Certification Advice and Tools that Develop Real Cisco® Skills
 
Monday, February 06, 2012

Other Series (Cert Zone Blog)

This page lists links to blog posts in my older Cisco Cert Zone blog at Network World. I don't blog there any more, but these links still have useful information! I am still active in my CCENT Skills and CCNA Skills blogs - join in there as well!

  



 The Cisco Certified Technician (CCT) Certification

 Aug - Sept, 2011
 3 posts
http://www.networkworld.com/community/blog/choosing-new-cctrs-instead-ccent-really
  Cisco created the Cisco Certified Technician (CCT) certs to meet a specific need: to certify individuals who work for Cisco partners in a role where they install, troubleshoot, and maintain hardware on-site as part of Cisco service contracts. The link here goes to the last of the three posts; look at the end of the post for links to the first two posts in the series.

 Getting Started with Cisco Certifications
 Jan - Feb, 2011
 6 posts
http://www.networkworld.com/community/blog/getting-started-part-6-using-practice-questio
  Lots of people contemplate getting into Cisco certifications. However, many chicken-and-egg problems exist. How do learn how to proceed with study resources, practice exams, getting gear or other tools to practice configuring the routers - all before you know a lot about Cisco and networking? This series speaks to the Cisco cert newbies, with commentary from the oldies. (Note: go to the above link, and then look at the bottom of the post for the list of posts in the series.)

 Cisco Creates CCNP Voice and CCNP Security
 Sept - Nov, 2010
 6 posts
http://www.networkworld.com/community/blog/deeper-look-ccsp-and-ccnp-security-co-existen
  CCNP Voice and CCNP Security have existed for years. This fall, Cisco announced major changes to each, including a rename to CCNP Voice and CCNP Security. The announcements included updates to the CCNA Voice cert. This series covers the gamut of changes around these certs.


 Careers and How to Best Choose Cisco Certs to Match
 September, 2010
 3 posts
http://www.networkworld.com/community/node/66676
  You asked for it back in January in my blog post asking for ideas. We found that people think the best option is to start with CCNA, then go deep to a CCxP cert - but that then you have a tough choice of whether to go wide or deep. This series looks at some of these issues.


 Interviews and Opinions from Learning@Cisco
 June/July, 2010
 3 posts
http://www.networkworld.com/community/node/64524
  While at the Cisco Live (aka Networkers) show June 2010, the folks from Learning@Cisco offered to answer some of our collective questions about Cisco certifications. These posts summarized some of the questions, including whether Cisco might ever make IOS legally available for use on used hardware and emulators for the purpose of Cisco exam preparation. 

 

 How to Approach TSHOOT Exam Trouble Tickets
 March/April, 2010
 3 posts
http://www.networkworld.com/community/node/60079 
  Cisco introduced a new type of question - the Trouble Ticket (TT) question - as part of the new TSHOOT exam. This series discusses the mechanics of this type of question, troubleshooting styles, and suggestions of how to approach this new type of question.

 

The New CCNP
 Jan/Feb, 2010
 4 posts
http://www.networkworld.com/community/node/57812 
  Cisco announced big changes to CCNP late January, 2010. Those changes roll out in March 2010, and the old exams go away by the end of July. This series includes an overview of the new exam, plus one post each drilling down or more detail about each of the three new exams (ROUTE, SWITCH, and TSHOOT).

 

CCIE Changes, including CCIE Lab Troubleshooting
 October 2009
 5 posts
http://www.networkworld.com/community/node/48507
  Cisco changed the CCIE R/S written and lab blueprints to Version 4.0 in 2009, with the changed taking effect in October. I had the chance to take the lab as a Beta tester in September 2009. This series discusses the changes earlier in the year at announcement, and discusses some of the lab changes based on what I saw when taking the lab.

 

CCNA Security Overview
October 2009
3 posts
http://www.networkworld.com/community/node/48508
I did a short series about the CCNA Security exam, taking a hard look at the exam content and at what you need to do labs for this exam. Straightforward, but lots of good info – it’s more like something I would’ve put into a CCNA Security Cert Guide book had I been on the hook to write one!

 

Why is CCNA so Difficult?
 August/September, 2009
 6 posts
http://www.networkworld.com/community/node/48509
The premise of this series of discussions is based on a recurring theme I hear from folks who know networking first, but then later have to dig in to CCNA studies, either for themselves or for co-workers. The reaction is almost always “wow, it’s tough!” This series discusses some of the reasons, with an eye towards helping CCNA candidates be better prepared.

  

Dynamips: Is it Right for a CCNA Candidate, or Not?
June 2009
 3 posts
(see below)
Back in June 2009, I did a short series starting with a question and survey: would you advise your friend, who’s starting the study for CCNA, to use Dynamips or not? The other posts then explored some of the results and the why’s/wherefores. I didn’t do an index page on the blog, so the three posts are, in the order best read:
 

 

 

 Lab Series

 

This page lists blog series that are not focused on how to build hands-on skills. Follow this link to get to the page that list all my lab-oriented blog series.

 

 Quick scroll

 

Click the following headings to scroll down this page to the series you are interested in, by title. The series are listed in reverse chronological order.

 

 
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