CCNA: The foundation that built my IT career (can be yours, too)

Hello there, my name is Hank Preston, and I’m CCNA certified. Well, actually, I’m also CCNP, CCIE, and DevNet Expert certified, but it is the CCNA that started me on my journey way back on August 8, 2004.

20 years ago, I sat down for the first time at a Prometric testing center, heart beating fast, palms a little sweaty, and super nervous for my first certification exam: CCNA 640-801. I still remember the feeling of hitting the “End Exam” button and waiting for the results screen. I was sure I failed; there were just SO many questions I wasn’t sure about. Did I remember my decimal to binary steps? Was the maximum hops for RIP 15 or 16? It only took maybe 5 seconds for the screen to pop up, but it felt like I was waiting for spanning-tree to converge after a root bridge failure… and not the rapid version of spanning-tree, either. When the screen changed, I closed my eyes… I didn’t want to know. But eventually, I opened my eyes and was presented with those glorious words…

“Congratulations, you passed!”

(Or something along those lines.)

It was an amazing feeling. I had done it. I was Cisco CCNA Certified! I was ready for my career as a network engineer. Well, to continue and grow my career. I was technically already working as a network engineer, but having the certification gave me confidence. It gave me proof that I had some knowledge about networking. Heck, it meant that CISCO endorsed me as a network engineer. It was a pretty big deal. When the hard copy of my CCNA certification arrived in the mail, I bought a frame and hung it on the wall.

Hank Preston's framed CCNA Certification — Hank’s framed CCNA certification

Now for the slightly embarrassing turn in the story… three years later, on September 29, 2007, my CCNA expired. Phew… I said it. And it feels better to get the truth out. It wasn’t that I didn’t still value being CCNA certified. Or that I wasn’t working as a network engineer anymore. Nope… what happened was… well, “life.” I was back in graduate school working on my master’s degree while working full-time. I had to do some tough prioritizing, and I had to let my CCNA expire. I was disappointed, but I knew I could study and re-earn it again.

And re-earn it, I did. 722 days after my CCNA expired (8 days less than 2 years), I was back at a testing center in front of a computer, tackling CCNA exam 640-802. In those two years, Cisco had updated the CCNA certification. In fact, I could have taken two exams, INTRO and ICND, instead of a single exam. But coming back to recertify, I was more confident and dove right into the single exam. I say more confident, but not fully confident. The nerves were still there, and by the time I was done, my confidence had dwindled. I was sure I was going to be back the following week for another attempt. But that didn’t happen. I once again was faced with the wonderful words:

“Congratulations, you passed!”

As I walked out with my results, feeling that same pride at being CCNA certified, I promised myself I would NEVER let it expire again. And I haven’t. In fact, I was back at a testing center less than a month later, taking the CCNA Security exam (I passed). And a month after that, I was back once more to take and pass the CCNA Wireless exam.

Why the rush, you might ask? Great question. While I had been working as a “network engineer” for several years, by then, I wanted to grow my career. I wanted to work on bigger networks for bigger companies. While I had my master’s degree in information systems by then, something I was also very proud of, job postings, recruiters, and managers were looking for people with the practical skills to work on complex networks. Senior network engineer positions all listed Cisco certifications as “desired” if not “required.” And I wanted one of those positions.

Which brings me back to that day in 2004 when I first earned my CCNA certification, and then returned in 2009 to re-earn it. The skills I learned when studying for my CCNA were instrumental in helping me learn about wireless so I could add “wireless network engineer” to my skill set. Without the basics of the OSI model, IP addressing, and routing, I wouldn’t have been able to tackle security topics like firewalls, VPNs, and intrusion prevention to become a CCSP (Cisco Certified Security Professional – the old name for CCNP Security) in September 2010.

Something else happened to my career in September 2010. I was hired as a Systems Engineer at Cisco. Working for Cisco had been like a “secret dream” of mine for many years. I mean, I was a network engineer — and Cisco IS networking. At that point in my career, I hadn’t had the opportunity to meet many Cisco employees, but the ones I had met had left me in awe of their skills and knowledge. They gave me an example to work towards. Just interviewing at Cisco was an amazing experience.

I remember conversations with my hiring manager, Eric Knipp. We talked about what it meant to be a Cisco SE, how important technical knowledge and skills were for a Cisco engineer, and how he was impressed by my devotion and focus on earning certifications. At that point, I was working towards my CCNP Route/Switch (the certification now known as CCNP Enterprise) when he asked whether I saw myself becoming a CCIE. He was a CCIE Voice cert holder who valued knowledge, experience, AND certifications to validate that knowledge and experience. I told him I’d love to become a CCIE in the future. In later interviews with other leadership and engineers at Cisco, the knowledge I gained from studying and passing my certification exams was critical to standing up to the technical interview questions I was posed. One engineer asked me to do subnetting exercises on a whiteboard, describe how spanning-tree worked, and how lightweight access points communicated with controllers.

By the way… Eric Knipp is currently a Vice President of Sales Engineering at Cisco and STILL maintains his active CCIE certification and pushes his engineers to maintain and earn certifications. He champions a “Beat the Boss” challenge where he rewards engineers who can earn a new certification before he does.

Being certified didn’t get me the job, but becoming certified did. Without the Cisco Network Academy instructors and classes that introduced me to networking and put me on the path towards the CCNA, without the nights spent with Cisco Press books from authors like Wendell Odom, Kevin Wallace, and Tim Szigeti, and without hours spent practicing practical skills on lab gear scrounged from anywhere I could find it, my career would not be what it is today.

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“But Hank… that was great 20 years ago, but what about today? Certifications aren’t important anymore.”

I’ve heard this question and comment a lot. While I agree that certifications and their place as part of learning and building experience have changed, they are absolutely still a valuable part of any engineer’s toolkit and value. I just did some job searches for different network engineering roles. Every single one of them lists certifications as required or preferred. And you know which certification showed up more than any other? The CCNA. Yep, 26 years after being released, CCNA is still recognized as a requirement for network engineers.

It’s safe to say that I absolutely LOVE the CCNA certification. It continues to change the lives of engineers worldwide, and I’m excited to be helping new engineers earn their CCNA certifications.

My first network engineering course was a Cisco Network Academy class at my local community college. Under the supervision of a wonderful instructor, I connected to my first router with a blue ribbon cable. Last year, I returned to a Network Academy classroom as a CCNA instructor. Helping the next generation of engineers make their first ping work was so rewarding. While some of the skills I had to learn when I earned my CCNA are no longer part of the material – RIP and HDLC connections, foundational topics like subnetting, spanning-tree, and VLANs are just as important today.

I’m excited to be “getting back to basics” this summer with the CCNA Prep program, refreshed for version 1.1 of the CCNA. Joined by Patrick Gargano, my colleague here at Cisco and fellow Network Academy instructor, we have launched “Season 1” of our CCNA Prep – Back to Basics series to help network engineers prepare for the CCNA exam. This first season will cover some of my favorite foundational networking topics, such as VLANs, Spanning-Tree, EtherChannel, and the basics of routing. The CCNA Prep program is completely free, so register to join us for demonstration-based webinars where we look at the technical topics on the CCNA exam, provide access to practice questions, and downloadable CML and PacketTracer files to work through the exercises yourself! You can sign up for CCNA Prep here for free.