I’ve been involved with Cisco Kit for some time now, but now I finally got my CCNA last week. My original mentality was one of irreverence towards the traditional learning path in general, inclusive of certifications. But I got thinking, and came to this conclusion: It’s good to have a baseline of how the vendor, in this case, Cisco wants it done.
In the past, I’ve come up with what I call “Steve Jargon”. Steve Jargon is explaining things in the way I know, but not in the official manner. It’s worked quite well for me in the past; in fact, I believe it’s what allows me to quickly catch on to brand new content, with very little effort. But, how do you quantify it to the scholarly community? You can’t; in fact, you look “uneducated”. What a shame; it’s exactly the opposite. But to deal with the perception problem, achieving a “scholarly” equivalent, is in my opinion, worth it. I never want to let someone have a foothold on my abilities, and I also want to be able to prove to any unknown Joe, that I know my stuff.
So, I’ll continue the scholarly path, for the following reasons: The ability to provide correct jargon, and to make sure no one can have a scholarly argument.