Looking to get CCNA certified. Any recommendations on a training course or boot camp?

Hey Josh,

I wanted to ask the question as to your need for a CCNA?  I understand it is a great base level certification for networking and I myself am a CCNA (working on my CCNP), but why not go for your JNCIA and take advantage of all the free labs and resources available via GNS3?  I haven't yet taken the plunge into Juniper certs as I work in an all Cisco Environment but it is on my education track for future studies.  There are a few reasons for me suggesting Juniper which I have listed below.

• Junos is not cluttered with loads of dated protocols and commands (i.e. it's more of a modern NOS v.s. IOS).  It was very confusing for me early on attempting my CCNA, in just dealing with the vast array of irrelevant options available at the command line.
• It is freely downloadable and works across a multitude of platforms especially now that they have dis-aggregated their OS from the hardware.
• It has a built in python API as well as support for other scripting and management technologies that better lend itself to future network automation
• You will be able to avoid more non-standards based protocols and focus on the layer 2 and 3 protocols that will be used across other vendors like HP, Brocade, Cisco, etc... (i.e. not having to learn EIGRP)

I'm not saying you shouldn't go for your CCNA but make sure you consider the advantages and disadvantages, especially if your the one paying the bill for training materials and certs.

FYI... I'm in no way an expert with Juniper technologies so if anyone would like to post corrections where I may be off base it would be much appreciated.

http://www.gns3.net/topics/labs/juniper/jncia-junos/

Best of luck in your studies.

EDIT... - I guess I should have read through the whole discussion!  I'd say since your company is paying for it and price is not an issue have them send you to one of those $5,000 boot camps for a week or two.

Hey Josh,

I wanted to ask the question as to your need for a CCNA?  I understand it is a great base level certification for networking and I myself am a CCNA (working on my CCNP), but why not go for your JNCIA and take advantage of all the free labs and resources available via GNS3?  I haven't yet taken the plunge into Juniper certs as I work in an all Cisco Environment but it is on my education track for future studies.  There are a few reasons for me suggesting Juniper which I have listed below.

• Junos is not cluttered with loads of dated protocols and commands (i.e. it's more of a modern NOS v.s. IOS).  It was very confusing for me early on attempting my CCNA, in just dealing with the vast array of irrelevant options available at the command line.
• It is freely downloadable and works across a multitude of platforms especially now that they have dis-aggregated their OS from the hardware.
• It has a built in python API as well as support for other scripting and management technologies that better lend itself to future network automation
• You will be able to avoid more non-standards based protocols and focus on the layer 2 and 3 protocols that will be used across other vendors like HP, Brocade, Cisco, etc... (i.e. not having to learn EIGRP)

I'm not saying you shouldn't go for your CCNA but make sure you consider the advantages and disadvantages, especially if your the one paying the bill for training materials and certs.

FYI... I'm in no way an expert with Juniper technologies so if anyone would like to post corrections where I may be off base it would be much appreciated.

http://www.gns3.net/topics/labs/juniper/jncia-junos/

Best of luck in your studies.

EDIT... - I guess I should have read through the whole discussion!  I'd say since your company is paying for it and price is not an issue have them send you to one of those $5,000 boot camps for a week or two.

The need for CCNA is that my company pushes training really hard as well as certs. Continual self improvement. I figured since I am a network tech using almost all Cisco gear exclusively that I should go for CCNA. Then eventually CCNP and so on. If I plan to stay the long haul with this company, Cisco is where I belong.