Jan 26 2009 4:18PM GMT
Posted by: Raj Perumal
ccie,
Cisco,
Cisco Certification,
CCNA,
ccnp,
verbal,
changes to CCIE Lab and Written exam,
question format,
scoring,
scaled scores
Hi folks, something new in the world of CCIEs. Cisco has decided to add a new component to the CCIE program. Apparently a verbal one!
For those of you that don’t know, the CCIE is considered one of the most respected IT certifications in the industry and is known for it’s extreme difficulty in achieving.
They have been trialing this for sometime now in a pilot that has been running since last August. They want to use this as a method to see if a candidate has the ability to verbally explain themselves when describing technical situations.
I recently received an e-mail from Cisco stating that effective February 1, 2009 that the verbal component will be added. They also mentioned they are changing the format of the exams effective February 17th, 2009 so that you can’t go back when you answer questions, you can only move forward onto the next question. This would be in line with the other Cisco certification exams that already do this. They also mention that the score report will now report your score as a scaled score on a scale from 300 to 1000 just like the other exams.
-RP
Dec 20 2008 2:41AM GMT
Posted by: Raj Perumal
Cisco,
CCNA,
Cisco Express Foundations Field Engineer,
642-383,
partner level requirements,
partner requirements,
partner status
Hi folks, so I passed yet another Cisco exam. This is the 642-383 exam. This exam is specifically written by employees of companies that are Cisco partners. It is the Cisco Express Foundations Field Engineer exam and is a requirement for certain levels of partner status.
The exam was infinitely easier than writing the CCNA and anyone who passed the CCNA should have absolutely no problem writing this exam.
There are two other exams that a company needs to write as well, the similar one for sales people and there is another one for system engineers. All three exams together are part of a partner level requirement for Cisco.
On the bright side of all this exam writing, I like these requirements even though they are a chore to get through. Why is that? Because it validates a companies ability to provide Cisco services to the industry. It’s a great idea! Now if only they got people to double check the mistakes in their exams…. 
-RP
Dec 12 2008 4:29PM GMT
Posted by: Raj Perumal
Cisco,
CCNA,
640-802,
Cisco Certified Networking Associate
Just in case people are wondering, I finally passed my Cisco CCNA exam! Got 94% on it. For those of you intending to write this, I wouldn’t take it for granted. This is not the easy CCNA exam from the days of old, this is a brand new CCNA exam that Cisco has updated and it is meant to chew you up and spit you out if you are not prepared. They also only give you 90 mins. to write the exam which isn’t a lot of time based on all the detail in the questions you have to go through.
The study resources I used to pass are:
· Previous career experience with Cisco Routers and Switches
· Boson Cisco Router Simulators
· Cisco Press Books
· Cisco Practice Exams that came with the Cisco Press Books
· Lots of Red Bull J
The exam has quite a few mistakes in it that aren’t apparent if you don’t know the material. If you know the material well enough you will catch the mistakes in the questions and then all you can really do is make a 50/50 guess as to what the right answer is based on guessing what the intended question should have been. I know that sounds awful but it’s the harsh reality. The exam that I wrote had at least 4 to 5 mistakes in the exam that I could see.
-Cheers, RP
Dec 1 2008 1:26AM GMT
Posted by: Raj Perumal
training,
standards,
certifications,
university,
governance,
mcse,
CCNA,
education,
IT Industry Certifications and Standards,
governing body,
high school
Hi folks, this is going to be a bit of a rant. Over the years I’ve written many exams and certifications and the one thing that is common amongst them is that they have almost nothing in common in terms of quality and standards.
I have written many an exam and done quite well on them in my IT career but I still feel that there needs to be some sort of governing body that should manage quality control and insure consistent testing standards across the board just like we do for Universities and High Schools.
All to often I find exams full of spelling and grammatical errors, or just plain wrong answers that would make the beginner test taker panic out right if they were dipping their toe into the waters of certification for the first time. By having a governing body to ensure that these certifications are created and done properly, I think we would eliminate a lot of the crappy tests out there and also eliminate a lot of the “paper” certified people out there as well.
Also all to often companies use certifications not as a point of learning but as a point of marketing instead. Hoping to prod the people who have the certifications into becoming drones of pushing their product just because they have the certifications.
-RP
Oct 11 2008 7:13PM GMT
Posted by: Raj Perumal
certifications,
university,
mcse,
Information Technology,
CCNA,
ccie,
ccnp,
mcp,
mcts,
college,
certify,
vendor certifications,
experience,
work placement,
co-op programs,
post secondary education,
volunteer work,
paper MCSE,
IT employment
So you’ve graduated from university or college and you’re ready to go out into the world and nail that first awesome IT job. You and your family and friends all know how good you are. You’re the resident computer whiz and you think to yourself “People would be crazy not to hire me!”. So you go out into the world and you find that you get little to no bites on your resumes.
One of the reasons is because everyone and their dog thinks they know IT but unfortunately it’s getting increasingly harder for employers to tell the difference between a wannabe and the real deal. As someone who has been regularly engaged in the hiring process over the course of my career, I can tell you about two things that stand out on a resume for an IT prospect - experience, and certifications.
One without the other just doesn’t cut it. You can have all the experience in the world but if you don’t have the certs then people will wonder how good that experience actually is. You can have a billion and one certs, but if you don’t have the experience with actual projects people are going to think you’re all flash and no substance. The “paper MCSE” comes to mind here.
So how do you get both of these? Well if you are having problems finding work, what you should do is during your education get enrolled in a good co-op program (combination of study and work) where your school places you in a company to learn the trade for a few months of the year. This way you graduate with both experience and theory.
The other way is to volunteer at many organizations that need volunteer IT help. This is a great way to get experience and do something good for your community. This also looks great on resumes. This will also help you when you go to write your certification exams because some experience in the real world will always help you pass those exams.
I always hear people make fun of certifications, but those are usually the people who don’t have the kahonas to go and write them and feel like they have to put them down to legitimize themselves. Instead ignore those naysayers and go out and get that experience and those certifications. Together that will put you a cut above the rest!
-RP
Oct 11 2008 7:01PM GMT
Posted by: Raj Perumal
Cisco,
network,
routing and switching,
CCNA,
640-802,
CCNA exam,
networking knowledge
So I used to work with Cisco products many years ago. I find myself heading back that way as of late but I have no certifications to show for it. I never really had the time due to all the other certifications I was pursuing.
Now I’ve decided that it’s a good time for me to pursue it and make the knowledge I already know about Cisco legitimate by pursuing some Cisco certifications. This will also help to dust off some of the cobwebs from some of the stuff I haven’t worked with in a while.
Currently I’m preparing to write my CCNA exam (Exam # 640-802). The CCNA exam covers basic routing & switching topics and basic networking skills along with IPv4 and IPv6. For all of you budding computer techs out there I think it’s a great exam to use to prove your networking knowledge to potential employers.
-Cheers, RP
