Cisco CCNA Computer Training 2009
The CCNA qualification is your entry level for Cisco training. This allows you to deal with the maintenance and installation of routers and network switches. Basically, the internet comprises of vast numbers of routers, and commercial ventures that have various regional departments need them to connect their computer networks.
Routers connect to networks, so it’s important to have an understanding of how networks operate, or you’ll struggle with the qualification and not be able to follow the work. Find a training programme that features the basics on networks (CompTIA is ideal) before you get going on CCNA.
Qualifying up to the CCNA level is where you should be aiming; don’t be cajoled into attempting your CCNP. With experience, you’ll know whether CCNP is something you want to do. Should that be the case, you will have developed the skills you need for the CCNP – because it’s a difficult qualification to master – and ought not to be underestimated.
When was the last time you considered the security of your job? Typically, we only think of this after something dramatic happens to shake us. But really, the painful truth is that job security simply doesn’t exist anymore, for most of us. We can however find market-level security, by searching for areas that have high demand, tied with a shortage of skilled staff.
With the computer market for instance, the most recent e-Skills analysis brought to light a national skills shortage around the country around the 26 percent mark. Or, to put it differently, this reveals that the UK is only able to source 3 trained people for every four jobs available currently. This one reality on its own highlights why Great Britain needs considerably more trainees to become part of the Information Technology market. In actuality, seeking in-depth commercial IT training as you progress through the next year or two is probably the safest career choice you could ever make.
Since the UK computing market offers such an array of fantastic career development opportunities for us – what are the questions we should raise and which elements are most important?
The market provides a glut of jobs and positions available in IT. Picking the right one out of this complexity is a mammoth decision. Because without any commercial skills in computing, in what way could we understand what anyone doing a particular job actually does? Getting to any kind of right answer can only grow from a detailed study across many varying areas:
* The kind of person you think yourself to be – the tasks that you enjoy doing, and conversely – what don’t you like doing.
* Are you hoping to get certified due to a precise raison d’etre – e.g. is it your goal to work based at home (self-employment?)?
* Have you thought about salary vs job satisfaction?
* Always think in-depth about the level of commitment needed to achieve their goals.
* Having a serious look at what commitment and time that you can put aside.
For the average person, dissecting so much data will require meeting with an experienced pro who can explain things properly. And we don’t just mean the certifications – but also the commercial requirements also.
Some training companies will only provide support to you inside of office hours (typically 9am-6pm) and sometimes a little earlier or later; It’s rare to find someone who offers late evening or full weekend cover. Many only provide email support (too slow), and phone support is usually just a call-centre who will make some notes and then email an advisor – who’ll call back sometime over the next 1-3 days, at a time suitable for them. This is all next to useless if you’re sitting there confused over an issue and have a one hour time-slot in which to study.
If you look properly, you’ll find professional companies that offer online support at all times – no matter what time of day it is. You can’t afford to accept less than this. Support round-the-clock is the only kind that ever makes the grade for IT courses. It’s possible you don’t intend to study late evenings; but for most of us, we’re out at work at the time when most support is available.
Trainees looking at this market are usually quite practically-minded, and don’t really enjoy classrooms, and slogging through piles of books. If this could be you, use multimedia, interactive learning, where learning is video-based. Memory is vastly improved when all our senses are brought into the mix – educational experts have expounded on this for as long as we can remember.
Top of the range study programs now offer interactive CD and DVD ROM’s. Real-world classes from the instructors will mean you’ll learn your subject by way of the demonstrations and explanations. Knowledge can then be tested by interacting with the software and practicing yourself. It’s imperative to see the type of training provided by any company that you may want to train through. Be sure that they contain full motion videos of instructors demonstrating the topic with lab’s to practice the skills in.
Seek out physical media such as CD or DVD ROM’s if possible. This then avoids all the potential pitfalls with broadband ‘downtime’ or slow-speeds.
A lot of people assume that the school and FE college route is still the most effective. So why then are commercial certificates slowly and steadily replacing it? Accreditation-based training (as it’s known in the industry) is far more effective and specialised. Industry has become aware that such specialised knowledge is essential to handle an acceleratingly technical workplace. CISCO, Adobe, Microsoft and CompTIA dominate in this arena. Clearly, a necessary quantity of background information has to be learned, but precise specialisation in the areas needed gives a commercially trained student a massive advantage.
It’s a bit like the TV advert: ‘It does what it says on the label’. The company just needs to know what they need doing, and then match up the appropriate exam numbers as a requirement. Then they know that anyone who applies can do the necessary work.
Including examination fees up-front and offering an ‘Exam Guarantee’ is common for a good many training companies. However, let’s consider what’s really going on:
You’re paying for it one way or another. You can be assured it’s not a freebie – it’s just been rolled into the price of the whole package. Evidence shows that when trainees fund their relevant examinations, one by one, they’ll be in a better position to pass first time – as they are conscious of their investment in themselves and will therefore apply themselves appropriately.
Shouldn’t you be looking to not pay up-front, but at the time, not to pay the fees marked up by a college, and to take it closer to home – rather than possibly hours away from your area? A great deal of money is secured by a number of companies who incorporate exam fees into the cost of the course. Many students don’t take them for one reason or another and so the company is quids-in. Surprising as it sounds, providers exist who depend on students not taking their exams – as that’s how they make a lot of their profit. It’s worth noting, with most ‘Exam Guarantees’ – the company decides when you can do your re-takes. Subsequent exam attempts are only authorised at the company’s say so.
With average Prometric and VUE exams costing in the region of 112 pounds in this country, it’s common sense to fund them one by one. Why splash out often many hundreds of pounds extra at the beginning of your training? Study, commitment and preparing with good quality mock and practice exams is what will really guarantee success.
Watch out that all exams you’re considering doing will be recognised by employers and are current. The ‘in-house’ certifications provided by many companies are usually worthless. All the major commercial players like Microsoft, Cisco, CompTIA or Adobe each have internationally acknowledged skills courses. Major-league companies like these will make sure you’re employable.