Wednesday, June 20, 2018

Getting the Most Out of Your Continuing Education Money


If you’re working for a company that has a continuing education budget for it’s employees and you aren’t sure where to spend your money, figure out what you really want to do, find a resource that would benefit you the most and make a case for it.

I work for a small company but we have some great benefits. This blog is about making your continuing education dollars stretch.

My company give us ~$5200/year for continuing education. Most use that money to further themselves in a collegiate path, to get their masters or finish their bachelor degrees. I use it to chase certifications and further my career that way. I have been with my company for 3 years and have used the money each year a different way.


The first year I needed to complete the last part of CCNP, the TSHOOT. I used the money to buy scenario based labs from Cisco's learning site. I don't know if they currently offer the same ones I used because I think the platform they were using at the time was experimental. They kept asking for feedback and a lot of things were broken in the interface. It cost around $600. I found the labs beneficial and I definitely recommend them before anyone takes the CCNP TSHOOT, so you can build your own troubleshooting workflow. They aren't mandatory for passing the exam but if you don't regularly build labs or currently troubleshoot networking in your daily work, it's worth it to get some labs under your belt.

Later that year I also got 10 people within my company to use their money so we can get a group rate for CBT Nuggets. For many of our team studying for CCNA and CCNP, CBT Nuggets is an amazing resource. I really enjoyed it. Sadly, it isn't the strongest resource for CCIE level topics. The 1 year pass for CBT Nuggets group rate was around $800 (IIRC).

I did pass my CCNP TSHOOT earning me a CCNP Routing & Switching certification.
Even though I didn’t used the entire ~$5200 for my first year, it is use or loose and does not roll over.
The second year, I didn’t use my money throughout the year. I was pretty busy with work and was happy to put the CCNP behind me and take a study/certification break. Near the end of the year I was convinced to started studying for CCIE. I checked available resources and chose to take a bootcamp which was focused on the Written Exam topics. I took an INE bootcamp, you can read about it here: https://showipintbri.blogspot.com/2018/03/ccie-bootcamps-ine-or-micronics.html. I purchased the bootcamp in December, just before my ~$5200 went expired for the year, and booked the bootcamp for early the following year (February, IIRC). A bootcamp costs many thousands of dollars and nearly ate-up my entire allotment for the year. The February bootcamp was canceled by INE and I was allowed to reschedule to any other time and location. I ended up getting scheduled for late August. This was a really great experience and I really learned a lot.

Since I did not use my funds throughout the year, following my bootcamp in August I purchased another bootcamp but this time from Micronics. I purchased it before my funds ran out for the year in December. This bootcamp took place in March 2018, you can read about it here: https://showipintbri.blogspot.com/2018/03/ccie-bootcamps-ine-or-micronics.html. It was a great experience. This boot camp also is many thousands of dollars completely depleting my funds for the year. Since I made the purchase for this in December, when January came I had another ~$5200 to play with. I used this for purchasing a full-conference pass to Cisco Live which was in July 2018.
Between bootcamps, I personally purchased CCIE books, labs and continue to pay for an INE All Access Pass. This does not come out of my continuing education funds. 

After talking with folks from some of the bootcamps I’ve attended and also folks from Cisco Live, I realize how fortunate I am to work for a company that really takes care of it’s employees and wants to see us all grow. It truly is an enriching experience to meet people at these events and in the community. I've really learned alot over the years and have brought that knowledge and experience back to my company.

In conclusion, if you're a reader I would recommend the OCG books. Some sections are better than others, and you won't be 100% prepared for the CCIE Written exam after reading all of them, but there is alot of good material in them and worth the read.

If you prefer Video Based Learning for the CCIE level I would recommend INE's All Access Pass. It gives you access to their entire library, which is great because there really is alot of content on there. Also, I have found some instructors deliver the material better than other so I tend to watch videos by my preferred instructors. If your studying for the CCNA or CCNP level I would recommend CBT Nuggets, its Video Based Learning and really popular.

I would not start your journey doing any bootcamps. They cost alot of money and if your aren't ready it ill be a waste of your time and effort but, if you are ready I really think the absolute best experiences have come from bootcamps. I have learned so much in those short periods of time but, that's how I learn, I don't get overwhelmed I get excited.

For gauging yourself throughout your journey especially leading up to the CCIE Written the Boson ExSim was a good litmus test. Their software is really nice compared to others and doesn't feel cheap. The answer key's give in depth explanations and links to the Cisco docs. 

No single product from above will get you to pass anything by itself. 
  • You have to put in hard work... alot of it. 
  • You have to fail... and keep going.


Ultimately, you’ll need to have a discussion with your manager. Unfortunately, there isn’t a single word answer or way to do this. It will have to be a discussion and negotiation.

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