The IT Certification Megathread: Straight Outta CompTIA

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Serious Hardware/Software Crap > The IT Certification Megathread: Straight Outta CompTIA

Alctel: Jan 16, 2004; I love snails

Just redoing my CCENT from 4 years ago since apparently they expire after 3 years. Lots of differences, it's a lot better laid out now (Cisco Press)

Good Points: No more ring network stuff, Almost no OSI stuff, routing/WAN section is a lot better laid out and easier to understand

Bad Stuff: IPv6 fuuuuccccckkkkkk yooooooooooooooooooooooou

# ¿ Jun 21, 2013 22:12

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# ¿ Apr 28, 2024 09:03

Alctel: Jan 16, 2004; I love snails

I have the books for ICND1 100-101 CCENT/CCNA and ICND2 200-101 CCNA Routing and Switching

Are these exams changing?

http://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/1587143852/ref=oh_details_o01_s01_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

http://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/1587143739/ref=oh_details_o01_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

are the books i have

Alctel fucked around with this message at 19:59 on Jul 3, 2013

# ¿ Jul 3, 2013 19:56

Alctel: Jan 16, 2004; I love snails

Oh, so I accidently picked up the new versions - great!

# ¿ Jul 3, 2013 20:28

Alctel: Jan 16, 2004; I love snails

reading up on stateless DHCPv6 at the end of the CCENT book and can anyone think of a reason why you'd use it? You still need a DHCP server after all. The explanations the book give aren't very convincing

# ¿ Jul 4, 2013 22:40

Alctel: Jan 16, 2004; I love snails

Ready to take my CCENT, went to book it for next week and the only test center that is on vancouver island is booked up until 5 weeks time

;_;

fffffffffffffffffffffffffffffff

5 weeks is ridiculous, I guess I should start on INCD2 and hope that the INCD1 stuff doesn't fall out my head

Alctel fucked around with this message at 17:43 on Jul 5, 2013

# ¿ Jul 5, 2013 17:22

Alctel: Jan 16, 2004; I love snails

Tab8715 posted:

How long does it reasonably take one to get CCNA-Certified?

Do the CCENT first which you can probably knock off in a month or two

# ¿ Jul 9, 2013 01:39

Alctel: Jan 16, 2004; I love snails

Judge Schnoopy posted:

I don't know why I never thought to check SA for this thread before.

I put in 3 months of self-study for the N+ exam and just passed it today. I'm working 40 hours a week, taking 9 credit hours towards my associates year-round, and have a 7 month kid at home so finding spare time was not easy.

I decided to pick up Glen Clarke's Net+ book set published by McGraw-Hill when I started. 850 page textbook, 250 page practice test book, and a CD Rom with videos and more practice tests. For anybody who happens across this book set and considers buying it, good loving luck.

The book was very unfocused and often delved into complicated topics you frankly don't need to know. I wasted a lot of extra time on this stuff, though I guess it helps to have the background knowledge for a future IT job. The practice tests are also extremely easy, straight forward, and self explanatory compared to the types of questions I actually came across on the test (choose the BEST answer questions suck when you've only practiced answering the one correct option listed).

Anyway, I'm in contact with a project manager at an IT company who is kindly guiding me through the certification track to getting a job. She says A+ isn't worthwhile, Sec+ is a more "specialized" cert, and CCNA is undoubtedly the way to go. With my busy schedule, I'll be taking the CCNET route first.

Can anybody recommend the absolutely definitive best book to read to prepare?

I found the Cisco Press one to be really good

# ¿ Jul 11, 2013 02:06

Alctel: Jan 16, 2004; I love snails

forgot I had my CCENT exam this morning until I woke up, hadn't studied for a month but still managed to scrape a 854 pass.

Whew.

# ¿ Aug 6, 2013 19:55

Alctel: Jan 16, 2004; I love snails

The Third Man posted:

Passed my ICND1 this afternoon with a 912.

I'm almost positive one of the questions was incorrect, too, is there a mechanism for reporting stuff like this? The question was a simple host range problem with the subnet being 192.168.4.0/26. That should include 192.168.4.1-192.168.4.62, and there was only one answer in that range and I had to choose two...

I know the one you are talking about, and there is actually a correct answer but the question is phrased super strangely. I was stumped for a couple of minutes on that one.

# ¿ Aug 12, 2013 23:25

Alctel: Jan 16, 2004; I love snails

Tab8715 posted:

Do you have to get re-certified on your CCENT?

Yeah, 3 years

# ¿ Aug 16, 2013 02:16

Alctel: Jan 16, 2004; I love snails

Fatal posted:

This is actually a subtle but important part of any Cisco test (no idea on other vendors). I live in the greater Seattle area and if you've never scheduled a test you're in for a surprise on how long you might have to wait. I've had guys prep and get ready for a test and then go to schedule and find the earliest test slot is 3 weeks out.

Mine was 6 weeks for the CCENT :-|

(Vancouver Island)

# ¿ Aug 20, 2013 03:07

Alctel: Jan 16, 2004; I love snails

MrBigglesworth posted:

How was 100-101? I'm in that academy class now on the application layer.

I found the 100-101 surprisingly easy, compared to the 640

# ¿ Sep 11, 2013 19:27

Alctel: Jan 16, 2004; I love snails

QPZIL posted:

Psssssst, hey... hey you... yeah, you... come over here for a second...

You didn't hear it from me, but if one were so inclined, one could use the promo code 'VCA501' at PearsonVUE sometime before September 30th to take any single VCA- exam for free.

It's free, it's web based, the training is free, and the training is only like 2 hours long.

There's literally no reason NOT to do it, aside from the website not working, so I had to call customer support. Hell I might see if the code will work for me to do VCA-Cloud, VCA-WM, and VCA-NV if they're that straightforward that I could knock it all out in a day.

Amazing! Now if I only could find my candidate number

edit: it works

Alctel fucked around with this message at 04:02 on Sep 19, 2013

# ¿ Sep 19, 2013 03:09

Alctel: Jan 16, 2004; I love snails

I got signed up but that promo code only takes 50% off sadly

# ¿ Sep 19, 2013 04:37

Alctel: Jan 16, 2004; I love snails

Docjowles posted:

For me the exam starts at 50% off. Then you apply the code and get 100% off. But yeah their poo poo-rear end site is crashing for me, too.

Oh that works! Well it would if the site didnt crash

Vintimus Prime posted:

Any suggestions for this? I have been trying to find my candidate number, driving me nuts.

You have to register on the VMWare site first for the exam

# ¿ Sep 19, 2013 17:56

Alctel: Jan 16, 2004; I love snails

MC Fruit Stripe posted:

The fact that the VCA is so easy that people are taking it as a laugh is a source of great amusement for me. If it's that easy, after I knock out this VCP class and get that, the next day I'll do the VCA as a way to unwind.

I just got it after whizzing through the online course in an hour. It's really easy.

# ¿ Sep 19, 2013 21:40

Alctel: Jan 16, 2004; I love snails

geera posted:

Maybe I'm just dense, but when I try to login to PearsonVUE to use the coupon, it says all VMware exams have to be authorized by VMware first? Do I need to create a VMware account and sign up to take the exam with them, and then go back to Pearson and buy it?

Yes

# ¿ Sep 20, 2013 21:49

Alctel: Jan 16, 2004; I love snails

three posted:

They're all literally worthless, and VMware should be embarrassed to have added them. Not saying that to be mean, but there is zero point in a certification that can be taken in an hour online with no knowledge of the platform.

It's worth it since I can say to my clueless boss 'hey I got this cert' and get another couple of $k a year and it cost me no money and 2 hours of my time

Alctel fucked around with this message at 20:37 on Sep 21, 2013

# ¿ Sep 21, 2013 20:23

Alctel: Jan 16, 2004; I love snails

jane came by posted:

The discussion touching on the future of networking gear/vendors is interesting, because I'm wondering as someone studying for the ccna if all this effort will be pointless a few years from now when some better and simpler technology comes along.

BigT said: "Ummmm what part did say I overlook people with a CCNEt? I said i prefer net+ to ccnet i never said it was a requirement. Your cisco certs are still good. Don't get too worked up now. "

Supposedly the new CCENT is as challenging as the old CCNA. They moved a bunch of topics from icnd 2 to the CCENT.

I found the new CCENT easier than the old one, since there was no more legacy stuff like ring networks

# ¿ Oct 27, 2013 19:52

Alctel: Jan 16, 2004; I love snails

Docjowles posted:

Got my official paper ~~VMware VCA~~ certificate in the mail today brb gonna go hang it over the toilet or something.

I got mine as well! It's actually fancier than my Cisco certs, hah

# ¿ Nov 9, 2013 06:29

Alctel: Jan 16, 2004; I love snails

Pretty hefty discount from groupon today for this course http://ituonline.com/cisco-online-training-certification-bundle-it-university-online/

No idea if it's any good but its $99 instead of the usual ~$3000

https://www.groupon.com/deals/it-university-online-ca-1-victoria

# ¿ Nov 23, 2013 20:27

Alctel: Jan 16, 2004; I love snails

I'm going through the CBT nuggets CCNA stuff and I gotta say, the guy doing it is really good. I can actually watch his videos without wanting to mentally switch off after two minutes

# ¿ Nov 29, 2013 18:53

Alctel: Jan 16, 2004; I love snails

ToG posted:

While I agree just be aware that he doesn't always go into enough detail and a book is essential.

Yup I went through Odom first.

# ¿ Nov 30, 2013 00:51

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# ¿ Apr 28, 2024 09:03

Alctel: Jan 16, 2004; I love snails

Edward_Lapine posted:

Wow, thanks for the responses!

I suppose I'll delay the exam some then and focus on the things I mentioned I had no clue about. Perhaps I am learning from older material. I'll look into the book the OP mentions.

I have been studying hard for this, usually devoting 4+ hours everyday like the "CCNA in 60 Days" instructs you too, and with being a paramedic I do get a decent amount of downtime to read from the book, watch videos, and do the labs on my netbook. Aside from working in a Staples as a teenager, fixing friends/family's computers, and getting the A+ cert way back in 2004, I never had a legit IT job.

It really sounds like you had the old version of the test for the study materials.

You want the one that is 100-101 or something, not 640-xxx

# ¿ Dec 4, 2013 02:52

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