Cisco CCNA Certification: Becoming A Truly Valuable CCNA.

Telepresence and Holography / Holograms - November 2008

Editor’s viewpoint on their differences, likenesses and future...

We all just recently viewed an historic CNN holographic interview on an historic Election Night. CNN stated this type of imaging has never been done before on National TV and I believe that. I haven’t seen anything like it. The live interview caught me by surprise and sure had the “wow” factor attached to it didn’t it? Here’s a link to the actual interview.

CNN Hologram Video

The question now has to be asked. Is it Telepresence?

I’m no expert on the subject but I’m going to throw my hat into the ring, go out on a limb and say yes, I believe it is. Although I know many video conferencing purists are rolling their eyes and grabbing their guns right about now with my statement.

While I do know that Telepresence still hasn’t been universally defined (Houston, we have a problem), here’s how I see it…. Broken down to its simplest form - “tele” (through electronic means) and “presence” (present). This is how I’m justifying my opinion by lumping holography and Telepresence together. Just as Telepresence is surely an offshoot of video conferencing, holographic imaging (like we viewed on CNN) surely has to be considered an offshoot of Telepresence. The interviewer was “telepresent” from Chicago and beamed into the CNN Election Headquarters. She was most assuredly - “telepresent”. There was negligible latency, the imaging was fantastic and both interviewers were rehearsed on what they would say. I’ve just recently read that CNN actually “downgraded” the experience to make it “movie” quality and not as good as it could have been. Maybe they thought us mere mortals would be shocked if they showed their complete hand. I have a feeling it was so big to them, they didn’t want it to get upstaged by the historic election. I’m willing to bet we’ll see the “true” power of this technology in the upcoming weeks and months when they can put the pedal to the medal and show it off without having it sidetracked.

What an amazing time for this technology (all differences and opinions aside). Telepresence Doctors, nurses, teachers, schools and healthcare (healthpresence) will benefit from the recent gains in this state-of-the-art industry whether holograms, Telepresence or holography. Airlines also have to see the threat to a portion of their business travel. Hell, who wants go through security and fly to Miami for a two-hour conference when you can look them in the eye via Telepresence?

Beam me up Scotty! Simply amazing…!

Visit the free Telepresence Forum for more information and discussion

Your Editor and Administrator - L II
"Ride on the Next Plane of Existence" TM

I've been active in the Cisco Certification track for four years, working my way from the CCNA to the coveted Cisco Certified Internetwork Expert title, and during that time I've conducted job interviews and casual conversations with hundreds of CCNAs and CCNA candidates.

The CCNA is an exciting beginning to your Cisco career, but just having the certification simply isn't enough.  A recruiter or interviewer isn't going to be impressed just with the cert; you've got to have some real-world knowledge to back it up.

I've been down that road myself, and sat on both sides of the CCNA job interview table.  With that in mind, I'd like to offer to you some tips on becoming a truly valuable and employable CCNA.

Get some hands-on experience.  I know the trap well; you can't get experience until you get a CCNA, and you can't get a CCNA without real experience.  Well, actually, you can, but do you want to?  Working on simulators is fine to a certain extent, but don't make the classic mistake of depending on them.  I've seen plenty of CCNAs who were put in front of a set of routers and really didn't know what to do or how to put together a simple configuration, and had NO idea how to begin troubleshooting.

There are CCNA classes that offer you the chance to work with industry experts on real Cisco equipment.  Beyond that, you can put together your own CCNA rack for less than $1000 by buying used routers.  Some people think that's a lot of money, but this is the foundation of your career.  Treat it that way.  The work you do now is the most important work you'll ever do.  Do it on real Cisco equipment.  The skills I learned as a CCNA helped me all the way up to the CCIE.

Besides, after you get your CCNA (and after that, hopefully you'll choose to pursue the CCNP), you can always get some of your money back by selling the equipment. The hands-on experience you gain this way is invaluable.

Know binary math.  Do NOT go the easy route of memorizing a subnet mask chart for the CCNA exam.  I know some people brag about being able to pass the CCNA exam without really understanding binary math.  I've seen those people on the other side of the interview table, and they're not laughing when I ask them to do a subnetting question.  They're not laughing when they can't explain or create a VLSM scheme. That chart does nothing to help you understand what's going on.

If you can add and know the difference between a one and a zero, you can do binary math.  Don't let the name intimidate you.  Become a REAL CCNA -- learn binary math !

Run "show" and "debug" commands.  No commands help you truly understand how things work in a Cisco network than show and debug commands.  As you progress through the Cisco certification ranks, you'll be glad you started using these at the CCNA level.

Do you need to know these commands for the exam?  Probably not.  Do you need them to be successul in the real world?  Absolutely.

The Cisco certification track has been great to me, and it can boost your career as well, whether you stop at the CCNA, CCNP, or go all the way to the CCIE.  It's the skills you develop today that will truly make you a networking engineer.  Don't take shortcuts or get the attitude of "just passing the exam". 

It's what you achieve after the exam that counts, and it's the work you put in before passing the exam that makes those achievements possible.

Good luck !

Chris Bryant, CCIE #12933

Chris Bryant, CCIE (TM) #12933, has been active in the Cisco certification community for years.  He worked his way up from the CCNA to the CCIE, and knows what CCNA and CCNP candidates need to know to be effective on the job and in the exam room.

He is the owner of http://www.thebryantadvantage.com, where he teaches CCNA and CCNP courses to small groups of exam candidates, ensuring they each receive the individual attention they deserve.  Classes are offered over the Internet and in select cities.   Chris has custom-written the Study Guide and Lab Workbook used in each course - no third-party training materials or simulators are used.  You're invited to visit our site and check out our CCNA and CCNP courses and study aids, and to sign up for our weekly newsletter written personally by Chris.  Chris is always glad to hear from Cisco certification candidates at chris@thebryantadvantage.com.

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To learn more about Telepresence, the revolutionary new style of immersive video conferencing; visit these websites:

Telepresence - "Ride on the Next Plane of Existence" - Telepresence
Telepresence Web Portal - Telepresence Internet web portal
Telepresence Report - 24/7 breaking Telepresence related news and information
Via Telepresence - Video conferencing via Telepresence
Telepresence Forum - Free user discussion forum for everything Telepresence related
Telepresence Today - Telepresence information and editor qualified headline news
Telepresence Resource Directory - Telepresence web resource directory
Telepresence Tube - Telepresence videos, pictures and more