What a CCNA boot camp is like | Cyber Work Hacks

Speaker 1: 0:00

Infosec and the Sidework Hacks podcast want to help you pass the CCNA exam. So for today's hack, let's talk bootcamps. The CCNA is an intimidating exam, especially if you're trying to go it alone, just you and yourself study book at home. That's why I'd like to introduce you to Infosec CCNA Bootcamp instructor Wolfredo. Lance Wolfredo will explain what the Infosec five-day CCNA Bootcamp is like, the learning and memorizing strategies you'll employ while you're doing it, and all of the ways that bootcamp training can help you pass on the first try. Wolfredo helps his students with every single networking question they have, and students who commit to those five intensive days will see big results. But to learn more about this, you have to keep it right.

Speaker 1: 0:41

Here for another Cyberwork Hack. Hey, welcome to a new episode of Cyberwork Hacks. The purpose of this spin-off of our popular Cyberwork podcast is to take a single fundamental question and give you a quick, clear and actionable solution or a new insight into how to utilize Infosec products and training to achieve your work and career goals. To that end, today's guest, wolfredo Lance, is an Infosec instructor and among his many areas of expertise, he is our Bootcamp instructor for Cisco's foundational IT certification, the Cisco Certified Network Associate, otherwise known as the CCNA. So for today's Cyberwork Hack, wolfredo is going to take us on a guided tour of what it's like to actually take an Infosec CCNA certification Bootcamp. If you've been wondering about this, this is the one to check out. So welcome Wolfredo.

Speaker 2: 1:33

Thank you, chris, glad to be on.

Speaker 1: 1:36

So, Wolfredo, just to get everyone on the same page, can you briefly explain the difference between bootcamp training for a certification versus the more common approaches of, say, taking an academic course or just doing self-study at home?

Speaker 2: 1:49

Sure, actually I also do some of these training at the college level, where training like the CCNA takes a full semester. Right. Of the three options, the self-study may be the most challenging one because that requires a great amount of discipline. You may be more isolated no interaction with a group, learning together, no, like a trainer guiding the program. So that may be very, very challenging. Very few people are successful doing the self-study approach.

Speaker 2: 2:28

The college level approach which again I also have experienced with that, is kind of for a different crowd. So when you do the college level it takes 10, 12 weeks to go over the whole program. It's a slow approach to cover the whole content. There are people who come twice a week, do some homework, go back. So one of the challenges of doing that at the college level within a semester is that you have to remain concentrated for several weeks On the topic to be able to, at the end of the semester then try to get the certification. So again, some people are successful doing it that way. But when you need the certification, when you want to really do your main purpose and objectives, the bootcamp may be the best approach because you do a five days intensive training and if you concentrate during those five days on the system that we have because we have a system to get people through the program and get certified then most people are successful with the bootcamp. Five days concentration, working hard, day and night, day five you get your certification.

Speaker 1: 4:04

Okay, so sort of walk me through those five days. Can you give us a sense of the schedule and how much of each day is spent on different domains of the exam and what you'll be working on from day to day?

Speaker 2: 4:16

Yeah, absolutely Five days. So, as we mentioned, there are six domains and the first three domains the network fundamentals and the network access and IP connectivity. Those first three domains are almost 70% of the exam, 65%, okay. So we spend the first three days on those domains. The bootcamp is lab driven. So what we do from day one we start building a lab and then we do a lot of commands, a lot of labs, and then from day one we tell everybody that they have access to the practice questions.

Speaker 2: 5:05

So at any time during the bootcamp a student is allowed to come up and say, hey, I saw this question, number 41. I do not understand it, I do not get it. Can we go over? And we just put it up there. And in most cases we are able to lab it up, we do a lab.

Speaker 2: 5:26

So to say, okay, yb is correct, and we do the lab and we demonstrate Y A, c and D are wrong. And that gives people confidence. You see, if you see it, you believe it. You say, okay, I get it. And that's the way we run the bootcamp right, with demos and demonstrations of the questions on the labs. And so the first three days are basically those three domains. The last two days are for the other three domains Domain number four, which is IP services, and number five, which is network security, and domain number six, which is the automation and programmability All along the way. During the day we run the labs, the practice questions and the students do review of more practice questions. During the evening, if there are questions there they are not clear, they will come back ask those questions in class and it's very helpful for the whole group by day five ready to go.

Speaker 1: 6:35

Ready to go. So, as you sort of alluded to, and like some other IT and security exams, ccna requires you to understand a tactile and three-dimensional thing, and namely a computer network and all its routers and switches, and in the real world requires hands-on learning. So, with these bootcamps, do students need to bring any special equipment or tools to help them absorb the concepts here, or is everything sort of provided in-house?

Speaker 2: 6:59

It is provided in-house, so we do not need physical equipment, as there are very good simulators out there. We use the packet tracer, we use GNS3. Those are excellent simulators that allows you to run all the commands, all the configurations that we need to pass exam.

Speaker 1: 7:22

OK, and now do you go right from day five of the bootcamp into taking the exam? Or do people take a few days off to give their brain time to cool off? Or do you just sort of like generally run right into it, right as soon as you're done with your last practice exam?

Speaker 2: 7:39

My recommendation is to take the exam right after the bootcamp On day five, you finish, you walk into the exam.

Speaker 2: 7:47

I mean that's what I highly recommend. Now that applies to people that during that week remain concentrated on the bootcamp. They did the homework, they did the practice questions, they run the labs and so on. Now things happen right. If somebody is not able to do that during the week because they have all the issues, all the things to do, then they may need an extra few days to complete preparation. But again, best approach take the exam right after the bootcamp on day five.

Speaker 1: 8:24

Great. So one last question here In considering taking a bootcamp for certification exam study, Wilfrido, what advice or evidence can you give to listeners who are wondering if a bootcamp is their best option for learning this material?

Speaker 2: 8:38

Well, the advantage of the bootcamp is the concentration time that you dedicate to that. If you really spend five days there doing labs, practice questions, your mind gets all into the topics. So you get really into that in a way that is all fresh in your head. So you go to take the exam and you've been doing this for five days, 100% day and night. So again, doing it in a longer period of time may be a little more distracting. It will require you to remain concentrated for a longer period of time and the best evidence is a successful passing rate that we have on the bootcamps. So you can do a successful pass exam by taking the bootcamp and other approaches.

Speaker 1: 9:37

Fabulous, All right. Well, we'll read it all on. Thank you for touring us pulling the curtains back on your CCNA bootcamp. That was a lot of fun.

Speaker 2: 9:44

Thank you, Chris.

Speaker 1: 9:46

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