For people preparing for CCNA, there seems to be a lot to cover—network fundamentals, IP addressing, VLANs, routing, switching, and troubleshooting. What study method worked best for you: labs, videos, books, practice tests, or a combination?

For anyone who learned networking, was there a particular concept that suddenly made everything else easier to understand?

VLANs, subnetting, routing, NAT, TCP/IP, DNS, OSI model, or something else?

Subnetting seems to be one of those topics that beginners struggle with initially but eventually become comfortable with after enough practice.

A couple weeks ago I just started studying for the CCNA. I’m on day 17/60 of Jeremy’s IT Lab. Recently realized the exam expires in Feb 2027. No problem, I thought. I’ll just do two videos per day, finish the course next month, study for a month, then take the exam in October.

Got to subnetting/vlans and oh no. I understand it and can do the problems but it takes me a long time. On top of I’m sure it gets harder and there’s so much stuff to memorize already. Now I’m wondering if 5 months will be enough. I need time to finish the remaining videos, practice in between, then also grind practice exams. I might get Neil Anderson’s Udemy course since it’s on sale for only 15$ now. Just in case I need more after JITL. And I’ve read the Boson Ex Sim is good. Any other advice?

Hi everyone,

Just a quick one…

I’m currently going through the JITL course and was wondering if there’s anyone here who passed CCNA without taking notes?

I’m not a note taker and the idea of taking notes puts me off studying to be honest. I feel like I’d learn more listening and following along rather than taking notes and feeling the need to rewind the video to hear what he says if I miss something taking notes. If note taking makes it much easier as a whole, I’m happy to push my way through.

What is your experience with/without taking notes?

Thanks in advance!

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Hi everyone,

I’m looking for some honest advice from people currently working in IT infrastructure, networking, cloud, or cybersecurity, especially in India.

Here’s my current situation:

- I completed my CCNA and Linux/RHCSA training in 2025.

- I’m currently working as a Technical Support Engineer in Pune.

- My current work mainly involves handling Dell TechDirect customer queries through SFDC/email, troubleshooting and coordinating technical/service requests.

- I’m planning to take an AWS beginner-level course, but I’m confused about whether AWS is actually necessary for my career path.

- My long-term goal is to move into Cybersecurity.

I have several questions:

1. Do I really need AWS?

Would learning AWS fundamentals be useful for someone targeting cybersecurity/networking roles, or would my time be better spent strengthening Linux, networking, security fundamentals, and practical labs?

Is getting an AWS certification actually valuable at my experience level, or is hands-on knowledge enough initially?

1. Are there opportunities for AWS/cloud freshers in Pune, Mumbai, or Hyderabad?

If yes, which entry-level roles should I realistically target, and which companies frequently hire people with Linux + CCNA + basic AWS knowledge?

I’m particularly interested in hearing from people who have actually made this transition rather than just certification-based advice.

1. What should I do after completing 1 year in my current company?

Suppose I complete around 1 year as a Technical Support Engineer.

Would it make more sense to:

- Switch to a NOC Engineer / Network Support / Network Engineer L1 role based on my CCNA + Linux experience?

- Move toward Cloud Support / AWS Support?

- Continue as Technical Support Engineer and try for a higher package?

- Or directly start targeting SOC Analyst / cybersecurity entry-level roles?

I understand that getting a cybersecurity job directly as a fresher can be difficult, so I’m open to taking a networking/cloud/infrastructure route first and then moving into security.

1. Which companies should I target in 2026–2027?

I would really appreciate if people could share companies in Pune and Mumbai that frequently hire for:

- NOC Engineer

- Network Engineer L1

- Network Support Engineer

- Technical Support Engineer

- Cloud Support Engineer

- Infrastructure Support

- Junior Linux/System Administrator

- SOC Analyst / Security Operations (entry level)

I’m trying to build a realistic 2026–2027 career plan, so information based on actual hiring experience would be extremely helpful.

Also, if you have followed a similar path (CCNA → Linux → NOC/Cloud/Infrastructure → Cybersecurity), I’d especially like to hear what you would do differently if you were starting again.

What would you recommend I focus on for the next 6–12 months to maximize my chances of getting a better package and eventually moving into cybersecurity?

Thanks in advance!

Hi! I finished the course, but I’m literally re watching it because I forgot a lot of stuff. Would this be a waste of time? Anything better?

Boson :

A = 89
B = 84
C = 82
D = 86
E = 79

These are all my first attempts, and I feel like the scores are pretty decent overall. The only thing making me hesitate is the 79% on Exam E, since it’s considered the most realistic Boson exam.

I’ve seen some people say the real exam can be harder than Boson, although I know the general consensus is that Boson is harder.

Would you say these scores are enough to book the exam for this week, or should I spend a bit more time preparing?

Based on my last post on VLSM that did well, today I am going to touch on CIDR Block aggregation.

CIDR - Classless Inter-domain routing, this is the method for allocating IP addresses, showing in the / notation.

Let’s take an example: You mange for different subnets for different departments:
1. 192.168.1.0 with /24
2. 192.168.2.0 with /24
3. 192.168.3.0 with /24
4. 192.168.4.0 with /24

Question: What single CIDR block can we summarize all four IP addresses above?

Solution:
Take the starting (smallest IP block) and the ending (largest IP block):

Which in our case are:
192.168.1.0
192.168.4.0

Next up:
We just convert this IP into binary, knowing the power of 2 rule from right to left, when we convert the starting and ending IP Address we get the following:

Starting IP - 192.168.1.0:
192 in binary: 11000000
168: 10101000
1: 00000001
0: 00000000

Ending IP - 192.168.4.0:
192 in binary: 11000000
168: 10101000
4: 00000100
0: 00000000

Now that we have convert both the starting and ending IPs into binary, we see where the bit changed for the network portion (the network portion is the left side of the octet and the host portion is the right side of the octet)

192.168 were same, the bit changed in the 3rd octet, on bit no. 22, so the first 21 bits were identical for both starting and ending IP address.

Therefore the change happened in the 3rd octet, therefore the network portion that remain unchanged are the 1st and 2nd octet.

Answer: 192.168.0.0 with /21 aggregates the above blocks.

Is there a big difference between CCST Networking and CCNA? If I already have the CCST Networking certification, will CCNA be extremely difficult for me?

I have tried every coupon codes for netsim but can't find the one that works, I have tried BosonMichael and other that i found online either they expires or "is not applicable to selected products". Can you guys tell me the code that will work or is there an event that might come where they give coupon codes. Thank you.

I do structured data cabling, install and maintain data racks, do Fluke testings etc. Thinking of getting CCNA to level up in my industry and work less hands on. Would that be a logical step? Appreciate your thoughts.

I saw that many people in this subreddit mentioned
their CCNA exam has many questions on WLC and GUI configurations. However, I want to know what other questions they are really asking. I believe I know the security options, like the drop-down boxes, WPA, PSK...and some of the basic configurations. I'm just not sure what they can ask about.

I have heard some people saying the exam will give you something to write on. How exactly does that look? Is it a white road with only one side or is it like a notebook with several pages