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Two minor obstacles...
Well, my CCNA exam was this morning. No, I didn't pass. The computer crashed just after I started and so I had to wait an additional fifteen minutes for a restart (by which time I was getting tired, having been up since 3am). I also had the misfortune of discovering a couple of days ago that the main text I had been using for preperation, CCNA Exam Cram, is universally regarded as a piece of shit and add like to add my weight to that assessment. There are huge sections of the course which are largely ignored (particularly router configuration, OSPF, NAT and WAN implementations) and regrettably were significant parts of the exam I just took.
The beneficial upshot of all this is that I've realized that I (a) don't really like vendor certifications or (b) fact-based exams in general. I don't really want to have to remember that the default Administrative Distance for External EIGRP is 170, whilst it is 90 for internal IGRP and all other protocols are somewhere in between. That's what technical manuals are for - to store facts. Give me universal qualifications (whether it is TAFE or university) that are longer-lasting and projects instead.
Also there is the minor matter that network engineering and systems administration are not one and the same. I think I would go batty if I spent all my life dealing only with routers, switches and cabling. Although it is oft-maligned, I actually enjoy the technical support and training side of being sysadmin. It deals with people and fundamentally, I like helping people. The other option is, of course, programming. Contrary to popular belief, although programmers do spend a long time alone hacking away at code, there is such a thing as a community of programmers and they do share a lot of knowledge with each other.
Other minor obstacle of the week is called my supervisor. Oh yes, he likes my PhD. According to him, it's the first time he's seriously had to consider the suggestion that there are technological means for democraticisation. He says that it's a unique contribution, a goldmine of information that includes the most critical issues of the topic available. It is an extremely important and valuable text which needs to be expressed in the best possible way... And therefore (you saw this coming, didn't you?)... can you do a rewrite? *sigh*
The beneficial upshot of all this is that I've realized that I (a) don't really like vendor certifications or (b) fact-based exams in general. I don't really want to have to remember that the default Administrative Distance for External EIGRP is 170, whilst it is 90 for internal IGRP and all other protocols are somewhere in between. That's what technical manuals are for - to store facts. Give me universal qualifications (whether it is TAFE or university) that are longer-lasting and projects instead.
Also there is the minor matter that network engineering and systems administration are not one and the same. I think I would go batty if I spent all my life dealing only with routers, switches and cabling. Although it is oft-maligned, I actually enjoy the technical support and training side of being sysadmin. It deals with people and fundamentally, I like helping people. The other option is, of course, programming. Contrary to popular belief, although programmers do spend a long time alone hacking away at code, there is such a thing as a community of programmers and they do share a lot of knowledge with each other.
Other minor obstacle of the week is called my supervisor. Oh yes, he likes my PhD. According to him, it's the first time he's seriously had to consider the suggestion that there are technological means for democraticisation. He says that it's a unique contribution, a goldmine of information that includes the most critical issues of the topic available. It is an extremely important and valuable text which needs to be expressed in the best possible way... And therefore (you saw this coming, didn't you?)... can you do a rewrite? *sigh*
Re: NAT and OSPF?
OSPF (Open Shortest Path First). Link-state routing protocol. I think it makes its first appearance in chapter 14 of the intro CCNA coursebook and a lot in chapter 5, 6 and 7 of the ICND CCNA book (yes, it's that important - as I found out).
NAT (Network Addressing Tables). Turns multiple internal hosts in a single host for external connection. Comes with wonderful types such as 'inside local', 'inside global', 'outside global', 'outside local'. All of chapter 8 of the ICND book is dedicated to this.
OSPF I had a slight grasp of, NAT virtually none. Basically, I crammed with the wrong books and have since paid the (justifiable) price.
I reckon I'll have another crack at it again. Once I'm not doing so much. After all, it's supposed to be a two-year course, and I did try it in a three month period with lots of other commitments.
Which exam are you doing? The INTRO or the two-part combined?