Again in 2007, after months of intensive learning, I handed my first Cisco certification examination: the CCNA. I walked out of that testing middle with tears streaming down my face, similar to Chris Gardner in The Pursuit of Happyness.
That CCNA certification was my ticket to kickstarting a brand new life and profession in IT. The satisfaction of passing after two earlier failed makes an attempt was unimaginable. Little did I do know then that this achievement was simply the spark that will ignite a ardour for lifelong studying. My actual development started within the months and years after passing the examination.
All of us take certification for a motive: our employer desires us to get a pay increase, a job promotion, or a brand new job. However these do one factor: they provide us self-growth and self-knowledge. What occurs after the certification is what I’ll uncover right here right now.
“Reaching Cisco certification is a significant accomplishment, however true success comes from having
a lifelong dedication to studying. Regularly have interaction with the Cisco group,
share your experience, and leverage micro-learning sources.”
Connecting with the Cisco Group
Within the lead-up to my examination date, I joined the Cisco on-line group boards. Interacting with Cisco specialists expanded my information far past textbook ideas. I discovered invaluable real-world troubleshooting suggestions and greatest practices from professionals utilizing Cisco applied sciences each day of their environments.
Their insights uncovered me to new views and options. One member helped me higher perceive how OSPF value metrics affect route choice—an idea I had struggled with. One other gave an amazing tip about utilizing port safety to stop MAC flooding assaults. Not solely did the group assist fill information gaps, however exposing me to how different community engineers approached issues developed my essential pondering talents.
Empowering Change: Collectively, We Make a Distinction
After getting a lot from the Cisco Group, I used to be excited to start out giving again and paying it ahead. I shared my classes discovered by creating weblog posts and tutorial movies and even mentoring different newcomers learning for his or her certifications. Serving to fellow learners made an affect and strengthened my information as I needed to clarify ideas in a easy and logical manner. By no means underestimate how a lot you recognize and the way sharing this will help somebody following your path.
Brief-form studying content material has distinct benefits in right now’s world of condensed consideration spans and packed schedules. Know-how subjects can simply be distilled into <10-minute movies that convey the core ideas learners want. These bite-sized tutorials match fashionable consumption preferences; they’re simple to entry on any system, easy to repeat for reinforcement, and fast to suit into small pockets of free time.
Brief movies make the most of our mind’s visible processing capabilities by way of slides, screenshots, and code samples. Learners can acquire broad publicity by watching quite a few condensed tutorials on a topic space, constructing foundational information piece by piece. Whereas not complete, quick movies successfully impart elementary rules, terminology, and workflows. They supply sufficient baseline understanding to allow deeper impartial research.
In an period of knowledge overload, compact studying experiences guarantee key concepts stick. Know-how subjects are well-suited for targeted, environment friendly supply in snackable movies that spark curiosity and ship worth in minutes.
Full Snack Developer
Snack Minutes are quick, bite-sized movies created by high IT professionals that educate targeted classes on technical subjects. They’re a straightforward and fascinating option to maintain increasing our abilities.
One of many nice issues about Snack Minutes is that they cowl rising subjects like community automation. Community automation makes use of software program and protocols like Ansible, Python, REST APIs, and NETCONF to programmatically configure and handle networks. This may make networks extra agile, environment friendly, and resilient. If somebody is new to community automation, this might be invaluable for studying foundational ideas shortly. The quick movies give publicity to automation fundamentals and phrases.
Extra not too long ago, the Snack Minute crew has made some nice content material on core networking rules—excellent for reinforcing foundational networking ideas corresponding to TCP/IP, routing protocols, and VLANs; distilling subjects into compact classes ensures that you don’t overlook what you labored on so laborious to be taught.
Discovering New Cisco Merchandise and Options
The networking world strikes quick, and Cisco is all the time releasing new applied sciences. With Snack Minutes, I can sustain with the newest Cisco options like Meraki SD-WAN, Catalyst 9000 switches, Umbrella Safety, and so forth. Chunk-sized movies shortly deliver me in control on new improvements from Cisco. This permits me to remain conversant on the place Cisco product households are headed and see how these applied sciences can profit my group.
It’s not nearly staying knowledgeable; it’s about leveraging these insights to make knowledgeable selections that drive effectivity and success in our networking methods. With Snack Minutes, it isn’t solely conserving tempo with the ever-evolving tech panorama but additionally equipping ourselves towards a brighter, extra related future.
The Journey Continues: Investing in Lifelong Studying
My Cisco certification was simply the start line on my journey to develop as a community engineer. Whereas the learning and exams have been difficult, the true work started after passing, as I seemed for methods to constantly increase my abilities. Connecting with the Cisco group, giving again by creating tutorials, and staying on high of latest developments have been essential to my ongoing training. Brief, snackable studying sources like Snack Minutes make it simple and fascinating to bolster foundational ideas and choose up rising subjects like automation. The bite-sized movies are the right option to continue to grow your information and abilities wherever you’re in your profession.
Reaching Cisco certification is a significant accomplishment, however true success comes from having a lifelong dedication to studying. Regularly have interaction with the Cisco group, share your experience, and leverage micro-learning sources. This ardour for ongoing training will maintain you related and forward in our quickly altering technical panorama.
Try the Snack Minute Offered by Cisco U. playlist on YouTube for simply digestible movies that increase your abilities and information. The quick, visually participating tutorials are an effective way to maintain advancing in your profession journey lengthy after passing your certification examination.
Learn subsequent: From Community Automation to Safety: Cisco U. Function-Based mostly Studying Paths
Join Cisco U. | Be a part of the Cisco Studying Community.
Comply with Cisco Studying & Certifications
Twitter | Fb | LinkedIn | Instagram | YouTube
Use #CiscoU and #CiscoCert to affix the dialog.
Share:
