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, identical 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 progress started within the months and years after passing the examination. 

All of us take certification for a purpose: our employer needs us to get a pay elevate, 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 immediately.

“Reaching Cisco certification is a significant accomplishment, however true success comes from having
a lifelong dedication to studying. Regularly interact with the Cisco group,
share your experience, and leverage micro-learning sources.”

Connecting with the Cisco Neighborhood  

Within the lead-up to my examination date, I joined the Cisco on-line group boards. Interacting with Cisco specialists expanded my data far past textbook ideas. I discovered invaluable real-world troubleshooting ideas and greatest practices from professionals utilizing Cisco applied sciences every day of their environments.

Their insights uncovered me to new views and options. One member helped me higher perceive how OSPF price metrics impression route choice—an idea I had struggled with. One other gave an excellent tip about utilizing port safety to stop MAC flooding assaults. Not solely did the group assist fill data gaps, however exposing me to how different community engineers approached issues developed my crucial considering skills. 

Empowering Change: Collectively, We Make a Distinction 

After getting a lot from the Cisco Neighborhood, I used to be excited to start out giving again and paying it ahead. I shared my classes discovered by creating weblog posts and educational movies and even mentoring different newcomers learning for his or her certifications. Serving to fellow learners made an impression and strengthened my data as I needed to clarify ideas in a easy and logical method. By no means underestimate how a lot you realize and the way sharing this may also help somebody following your path.  

Quick-form studying content material has distinct benefits in immediately’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 machine, easy to repeat for reinforcement, and fast to suit into small pockets of free time.

Quick movies reap the benefits of our mind’s visible processing capabilities by slides, screenshots, and code samples. Learners can achieve broad publicity by watching quite a few condensed tutorials on a topic space, constructing foundational data piece by piece. Whereas not complete, brief movies successfully impart elementary rules, terminology, and workflows. They supply sufficient baseline understanding to allow deeper impartial examine.

In an period of data overload, compact studying experiences guarantee key concepts stick. Know-how subjects are well-suited for centered, environment friendly supply in snackable movies that spark curiosity and ship worth in minutes. 

Full Snack Developer  

Snack Minutes are brief, bite-sized movies created by high IT professionals that train centered classes on technical subjects. They’re a simple and interesting method to preserve 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 brief movies give publicity to automation fundamentals and phrases.

Extra lately, the Snack Minute group has made some nice content material on core networking rules—excellent for reinforcing foundational networking ideas comparable to TCP/IP, routing protocols, and VLANs; distilling subjects into compact classes ensures that you don’t overlook what you labored on so arduous 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 many others. Chew-sized movies shortly carry 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 choices that drive effectivity and success in our networking methods. With Snack Minutes, it’s not solely holding tempo with the ever-evolving tech panorama but in addition equipping ourselves towards a brighter, extra linked 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 had been difficult, the true work started after passing, as I regarded for methods to repeatedly 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 schooling. Quick, snackable studying sources like Snack Minutes make it simple and interesting to bolster foundational ideas and choose up rising subjects like automation. The bite-sized movies are the right method to continue to grow your data 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 interact with the Cisco group, share your experience, and leverage micro-learning sources. This ardour for ongoing schooling will preserve you related and forward in our quickly altering technical panorama. 

Try the Snack Minute Introduced by Cisco U. playlist on YouTube for simply digestible movies that increase your abilities and data. The brief, 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. Position-Primarily based Studying Paths

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