tough, but if you pass them, you will have the education to get an entry level job. You may wish to take an IT support/helpdesk job first, just to get your experience, then move into networking.

I have been in networking for 20+ years, and there are always positions available for those with the right combination of skills, education and background.

[chris1911]

I wouldn't bother with A+ unless you have a specific job you're applying for that requires it. I have it and don't even put it on my resume. It's a joke to people in the know. I took classes for two years to get my CCNA and even then the test is challenging and I've always tested very well.

[Cowboy T]

Packet Trace for free:

http://www.mediafire.com/download/5v5e49khc7b1hep/PacketTracer533_setup.exe

my advice would be to start taking courses at your local CC. if you find that youre a nerd like a lot of us here then you can go to the next step which would be the cisco route. learning the basics by taking a network+ or security+ class would be benificial though i dont know if they offer those anymore.

Hey, that's kinda cool. I didn't know they put PacketTracer out for general use like that. Real hardware's still preferable (to me), but if this'll get the OP going, then I'm all for it.

Classes at the local CC are a great idea; good suggestion there, NYT. They're usually a lot less expensive than the "5-day wonder" corporate courses that, say, Global Knowledge and their ilk put out, and you have more time to actually absorb the material into your head.

network+ cert was just a bit harder than the A+, i thought both were pretty useless as employers are looking for experience more than they are looking for paper techs ie certified numbskulls.

Yeah, tell me about it. Don't bother, seriously. It's like the MCSE.

[brassburn]

I have been in the field for 20 years and I approve of this post. The CCENT is surprisingly challenging if you don't have a fairly significant amount of experience with Cisco routing and switching and concepts like routing and routed protocols, IP subnetting, VLAN basics, etc.

I highly recommend buying a pair of older Catalyst L2 switches and a pair of routers with a couple of serial interfaces and a couple of FE's. You can make do with less but this gives you more flexibility and will be a good lab base if you go beyond CCNA. With the addition of a couple of more pieces of hardware you can go into CCNP specialties including voice.

Alternately you could use a sim like GNS3 (Google it) but nothing beats hands on IMO.

I run an IT shop for a mid-sized national company and nothing perks my ears up at an entry level like a Cisco cert. The information they teach and test on is useful everywhere in the IT space, not just networking.

The admins and engineers with a strong Cisco background working on storage and servers/infrastructure services are more valuable to me because they can design, implement, and troubleshoot well beyond the boundaries of their systems. They have insight and a much better ability to work with network engineering.

Just my .02.

The CCENT is part 1 of the CCNA, it has a high degree of difficulty. I sent you a PM. Certifications seem to carry more weight than a college degree however, the Cisco test are hard, and many people have passed them, but without the hands on experience, it will be hard to do this work if you do get a job!

A+ is the entry level certification which many have, but the job market isn't that plentiful these days.