Networking Fundamentals

WEBVTT You're watching ITProTV. Thank you so much for joining us. I'm your host, Lauren Deal, and I'll be your learner advocate as we go through this course. But it is my honor to welcome Wes, Brian, how you doing? I'm doing great. Great to be a part of the series, and looking forward to kicking it off. Well, this is going to be a really great show. Tell us a little bit about who you are and your background in networking fundamentals, so that we can get a bitter appreciation as to what this course is about. Absolutely. Lauren, I've been teaching now for a better part of a decade. Actually, a little more than a decade now, and I've been teaching. The core focus here at ACI Learning for me is a CompTIA's A plus, Net plus, and Security plus. I've been doing technical training, MCT, Microsoft Certified Trainer. I have an MCSA as well in Windows clients. I've taken server certification. I do have a good understanding of the technologies that you're going to learn about, and it's been one of the things that I've been teaching for a very long time. So I'm very looking forward to it. I'm excited. Well, I have to say, Wes is a profound name in this industry. I'm not going to let you be humble here, Wes. So it is exciting to be able to host this with him. But Wes, please tell us about what this course is about. Sure. So if you're just getting started out in networking, let's take something like a CompTIA Net plus course. There is a ton of networking jargon, right? And it can be a little bit overwhelming. So one of the things that we wanted to do with this course is we wanted to kind of step back from certification and we want to teach you and instruct you in a way that will allow you to have that conversation about networking, and not only the fundamentals of networking, but the technologies used in networking. So that if you decide that, hey, maybe this is a career for you, maybe this is something that you want to get in, you don't have to get overwhelmed with a certification endeavor, and hey, I've got to take this exam. So what we're doing is we're stepping back from that, and we're really just giving you a higher level, I wouldn't say a 30,000 foot overview, because we're definitely going to teach you some specifics about networking. So I'd say more of like a 10,000 foot overview of the landscape of networking, where we're going to teach you things like the fundamentals of TCP, IP communication, right? We're going to teach you about the network devices. We'll teach you about things like communication protocols, right? A lot of technical jargon, and that's one of the things that we want to do. We want to remove and strip back some of that jargon, some of the conversations that people have that really just seem like they're speaking in alphabet soup, and really let you know what those technologies are, but do it in a way that if you're new to this and you've never seen networking before, that you're going to be in a very comfortable space, and that's what we want. We want you to have a very comfortable space to come in and learn this technology, and not being overburdened by deadlines and certifications. Well, I really appreciate that, Wes, because I'm new to networking as well, so I'll be asking the real-time questions that you may have to Wes, and be learning right along with you, which brings me to my next question. Who else should be learning with us, Wes? All right. This can really be for anybody. There's no exclusivity here. If you are new to networking, maybe you want to know. Hey, maybe I don't know. Is networking for me? Well, we don't want you to have to take 80-hour course to maybe figure out that maybe you want to do something else. Maybe you want to go into coding. So if you're brand new and you have no experience in networking, then this course is for you. But if you're one of those ones that maybe you've been a self-learner, or maybe you've been one that's been in the industry, and maybe you haven't been in the industry in a long time, then maybe you need a refresher. Or maybe you just need a refresher on some of the topics for another course that maybe is a certification endeavor for you. Either way, this course welcomes everybody. Again, we don't go into some of the advanced things that you can learn in networking. Those are for other courses in another time, if you will. But that's what we want you to know here. Everybody's welcome. This is really geared towards people that have no experience in networking. But that doesn't mean that if you have any experience that you can't join and enjoy the course as well. Well, I have to say I'm really excited to either refresh some of the knowledge I do have or to be learning right along with you. But you kind of hit the nail on the head when you talked about if this is a certification course or not. Can you refresh? Sure, absolutely. You know, one of the things here at ACI Learning and part of the ITProTV product, we have a lot of certification exams in our libraries. We have a lot of people that are coming to us for that exact thing. And I encourage you to look at those. This, again, I cannot stress is more about the comfort, being comfortable learning these topics, but not driving towards certification. Now, this definitely can be something that's supplemental for other things. Maybe you are taking courses, that there is a portion of a networking section that you're not really familiar with. Well, this is also for you too. But keep in mind at the end of the day, there is no certification that this is for. This is for our viewers, and that's really what it's about. Well, I have to say that our next question is all about what are you excited for? And I'm going to answer real quick. I'm excited to jump into this because I'm trying to encourage my certifications. And one of the pieces that I felt was a little weak was the networking piece. So Wes, what are you excited about? I'm going to say ditto on that one, Lauren, because with Lauren being a part of the show too, she's asking a lot of the questions that you're probably going to be asking as well too. And I look forward to hopefully answering those questions, and I'll give you the right information rather than bad information. But one of the things that I'm excited about, I love teaching, and I love teaching people entry-level stuff that is not under the time constraints of certification. Don't get me wrong, I like teaching people certifications as well because it helps to make them successful. But I also like things that aren't necessarily driven towards certification, more of just personal learning. Maybe you want to ramp up your skills. Well, I love to be the person that helps you, along with Lauren, to achieve that goal. Well, I'm just going to say, I've seen a little bit behind the scenes, and there are visuals. He brings the learning to life, and it's just fun to see the interaction. So let's not waste any more time. Let's jump into the first episode. We'll see you there. Thank you for watching ITProTV.