Self Study CCENT

[Bugs]

Hi all,

 

I have been trying to self study for the CCENT for the past year or so I think I have everything I need now got a decent book and video training.

 

Just reading around some forums and alot of people are saying go for the network+ its easier and gives you much the same cert at the end of it.

 

to give you some background iv worked in firstline support in schools for 10 years I REALLY want to get out of support and have been looking at network design and development maybe something cloud based to iv looked into Amazon Webservices.

 

Should I soldier on with the CCENT or take some other cert whatever it maybe

[dwhyte85]

Network+ is a good qualification, it isn't aimed at any one vendor whereas CCENT is Cisco and working on its CLI + core networking - it might get you included in a few more CV sifts with recruitment agencies.

 

Tough call.

[Bugs]

it being vendor agnostic is what attracts me to it, but I think the CISCO is a slightly higher profile cert, and i`m thinking if I want to get into cloud based stuff would it really matter which networking cert I have as long long as theres something to give me a good grounding.

 

I maybe completely wrong though so i`m open to suggestions and comments

[dwhyte85]

In terms of finding a role, from [bitter] experience - people mainly ask for Cisco or Juniper qualifications - that was the reason I did my CCENT over N+. CompTIA doesn't always get the recognition it deserves. Think bit of a difference in price, CCENT was £130 i think - N+ was like £200.00.

 

Hopefully one of the recruiting types here will be able to give you some industry feedback!

[Bugs]

I must admit I have only seen people asking for cisco or Microsoft certs in adverts.

 

Network+ maybe a bit of an easier win for me just want to see if im wasting my time with it though

[FN-GM]

Hi,

 

Having recently got my CCNA and now doing CCNP I thought I would chip in. CCENT is it not all about Cisco, infact most of it isn't. I would say 50% of the ICND 1 exam involves sub netting of some kind, that for starters isn't Cisco specific.

 

Other areas covered (off top of my head) that are not Cisco specific are:

 

• What Routers, Switches, Hubs & Bridges do.
  
• OSI Model
  
• How frames are constructed
  
• How a switch works
  
• ACL's
  
• IPV6 (not much though!)
  
• Multicast
  
• Broadcast
  
• OSPF
  
• NAT
  
• DHCP
  
• ARP
  

 

I think ICND1 was harder than ICND2. Once I had the CCENT the CCNA topics made more sense and things fit together better.

 

I would carry on with you CCENT (even if you hadn't already started), it covers more networking as a whole than Network+. It is also the starting point for Cisco certifications should you go down that path. You wouldn't want to do you Network+ then the CCENT (or combined CCNA exam) later if you choose the Cisco path. The CCENT is harder to get than the Network+ so would look better on a CV. Don'y just go Network+ because its easier.

 

Thanks

Edited August 5, 2015 by FN-GM

[rich_tech]

I am currently working towards my CCENT going for the ICND1 100-101 here with self study - CCNA is my next major goal via the two exams route and I chose it over CompTIA based qualifications because of the fact that job adverts tend to list CCENT/CCNA as desirable and you don't get major mentions of any CompTIA certs (that's not me saying that they are worthless at all here, just industry based jobs do not seem to ask for them much after a certain salary level). Also the CCNA desirable jobs tend to be better paid from the offset, (it can be a basic leap of about £5-7k around here for it at junior position level depending on the company)

 

The major qualifications I find listed as desirable with non-educational based job adverts seem to want minimal MC P SA E / CCNA / VCP training (sometimes they want a computer science degree too).

@FN-GM is bang on the money, the ICND1 is not really 100% Cisco proprietary based, lots of topics are generally related to IP networking, and they go into quite a depth with the information, though obviously you will use their switching/routing technology for the CLI which forms a large part of it, be it packet tracer/network simulator or their own switches and routers.

 

It is also worth mentioning that it isn't an easy undertaking, the books and videos all mention that there is quite a high drop off from learning this qualification, but its worth staying the course I think and I am finding it both rewarding and interesting.

 

I have bought the two official Cisco books by Wendell Odom (amazon was my friend there) - the official study guides for ICND1 100-101 and ICND2 200-101 (thats the seperate exams for the CCNA/CCENT, I dont fancy doing the composite all in one exam) and I have also bought the online course from Udemy.com to accompany the books (you can search for codes and pay next to nothing for their courses)

 

I also am lucky enough to have access to CBT Nuggets, though this is an expensive option if you are paying cash for that, the videos though are better quality I think than the Udemy based courses I have bought.

[FN-GM]

I also am lucky enough to have access to CBT Nuggets, though this is an expensive option if you are paying cash for that, the videos though are better quality I think than the Udemy based courses I have bought.

 

I have used the CBT Nuggets for ICND 1 & 2. Jeremy Cioara is excellent, im quite thankful that he is doing the CCNP videos as well. Would recommend!

[rich_tech]

I have used the CBT Nuggets for ICND 1 & 2. Jeremy Cioara is excellent, im quite thankful that he is doing the CCNP videos as well. Would recommend!

 

Indeed, he's much more engaging than the udemy course counterpart and I think his setup for the ccna is much better I find

[FN-GM]

A hint to you both and anyone else who is taking the exam. Learn how to subnet in less than 2 minutes. I wouldn't book the exam until you can do this and you may run out of time.