1. Home
  2. Cisco Systems
  3. Cisco certifications

Cisco certifications

Upon completing ( for the 3rd time ) my CCDA re-certification through a leading Cisco training partner ( whose site proudly claims to be awarded as the best within Europe ) I reported several conceptual discrepancies and mistakes in the official books and on-line simulation tools I used. On June 27th I opened a case within the site of the Certification and training team. Then, after MONTHS of promises and embarassing pin-pointings, on September

8th someone from Cisco officially confirmed me that my "brave" and evidently unusual argumentations were finally delivered to the appropriate persons in charge to handle them ( first case worldwide ? ). As a partner, I just wanted to provide my meek contribution to the possible improvement of these instruments. Cisco learning tools are equalized to any other of their hardware/software product: I assume they are strategic not only for the dollars they generate. Cisco exam scores are inappellable: my melancholy vicissitude shows their arrogance towards those ( many ) people who periodically invest their personal time and money on these training paths. I do respect those persons much more of what Cisco does besides all the professions of customer service and unattainable technical excellence. For those interested, I can provide all the appropriate documental exhibits.
Reply to
Stefano Brumana
Loading thread data ...

I have noticed a few errors in books in this subject area however I do not think that too much can be done about it. The reason is that such books have a life of only two or three years. By the time corrections make their way round the books are obsolete.

Additionally the rate of errors is higher than in other technical books that I have seen. This is I think partly due to the time pressure that the authors and publishers are under. The market window as discussed already is very small. Additionally I seem to recall that I have seen cisco announce new tests formats for which there were no books and it took several months for the books to appear. This all makes it difficult to create books of high quality.

I guess that at the end of the day the publishers make more money out of getting something out the door than delaying for artistic perfection. A bit like working in networking really:-))

I think that this is something that we will have to live with for the forseeable future. Unless you are aiming for a very high test score, the result is that it is the same for everybody.

What else can be done? Perhaps introoduction of new products could be delayed until the exams and the books have been written?

You can always try to do better!

Reply to
Bod43

If it is true that Cisco books have an average life of 2 or 3 years and that Cisco itself really takes care about their quality and content, they could simply create new web pages where end users ( like me or you ) insert their feedbacks and possible corrections. Periodically editors examine them and issue a "Documentation change request": electrical "source" would be easily modified so that at the following edition of the printed books the errors would be eliminated as well.

Many other smaller vendors apply this method on their product manuals whose typical life is measured in months and whose cost is ZERO !

In my case some contradictions were present within a SINGLE page: I don' t expect "artistic perfection" but FOR SURE I don' t want rascality when I pay thousand of euros for such books.

Reply to
Stefano Brumana

Cabling-Design.com Forums website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.