Cisco Training Resource

Here's a great article about Cisco training and certification courses. It offers some sound advice, such as beginning with the CCNA and gaining some experience before going after the CCNP. They also advice not using an online-only training course due to the sometimes unpredictable nature of Internet access. The article also goes into why you would even want to participate in a Cisco training course, which is always a good question:

A lot of trainees presume that the school and FE college route is still the most effective. So why then are commercial certificates becoming more in demand? With 3 and 4 year academic degree costs climbing ever higher, together with the IT sector's general opinion that vendor-based training is closer to the mark commercially, there has been a large rise in Microsoft, CompTIA, CISCO and Adobe certified training programmes that educate students at a much reduced cost in terms of money and time. Academic courses, as a example, clog up the training with a lot of background study - and much too wide a syllabus. This prevents a student from getting enough core and in-depth understanding on a specific area.

If you're thinking of getting Cisco certified, keep in mind that you can always visit Cisco's own Support Community Forum.