Where to start my CCNA journey?
Have you ever asked yourself that question? Here are some others:
Why do we never know where to start when it comes to CCNA?
Why does everyone say that CCNA is complicated?
Where to begin?
Here are the questions I will answer.
Why do we never know where to start when it comes to CCNA?
People who work in IT have already heard of CCNA. At work, at school, or on the Internet. But most of the time, these discussions are not the starting point. Far from it.
Everyone is talking about OSPF, IPv4 subnetting, VLAN, wireless, etc.
The front door is hard to find because there isn't one. For me, it's the Cisco PDF that lists the topics.
This is the closest thing to a starting point. The problem is that I only learned about this document after passing my CCNA exam.
The topics
Cisco provides this document that lists all topics (without much detail).
This document is unreadable and incomprehensible to someone who is just starting out.
Cisco has a website offering access to three courses that provide "all the educational content needed to pass the CCNA exam." While it doesn't cover everything, it's still very good, providing 80% of the necessary material.
Spoiler, you cannot access it; you must be at a partner university or partner company ahah.
(I personally took all three courses at my university, and they helped me enormously.)
Clearly, all this shows how complicated it is to obtain this certification. This affects its reputation as the most difficult entry-level certification.
Where to begin?
1. Download the PDF with all the topics. It will be useful later on.
Find a learning resource and the necessary tools. The learning resource should include all the theoretical course material, all the labs for practice, and practice exams to help you prepare for the CCNA exam. Often this is split into several resources, but on PingMyNetwork you have everything in one place.
Download Packet Tracer, a Cisco network simulation tool
Some useful tips:
- Avoid Cisco books, PDFs or YouTube videos to learn. Cisco books are endless and horrible and YouTube videos put you to sleep.
- Choose your resource carefully at the beginning and stick with it. Only change it if you feel that it is not working at all.
- Be consistent
- Set aside two weeks at the end to work on exam questions and take practice exams. Cisco really went all out. I've never seen questions that make so little sense! They're there to trap you.
- The CCNA took me 150 hours, but I started from scratch and used Netacad, Cisco's platform. It should take you a little less time, around 120 hours if you're starting from scratch, and less if you already have the basics.
Good luck
Dorian
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