Again in 2007, after months of intensive learning, I handed my first Cisco certification examination: the CCNA. I walked out of that testing heart 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 unbelievable. Little did I do know then that this achievement was simply the spark that may ignite a ardour for lifelong studying. My actual development started within the months and years after passing the examination. 

All of us take certification for a purpose: our employer desires us to get a pay elevate, a job promotion, or a brand new job. However these do one factor: they offer us self-growth and self-knowledge. What occurs after the certification is what I’ll uncover right here at present.

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

Connecting with the Cisco Group  

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

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

Empowering Change: Collectively, We Make a Distinction 

After getting a lot from the Cisco Group, I used to be excited to start out giving again and paying it ahead. I shared my classes realized by creating weblog posts and tutorial movies and even mentoring different newcomers learning for his or her certifications. Serving to fellow learners made an affect 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 might help somebody following your path.  

Quick-form studying content material has distinct benefits in at present’s world of condensed consideration spans and packed schedules. Expertise matters can simply be distilled into <10-minute movies that convey the core ideas learners want. These bite-sized tutorials match trendy consumption preferences; they’re straightforward to entry on any gadget, 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 via slides, screenshots, and code samples. Learners can acquire 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 basic rules, terminology, and workflows. They supply sufficient baseline understanding to allow deeper impartial examine.

In an period of knowledge overload, compact studying experiences guarantee key concepts stick. Expertise matters 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 prime IT professionals that train centered classes on technical matters. They’re a simple and fascinating approach to maintain increasing our abilities. 

One of many nice issues about Snack Minutes is that they cowl rising matters 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 could make networks extra agile, environment friendly, and resilient. If somebody is new to community automation, this will probably be invaluable for studying foundational ideas rapidly. The brief movies give publicity to automation fundamentals and phrases.

Extra just lately, the Snack Minute workforce has made some nice content material on core networking rules—excellent for reinforcing foundational networking ideas akin to TCP/IP, routing protocols, and VLANs; distilling matters into compact classes ensures that you don’t overlook what you labored on so exhausting to be taught. 

Discovering New Cisco Merchandise and Options  

The networking world strikes quick, and Cisco is at all times releasing new applied sciences. With Snack Minutes, I can sustain with the most recent Cisco options like Meraki SD-WAN, Catalyst 9000 switches, Umbrella Safety, and so on. Chunk-sized movies rapidly carry me on top of things 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 isn’t solely maintaining tempo with the ever-evolving tech panorama but additionally 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 have been difficult, the true work started after passing, as I appeared for methods to constantly increase my abilities. Connecting with the Cisco neighborhood, giving again by creating tutorials, and staying on prime of latest developments have been essential to my ongoing schooling. Quick, snackable studying sources like Snack Minutes make it straightforward and fascinating to bolster foundational ideas and decide up rising matters like automation. The bite-sized movies are the proper approach to continue to grow your data and abilities wherever you’re in your profession. 

Attaining Cisco certification is a significant accomplishment, however true success comes from having a lifelong dedication to studying. Regularly interact with the Cisco neighborhood, share your experience, and leverage micro-learning sources. This ardour for ongoing schooling will maintain you related and forward in our quickly altering technical panorama. 

Take a look at 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 a good way to maintain advancing in your profession journey lengthy after passing your certification examination. 

Learn subsequent: From Community Automation to Safety: Cisco U. Function-Based mostly Studying Paths

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