I suppose the default title for a new WordPress post is fitting; “Hello world” is exactly how I feel about this new adventure I’m taking. I’ve spent years in the field of Information Technology and I’ve covered the gamut of everything ranging from simple PC installs to helping to maintain large enterprise-scale environments. I’ve worked in IT on a personal level, in retail, sales, the private sector, the corporate world and now education. All the while, I’ve worn many hats; some of which I’ve worn at the same time, but the one sector that has eluded me for some time has been networking. This isn’t to say that I don’t have a grasp on networking in general…I mean, how far can you really go in IT without having some sort of networking skills?
What I mean is that in all the roles I’ve had, I never had to focus primarily on managing computer networks, routers, switches and everything in between. There was always another team that did that or individuals with vastly more knowledge than me that would take the reigns to solve a problem.
That brings me to the point of this website. In my personal time, I’m a self-admitted procrastinator. It seems half the fun of actually doing anything is just finding more things to do. In other words, knowing there’s another ‘project’ on the horizon makes me feel like I’m busy. And we all know how well that goes. So much to do and so little time. Well, today that changes…at least within the scope of computer networking.
The goal of this project is to document my path to Cisco certification. My short term goal in this endeavor is to obtain the CCNA in Routing & Switching, but depending on how much I enjoy this, I will likely pursue more advanced certifications and possibly even differing segments. So why this website? To elaborate more on my being a procrastinator, I know that if I document my experiences, I will stay focused on the goal and it’ll help me retain much needed information better. I’m not here to create a repository for a wealth of networking information nor am I here to make money (affiliated product links aside). This site will be nothing more than a personal journal of my experience with the certification path and any information I feel like sharing in regards to building a home lab, working with study materials, timelines for everything, etc.
Networking Junkie is the name I went with because that’s what I intend to be throughout this process and beyond. That and I happened to have an applicable domain name just waiting to become yet another project!