CCNA Bootcamp

[moose4me]

Hello all,
I am thinking of attending one of those 5 to 7 days bootcamp for CCNA. On a scale of 1 to 10 in networking, I am at least a 5. I just want to know if anyone on this forum has attended, considered attending or heard about them and would appreciate some feedback. Your thoughts and remarks would be greatly appreciated.

 

[CiscoGuy33]

moose4me,

It all depends on if you are really a "5" in networking and what you really know and understand, especially about Cisco equipment and troubleshooting Cisco equipment.

I had one of my students in a Cisco Academy who was taking the class, he was already a CCNA. I asked him why he was taking the CCNA classes as he was already a CCNA. He said that he had a very strong background in wire installation and basic networking, he did a week long CCNA bootcamp and passed the CCNA. He learned just what he needed to pass the exam.

He then went on his first interview as a CCNA and they brought down a tech manager who put him on some Cisco routers to do some normal tasks a CCNA should be able to do....... they told him to come back when his CCNA knowledge equaled his paper cert !!!!

Only you know what YOUR skills are on Cisco equipment - that is what it matters when you tell the world you are a CCNA, CCNP etc.......

From my experience of teaching CCNA classes since about 1999, those with a good background in networking just need to read the Sybex CCNA Study Guide by Todd Lammel and do a ton of hands on labs with REAL Cisco equipment or a very good sim or emulator.

The Cisco Network Academy is GREAT for those who have a more limited background and want a planned out study course to learn what they need to know.

Bootcamps, I think are only worth the $$$$ for CCIE and maybe CCNP and only as the final step in a very long study process to make sure you have all the i's dotted and t's crossed

Good luck!!

Hope this helps!!

E.A. Broda
CCNA, CCDA, CCAI, Network +

 

[moose4me]

Thanks Ciscoguy, that's exactly the type of feedback I needed. Your students interview experience is what keeps me from attending one of these camps. I am afraid that if I attend a boot camp and pass the tests that I will not have gained enough knowledge to pass a potential job interview. I just don't want to learn enough to just pass the test, I want to learn enough to pass the test and pass any job interviews that may come my way. As I said, I know quite a bit, but not enough to face a real world situation ... at least not yet.

 

[Quadratic]

I haven't done a bootcamp for CCNA, though I did for a lot of cellular networking stuff. I find they can be very good suppliments after reading a book or two, but there's only so much new theory that you can ingest in 5 days.

CCNP, CCDP, CCIP
Core Network Planner, ISP