How I Finally Earned My CCNA Certification
The real story behind earning my Cisco CCNA certification — Anki cards, Neil Anderson, a 10-week study sprint, and 13 minutes left with 26 questions to go.
I gave myself 10 weeks to earn my CCNA. I was doing IT infrastructure work in Utqiagvik, touching networking constantly but working around gaps in my foundational knowledge. At some point that stops being acceptable.
What the CCNA covers
The CCNA is Cisco's entry-level networking certification. It is not easy, but it is reachable with steady work. It covers IP addressing, routing and switching, VLANs, wireless, basic security, and some network automation.
For someone doing infrastructure work, it is the difference between following a checklist and actually understanding why a network is behaving the way it is. That matters when you are on call.
How I studied
Two main resources did most of the work:
- Neil Anderson's CCNA course on Udemy, worked through in order, no skipping.
- Anki flashcards for the parts that need memorization — port numbers, protocol behavior, timers, command syntax.
For hands-on practice I used Cisco Packet Tracer. Reading about subnetting is one thing. Breaking your own virtual network by misconfiguring a route is what makes it stick.
The 10-week deadline was not optional. Without a date on the calendar, "I'll study tomorrow" becomes the plan. Some weeks nothing felt like it was landing. You show up anyway.
The exam
Partway through, I looked at the clock. 13 minutes left. 26 questions to go. I had been spending too long on questions I was unsure about. The last stretch was its own test — stay calm, commit to answers, move on. I passed.
The lesson from exam day was separate from the material: pacing under pressure is a skill you have to practice on purpose. Do timed practice sets. Force yourself to decide and move.
Why it still matters
The networking background shows up constantly in the web work I do at Project Ali. DNS, email routing, SSL, hosting, CDNs — all of it sits on top of networking fundamentals. Understanding that layer means I set things up correctly the first time and can diagnose problems that would stump someone who only knows the front end.
If you are working toward any IT certification: pick a deadline, use hands-on tools, and practice under time pressure. The material is learnable. The discipline is the hard part.