On 2023-09-09 22:08, Alvin Starr via talk wrote:
I was thinking in terms of features. As a (lapsed) CCNA, I agree they can be "fun" to configure.
I was thinking in terms of product quality. I have seen switches with up to 10% of ports with problems. It also seemed to me from that outside that to get a Cisco certificate all you needed was to have the support phone number memorized.
I haven't experienced that issue and I have worked with quite a few devices. I also have an 8 port Cisco switch here on my network. I also have a Cisco 2600 series router, which I bought when I was working on my CCNA. Also, I can assure you getting certified takes a lot more than memorizing phone numbers. You have a timed test, in front of a computer and you have to get a passing grade in multiple sections, covering various topics. Also, the wording of the questions means you have to give them a lot of thought. Over the years, I have been certified for Novell Netware 3.x, OS/2 Warp 4 and CCNA. The CCNA test is by far the most difficult. One thing that annoyed me was the test covered some obsolete topics, such as frame relay, but MPLS was not even mentioned. The last time I saw frame relay was about 20 years before I got my CCNA. Also, they should have also been covering shortest path bridging, in addition to spanning tree. There were a few other things where they could have covered something a bit newer, with less emphasis on older stuff.