Today, we’ll be discussing the CCT Certification, which is the Cisco Certified Technician Routing & Switching 100-490RSTECH Certification.
Cisco has had CCT for a while. It’s an entry-level certification. And the best part about it is that if you’re just starting out in networking, or if you don’t know anything about switches or IP addresses, the CCT certification will help you to understand the basics.
If this is you, then you are right. The CCT begins at the foundations and grows from there. You might be asking, Rob, what about CCNA? That’s a great point! After passing your CCT, the next certification in Cisco’s line-up is the CCNA. You should already have a basic understanding of the basics of CCNA before you can apply for it.
CCT is a Cisco certification that focuses on the basics of Cisco. It will get you started in the worlds of Cisco. If you don’t know what an IP address or switch is, or if you’re wondering what layer two is, CCT is for you. These are questions you should ask yourself.
If you find yourself in a situation where networking is not something you are familiar with, don’t worry. I was there once. Yes, I have a CCIE. But you know what? There was a time when I thought I would never pass my CCNA exam. It took me three attempts to pass. It’s not a joke certification.
CCT is a way to do this. It is important to understand its scope. CCT’s focus is on the basics. You will be visiting a site where Cisco equipment routers switches, firewalls, and firewalls will be deployed. Your job is to physically go to a site and identify a router or switch. You might have someone on the phone that is part of the engineering team. They may say, “Hey, we need you take and unbox this switch. You then cable it up, power it on, but maybe it doesn’t have a configuration.” So, what are you supposed to do? Guess what?
These are covered by the CCT. You can actually see the configuration on the device. Copy it. Perhaps you have a copy of the engineering team’s text file. Copy and paste the text into the CLI that saved the configuration. Boom! You’re alive. That’s pretty cool, right?
These are the things the CCT will help you to understand and be able work with. This is why the CCT is so powerful. This is the thing that most server, higher-level certifications, overlook. This is crucial for anyone who’s going to do technician level stuff. Even architects, those guys who have been doing networking for 10 years or more, me included, need to know the number one thing you must do.