100% true. I am starting as a network admin this year after almost 6 years dealing with installations of all types and getting down and dirty in the data center. Knowing how these devices connect and interact in the physical world gives you perspective and allows you to consider things that is just not fathomable to somebody whos never actually laid hands on the equipment that they work on. The homelab allows you to deal with real world issues that you just cannot replicate in a simulated environment.
Another great Video. A home lab helped me quite a bit. I once had to delete an image from a switch in order to upgrade a version. I ended up falling back to hyper terminal to send the new image to the switch. Never have had to do that before, but I am glad I did it at (the comfort) home. Now it’s experience to talk about one day.
Rollover console cables - password recovery - transferring images... I have so many dents in my forehead from banging my head on those things when I was first starting out. It is so easy to go down the rabbit hole with complex theories when a simple rollover cable is the fix you need. The very best reason for building your home lab from physical hardware - Is an employer going to hire you to work on GNS3 or on real routers/switches/etc?
Yessir! So many rabbit holes when a physical layer issue was the culprit. Agreed! I was not hired as a net eng to make pretend in emulation environments :) I'm not knocking those environments and it's actually all I use these days, but physical gear when starting out is a must!
Great video. I also bought physical equipment for a home lab to study for my ccna based off of Jeremy’s recommendation! I’ll use your tips to help as well. Thanks
While having some idea about physical gear, some people may not even work directly with it, if their position is remote. Straight/crossover is thing of a past for many years, same with some kind serial data or t1 connections, maybe in USA someone is still deploying T1 data but in Europe I see this only with voice gateways.
You missed the point. I had a maintenance tonight where I had Ops replace a bad FPC in a Juniper chassis. The DC Ops resource could not get the old blade removed. Because I was an expert on the physical layer before working my way up the stack, I was able to walk her through exactly what needed to be done to complete the job. If all I did was play with emulators early in my career, I would have been clueless on how to help her tonight. Another win in my career path because I have intimate knowledge of the physical layer, part of which I gained by working on my home lab.
Great video! I just learned a bunch, probably saved me hours of research haha I was looking into getting remote access to my homelab after finally getting it up and running
Thanks for giving us insight into your career, the steps you took and what led to your success. I'm 31 and currently studying Network+ (I've never had a passion like I do for networking!), but I sometimes find my falling into thoughts of "I'm too old, I'm un-hireable", "there's others out there younger and more knowledgeable" etc. What age was you when you transitioned from cable guy and made the jump to study the CCNA? Did you have any other certs before the CCNA, to what extent was your network knowledge base before studying? Thanks
Ad000121, don’t be down on yourself with the “merely” speak. IT experience is good. Heck any experience is good. Your job at the time of network engineer interview is to relate your experience to engineering role. Find common ground in your experience and focus on it.
I used packet tracer for my CCNA. I built a home lab for my NP studies, which included 3 2620xm routers, 4 3550 switches and an avocent terminal server. Here’s a blog post I wrote about it at the time: permitipandyandy.wordpress.com/2014/11/22/home-lab/
@@permitipandyandy Super easy due to the amount of resources that are online in regards to using a TFTP server to transfer IOS images, all i had to do was upgrade the RAM and Flash memory on my Cisco 1841 routers to support IOS 15
100% true. I am starting as a network admin this year after almost 6 years dealing with installations of all types and getting down and dirty in the data center. Knowing how these devices connect and interact in the physical world gives you perspective and allows you to consider things that is just not fathomable to somebody whos never actually laid hands on the equipment that they work on. The homelab allows you to deal with real world issues that you just cannot replicate in a simulated environment.
Totally agree. I have all physical gear as well as firewalls running in my home lab.
Another great Video. A home lab helped me quite a bit. I once had to delete an image from a switch in order to upgrade a version. I ended up falling back to hyper terminal to send the new image to the switch. Never have had to do that before, but I am glad I did it at (the comfort) home. Now it’s experience to talk about one day.
Thanks for the kind words Andy!
Rollover console cables - password recovery - transferring images... I have so many dents in my forehead from banging my head on those things when I was first starting out. It is so easy to go down the rabbit hole with complex theories when a simple rollover cable is the fix you need.
The very best reason for building your home lab from physical hardware - Is an employer going to hire you to work on GNS3 or on real routers/switches/etc?
Yessir! So many rabbit holes when a physical layer issue was the culprit.
Agreed! I was not hired as a net eng to make pretend in emulation environments :)
I'm not knocking those environments and it's actually all I use these days, but physical gear when starting out is a must!
Most of my experience was at the physical layer and it’s definitely a plus having equipment at home.
Yessir! Thanks for watching.
Solid video.
Thank you!
Great video. I also bought physical equipment for a home lab to study for my ccna based off of Jeremy’s recommendation! I’ll use your tips to help as well. Thanks
Thanks for watching! Jeremy was a big motivator for me as well :)
While having some idea about physical gear, some people may not even work directly with it, if their position is remote. Straight/crossover is thing of a past for many years, same with some kind serial data or t1 connections, maybe in USA someone is still deploying T1 data but in Europe I see this only with voice gateways.
You missed the point. I had a maintenance tonight where I had Ops replace a bad FPC in a Juniper chassis. The DC Ops resource could not get the old blade removed. Because I was an expert on the physical layer before working my way up the stack, I was able to walk her through exactly what needed to be done to complete the job. If all I did was play with emulators early in my career, I would have been clueless on how to help her tonight.
Another win in my career path because I have intimate knowledge of the physical layer, part of which I gained by working on my home lab.
Great video! I just learned a bunch, probably saved me hours of research haha I was looking into getting remote access to my homelab after finally getting it up and running
Thanks for watching and glad I was able to help!
Thanks for giving us insight into your career, the steps you took and what led to your success. I'm 31 and currently studying Network+ (I've never had a passion like I do for networking!), but I sometimes find my falling into thoughts of "I'm too old, I'm un-hireable", "there's others out there younger and more knowledgeable" etc. What age was you when you transitioned from cable guy and made the jump to study the CCNA? Did you have any other certs before the CCNA, to what extent was your network knowledge base before studying? Thanks
I was 38 when I got my CCNA. It’s never too late
I'm currently studying for my CCNA. I merely have some experience as an IT Technician, will the CCNA help me land a job as a Network Engineer.
yes it will!
It will be helpful. Many network job postings I have seen over the years require a CCNA at a minimum. Good luck in your studies!
Ad000121, don’t be down on yourself with the “merely” speak. IT experience is good. Heck any experience is good. Your job at the time of network engineer interview is to relate your experience to engineering role. Find common ground in your experience and focus on it.
@@andymac7668 thanks 👍
What model of Routers and Switches do you recommend for CCNA 200 - 301?
I am running three 1921’s three 3750 and one 4948.
I used packet tracer for my CCNA. I built a home lab for my NP studies, which included 3 2620xm routers, 4 3550 switches and an avocent terminal server. Here’s a blog post I wrote about it at the time: permitipandyandy.wordpress.com/2014/11/22/home-lab/
@@permitipandyandy Thanks for the great blog post I managed to find a great deal on used equipment
@@labwithbrennan292 Awesome man! I just watched your first vid. Good stuff. How'd you make out with the ios upgrade?
@@permitipandyandy Super easy due to the amount of resources that are online in regards to using a TFTP server to transfer IOS images, all i had to do was upgrade the RAM and Flash memory on my Cisco 1841 routers to support IOS 15
New to the channel - does Andy now have a CCNP or still studying?
Welcome! I’ve been studying on and off for the NP for years. Still no CCNP.
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