Being unemployed I’ve found it very difficult to study or stay up to date on things so I wanted to share some of my tips and tricks to keeping up when you don’t have the funds to buy training course subscriptions and books or gear.
The first thing I can say is look at youtube. There are a lot of great content creators out there that produce a lot of great content that you can watch for free. While I understand it’s not the same as getting your feet wet playing with the technology it’s a great way to watch someone go through the ropes and walk you through the process. Some great examples are:
Wendell Odoms Network Upskill channel – https://www.youtube.com/@NetworkUpskill
David Bombals channel – https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCP7WmQ_U4GB3K51Od9QvM0w
Network Chucks channel – https://www.youtube.com/networkchuck
Rob Rikers channel – https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmw_fV_tm1Rd2s5SrrrT2sQ
Nick Russo’s channel – https://www.youtube.com/@NicholasRusso
Du-An Lightfoot’s channel – https://www.youtube.com/@LabEveryday
The Art of Network Engineer channel – https://www.youtube.com/@artofneteng
Most of these creators all have websites and great social media (twitter(x), twitch, instagram, etc) as well so I recommend you most certainly google them.
Speaking of things like twitter(x) certainly look at them for hashtags or @’s of the conference on things you are looking at. Especially when a conference is going on a lot of hashtags are used while people share insights and opinions or updates. #ciscolive #ciscochampion @ciscolive @defcon are great examples.
Now onto websites. There are a lot of great blogs/websites out there to glean content off of and learn things. A lot of industry people and companies blog and write content to help educate people either on a technology or their own product. Do some google searches and see what you find. Some great examples are:
Daniels Networking Blog – https://lostintransit.se/
Nick Russo’s Job Aids page – https://njrusmc.net/jobaid/jobaid.html
PacketLife.net – https://packetlife.net/ (great set of cheat sheets)
Wendell Odom’s Certskills website – https://www.certskills.com
A lot of times there are some great broadcasts that go on. For example during CiscoLive they often stream keynotes. There are also some great companies like Tech Field Day that put together a panel of delegates to watch presentations and demo’s from industry leaders in technology and ask the deep important questions about a product. Most certainly check them out.
Tech Field Day – https://techfieldday.com/
CiscoLive – https://www.ciscolive.com/
If you have a decent commute I also recommend looking into PodCasts. Many of the Youtubers and bloggers also do podcasts which are a great alternative to listen to while driving then the same songs you’ve been hearing on the radio for years. Do some digging and see what you can find.
A great example of podcasts is the PacketPushers podcasts. They also have a website that has a lot of great content – https://packetpushers.net/
You may not have much to spend on big subscriptions to training courses and books but can an eye out on companies like Pluralsight and Udemy. They often have sales going on where you can pick a course up for 10$ or similar that can help you at least learn at a high level the idea of the technology
Also keep an eye on the manufactures/product companies websites as well as partner/VARs. Often they have community pages and marketing videos/slideshows that can help you grasp a concept. While it may only be high level it can be good insight on where the market is heading. Many also do webinars you can join to see whats new and maybe a demo. Some good examples:
Cisco Learning Network (blogs/podcasts/discussions) – https://learningnetwork.cisco.com/s/
Cisco U (learning resources free and paid) – https://learningnetwork.cisco.com/s/foryou/catalog
HPE Aruba (blogs/whitepapers) – https://www.arubanetworks.com/
Junipers Customers tab (documentation/community) – https://www.juniper.net/us/en.html
There are also some great discord channels that regularly hold study groups and just chatting sessions. These are great arenas to listen and learn, ask questions, get responses, and learn something new. Look out for those on all the social media profiles.
These are all just examples of things you can do. It is by no means an inclusive list and there are 100’s of people I’d love to shout out. No, it’s not the same as reading an official cert guide or getting your hands on gear/vms to lab things and get your hands dirty and your mind racing but it’s a step.
