by Jason Kendall
If you’re looking for Cisco training and you haven’t worked with routers before, what you need is a CCNA. This training course was created to instruct people with a commercial knowledge of routers. Commercial ventures that have several locations use routers to connect their various different networks of computers to keep in contact with each other. The Internet is also built up of hundreds of thousands of routers.
As routers are connected to networks, look for a program that features the basics on networks – perhaps Network+ and A+, prior to starting your CCNA course. You must have an understanding of the basics before getting going with Cisco or you’ll probably struggle. Once qualified and looking for work, companies will expect good networking skills alongside your CCNA.
Having the skills and knowledge prior to starting the CCNA is very important. So talk to someone who will be able to help you.
Traditional teaching in classrooms, using textbooks and whiteboards, is often a huge slog for most of us. If this describes you, find training programs which feature interactive and multimedia modules. If we’re able to involve all our senses in the learning process, then we normally see dramatically better results.
Find a course where you’ll receive a library of DVD-ROM’s – you’ll start with videos of instructor demonstrations, followed by the chance to practice your skills in interactive lab’s. You really need to look at courseware examples from each company you’re contemplating. You’ll want to see that they include full motion videos of instructors demonstrating the topic with lab’s to practice the skills in.
It’s usually bad advice to go for purely on-line training. Connection quality and reliability varies hugely across most broadband providers, you should always obtain actual CD or DVD ROM’s.
Many trainers supply a practical Job Placement Assistance facility, designed to steer you into your first job. Sometimes, this feature is bigged up too much, as it’s relatively easy for a well trained and motivated person to find work in the IT environment – because there’s a great need for skilled employees.
Whatever you do, avoid waiting until you have finished your training before polishing up your CV. The day you start training, enter details of your study programme and tell people about it! Having the possibility of an interview is far better than not even being known about. A decent number of junior support roles are given to trainees (sometimes when they’ve only just got going.) Generally, you’ll receive quicker service from a specialist locally based employment agency than you’ll experience from any training company’s centralised service, as they will understand the local industry and employment needs.
To bottom line it, as long as you focus the same level of energy into finding a position as into studying, you won’t have any problems. A number of trainees bizarrely spend hundreds of hours on their training and studies and then call a halt once certified and seem to suppose that interviewers know they’re there.
One interesting way that training providers make extra profits is by adding exam fees upfront to the cost of a course and offering an exam guarantee. It looks impressive, but let’s just examine it more closely:
Obviously it isn’t free – you are paying for it – the cost has just been rolled into the whole training package. It’s well known in the industry that when trainees fund each progressive exam, one after the other, they’ll be in a better position to qualify each time – as they are conscious of the cost and therefore will put more effort into their preparation.
Why pay a training college up-front for exams? Go for the best offer when you’re ready, don’t pay mark-ups – and do it in a local testing centre – rather than in some remote place. A lot of so-called credible training course providers make a great deal of profit through asking for all the exam fees up-front then cashing in if they’re not all taken. Most companies will require you to do mock exams and with-hold subsequent exam entries from you until you’ve completely proven that you’re likely to pass – which makes an ‘Exam Guarantee’ frankly useless.
Average exam fees were 112 pounds or thereabouts last year through VUE or Pro-metric centres in the UK. So why pay hundreds or thousands of pounds extra to have ‘Exam Guarantees’, when it’s obvious that the most successful method is consistent and systematic learning, coupled with quality exam simulation software.
So many training providers focus completely on the certification process, and forget the reasons for getting there – getting yourself a new job or career. You should always begin with the final destination in mind – don’t make the journey more important than where you want to get to. Avoid becoming one of the unfortunate masses that choose a course that seems ‘fun’ or ‘interesting’ – and get to the final hurdle of an accreditation for an unrewarding career path.
Make sure you investigate your feelings on career progression and earning potential, and whether you intend to be quite ambitious. You need to know what (if any) sacrifices you’ll need to make for a particular role, which qualifications they want you to have and how to develop your experience. The best advice for students is to chat with an experienced industry advisor before deciding on their study path. This is essential to ensure it features what is required for the chosen career path.
The best type of training package will have Microsoft (or key company) exam preparation packages. Don’t go for training programs relying on unofficial exam preparation questions. The type of questions asked is often somewhat different – and this leads to huge confusion when it comes to taking the real exam. Be sure to request some practice exams in order to verify your comprehension at all times. Practice or ‘mock’ exams log the information in your brain – so the actual exam is much easier.
