Absolutely chuffed to be blogging after what seems like a long break, I have basically been concentrating on the ICND2 for the last month and getting my CCNA completed, finally passing it today after nearly a year plugging away at it with self study, with a lot of help from one of my friend’s who’s already plugging away at higher cisco certifications and working in industry with them on a day to day basis (something I didn’t have access to in my previous role) and also thanks to my loving wife in releasing me from the nightly care of the children and their bedtime routine to allow me to get work done before tiredness puts a stop to learning for me.
Its still the most enjoyable and daunting IT thing I have done in years as it something outside my comfort zone, I got my ICND1 in April on the first try scraping it and not knowing what to expect, this time around though I managed to fail my first attempt at the exam after basically double guessing myself and letting doubt set in when working through it, so it proves that it can happen to anyone at any age (I’m 36)
This time around though I let it stand when it came to answers, worked methodically through the questions and kept my nerve to pass, without altering answers on a whim, it was quite an elated feeling seeing the pass at the end, it returned on my investment in a small lab gear no end and many many hours of setting up semi complex networks on Packet Tracer to get it up and running the various switch technologies.
Especially as this is now the third professional IT qualification/accreditations that I have picked up within the last 12 months.