CCNA - Books or Classes, what's best?

My opinion is that classes will mostly involve reading books anyway and that I see no necessity to pay for some well-qualified professional to paraphrase the content to me.

We'll see... I am on the prowl for certs again after taking a 3yr break from a.c.c

I rather like my Cisco virtual labs that are freely available for Cisco partners, which I am. :-)

Become a Cisco partner, and this adventure will become far more accessible.

Reply to
Leonid S. Knyshov
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What's the general concensus for the best way to tackle a CCNA?

I intend taking classes, they have all the lab facilities and I'll get several evenings tuition a week for about 9 months, but it'll cost nearly £1500 ($2500?)

Is this sensible? Am I better just buying the books and spending the money on a second-hand lab setup?

Classes sound good as far as keeping me disciplined right through to the exams, but if 95% of people just buy books, and tend to pass, then I'm a bit unsure about laying down all this money.

As a relative newbie to networking the classes may well be a good grounding for me, but would I be able to progress to further qualifications using books/boot camps? The costs for further classes after CCNA frighten me.

Any views gratefully received, especially from anyone who considered a long period of classes a good idea.

Reply to
aleX

Im doing a CCNA Course, mine comprises of the A+ N+ and then the CCNA which takes me through everything. i then intend to go and take the CCNP. altogether the CCNA is going to cost me £2500 and its a 2 year course, im doing my course at home with a college called Skills Train (

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you can visit their site here)

hope this helps you.

Miller

Reply to
David Miller

Thanks for the reply. Very best of luck with your course!

It's good to know my fees are comparable, given the shorter timeframe. I think maybe I'm daunted by the thought of classes week-in week-out straight after work, I'll have to get into a routine.

There's certainly many less constructive ways to spend the same time and money :)

Will have a look at the website you posted.

Reply to
aleX

After many expensive years at College I tend to agree with you, I could have learned the same myself with books in a much shorter time at far less cost. It does require much willpower and genuine interest in the subject though to keep going right to the end. I have so many other things going on that I still think I'd need the discipline of classes to keep my head in the books.

Would this involve starting a company that specifies cisco products for clients? If so, this may be quite a way off for me at the moment, I'll be struggling to meet the CCNA fees! Maybe a few years down the line..

Thanks for the reply though, I appreciate it, I'm still considering my options..

Reply to
aleX

That's a lot easier than you think without any real requirements (same as Microsoft Registered Partner level). All you do is apply for Cisco partnership at

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which is free at Registered level. There is nothing wrong with doing business with Cisco as a sole proprietor, which requires using your own name as the business name. And if you do need to sell a few small Cisco boxes, well it is helpful to be an authorized Partner. :-)

Think about it. :-)

Reply to
Leonid S. Knyshov

If time is not an issue, you can do this for significantly less at your local FE college. Some colleges charge £150 or there abouts per semester (4 of 'em per year). There's a list of Cisco Academies in the UK on Cisco's site somewhere.

I'm not convinced about the just buying books bit. While it *might* help you pass the exam, it will tell during the the first *real* interview you subsequently encounter.

Then as a newbie, spend the dosh wisely, go to a local FE college.

They can be if you have the time. If you have a deadline, then obviously not. It's really down to your circumstances.

Reply to
Dave

Ouch, that's a lot of dosh to pay for a CCNA and a long time. The first two Cisco CCNA semesters cover a lot (agreed not all, but the bits that are missing are easilly learnt) of the material needed for the Network+ so you are not necessarilly gaining any extra knowledge. See my previous post re FE colleges.

Reply to
Dave

If you are in the North West, I'll teach you and get you through the CCNA for less than £2500 and in a much shorter time frame than you were considering ;-).

Reply to
Dave

Thanks Dave. The prices I quoted *were* for a FE college, so prices must vary.. Because I'm working full time, I'd have to pay the full whack. If I was unemployed, or on some other form of support then the prices might go down to the level you mentioned, not sure if the Cisco course allows this, most other FE courses do. It's a lot of money, but given that it's

12 hours a week over 9 months it's not a bad deal really. Some courses charge this a day, not that I agree with that sort of exorbitant charging.
Reply to
aleX

Thanks, but I'm up in Scotland. I just checked the fees and it's £330 per semester, so just over £1300, plus I imagine books and any old kit I might want to buy. I will enquire more about the fees though, maybe I've seen the 'corporate' fee for companies putting their employees through, but I doubt it... I know it'll cost me.

Reply to
aleX

The Course im doing is the cheapest around,as far as i knew the only place to do it was with pitman training and they were going to charge a lot more than what im paying now. im located in winchester ( south west england near southampton ), yes your right i could of done it cheaper but the only way to do that was to move up north to my home town ( peterborough ) and go back to college and do it for free with the social paying for the course. The reason i didnt opt for this was because i have a family now in winchester and they didnt want to move back to peterborough and i wouldnt want to go alone.

Ahh well i chose the worse option of doing it but at least im doing it and im "guarenteed" a job at the end, so skills train say (

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).

Reply to
David Miller

I'm gobsmacked! I thought, because of the price, that it must be a private company you had approached. I've just phoned Mancat

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who told me that last years price was £598 for the year. I seem to remember hearing that if a college could align a course with the OCR (Oxford, Cambidge and RSA exam boards) then they could obtain funding to reduce the cost of the course. Chances are that colleges offering the CCNA less than what you have been quoted are either on such a scheme or similar.

I've checked, if you are unemployed, it's free!

Move down south? ;-)

If you can afford to spend it then do. It's marginal then think of alternatives. You can buy a couple of routers off ebay for a few quid, I'm not referring to the dog's danglies routers but those like the Cisco 1600 series which I've even heard of being thrown out by companies before now! There were a few on ebay recently which sold for £10 but it was from a trader and so more expensive than normal.

Reply to
Dave

The cost of the course might not be subsidised, see my other post.

Reply to
Dave

Yes it's free, you'll just need to apply to the program and sign an agreement upon approval, but it may take some time for approval. You do not need to hold a Cisco certification, at least you didn't need to do that before.

Note that I do not work for Cisco, so everything I say is to the best of my knowledge. Just go to the site and explore it. Partnerships are a good thing. Get one setup with Microsoft as well if that makes sense for your business. :-)

Reply to
Leonid S. Knyshov

Maybe I should get broadband then? Depends on whether it's just info pages and downloads which I could manage fine with dialup, or interactive tutorials.

I work in IT, but not networking, I see the course as a way to get into networking. Whether I'd end up just being one out of many also looking for a networking opening I'm not sure. I'm under no illusions that a CCNA will be an automatic passport to a good job, unless anyone knows differently. Experience seems to be preferable to qualifications these days, but then again you do need to know the theory to start with.

It is an official networking academy, a further education college.

Thanks for the tip, I'll definitely investigate that, but it would have to depend on the classes being in the evening, I won't get any time off work.

Reply to
aleX

I do have a company, I'm surprised it slipped my mind there, probably because it does very little except exist as a means to getting paid for my current contracting.

"Free at registered level" - does that mean simply registering with the cisco site, or does it require being a registered CCNA holder? I'll certainly do it if it's free!

Thanks.

Reply to
aleX

I'm looking at £1300 just now, I'll ask them about any other options though - doing it as part of a computer diploma, not being sponsored etc. Plenty people do have the money though I imagine.

Not worth giving up my job for though! In fact, if I did, I'd probably still not get it free because I'd have left my job 'voluntarily' and wouldn't qualify for income support - they have all bases covered!

Saw a beat-up 1600 in a computer shop recently, and I asked about the price: "Ooh, I don't know, you'll have to ask the boss. It's cisco, won't be cheap..." I did as you suggest, looked them up on ebay, and just as you say they go for around a tenner. They also had 5 brand new ones going for £250.

Reply to
aleX

You really don't need much more than the facilities offered by the routers which cost a tenner. You might need to add some more ram and a slightly larger memory card to store the image (it's probably best if you have a choice to checkout the card size before bidding) but that's about it. Some items on ebay include the necessary cables, if not, they are also available cheaply enough.

Reply to
Dave

I'm not sure if you would *need* broadband connection for this but your online time might become significant.

Reply to
Dave

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