Cisco Certified

I finally did it! I am now Cisco Certified! I passed my Cisco ICND1 exam last night which makes me a Cisco Certified Entry Network Technician (CCENT). Like I have said in previous posts, I have wanted a Cisco Networking Certification since I got into IT 11 years ago. I finally got serious about it last year. I read through the Cisco Press book, did the accompanying labs, watched countless videos and practiced what I learned on the Cisco Packet Tracer network simulator software. I believe the trick is to make sure you understand the topics instead of just memorizing everything. If I read over something that didn’t click, I would look it up or try to apply it in the network simulator to see it in action. With 4 kids and my wife in paramedic school, I just studied whenever I could get a little time here and there. Even with my many years of experience in the IT field it was still a difficult exam for me. I don’t get into network equipment everyday at my current job, so I don’t get as much hands on practice as some people do. I feel like it took me longer to prepare than most people, but I am just happy I made it! As the title implies, this is an entry level certification. I now plan to start working towards the ICND2 exam which would make me a Cisco Certified Network Associate.