CWNE Journey - Part One CWNA

It is with a bit of irony that I began my CWNE journey, as it began by attending a vendor specific training class. Prior to implementing the Cisco 9800 product line my network architect and I took the ENWLSI class offered by an official training partner, WiFi Training. You can check them out here. My coworker and I both felt that the change from AireOS to IOS-XE was significant enough that we'd need instruction to get us up to the task of implementation in production. Over the week's training I was refreshed on many standards-based wireless concepts as well as quite a few new things I hadn't learned yet about 80211ax specifically.

This refresher took me back to when I first bought the CWNA Official Study Guide (I think the version I bought was the 104). I read and re-read that book when I was first assigned to work in a wireless config depot, I think it was about 2012-2103. At the time I was asking "What should I be reading to learn wireless?". A design engineer I was working with on the project mentioned the CWNA curriculum specifically, saying "If you want to learn wireless, get a CWNA, if you want to configure something on a controller get the CCNA-Wireless.".

After some time, I moved away from this position and took a new job where I was not afforded the same opportunity to work directly with wireless. I kept up with my studying and acquired the CCNA-Wireless while at Cisco Live in 2016. But I never went for the CWNA. By then, there was a new version of the book and test, and 80211ac was out. As it happens, this new position took a hard turn into Cisco UC and I spent my training and development time learning CUCM, CUC, CUE, CCX, etc. Wireless fell out of focus.

So here we are- roughly a year ago, energized from our world-class private training class and I find that I just cannot get enough wireless. It was an energizing, invigorating feeling to be able to not just sit through, but participate and engage a widely known instructor and feel like I could truly comprehend this technology. The deeper we got into the material, the more questions we asked and had answer. It was a great experience. To anyone on the fence, doing a private class for your only your organization is a GREAT way to pursue training if you can swing it.

I passed my CWNA on 12/29/2020, it was a challenging exam but I really do appreciate the way it was written. In the version I took there were some answers that made me chuckle because no wireless engineer would have selected them. That little bit of humor is a testament to the way the curriculum is presented and who the target audience is. It is a TON of material to go through but it is all worthwhile to read.

With his permission, I'd like to specifically recognize Rasika Nayanajith. He proved to be an excellent trainer, you can check out his long-running blog at mrn-cciew.