I passed the ENARSI exam on my 4th attempt, and here is what the ENARSI taught me overall. Before I start I just want to say this is not a comprehensive overview, but the reality of how the exam shows you where you are as a network engineer.
- If you don’t get below the surface of a concept the exam will expose you for lack of understanding. Learned this on the first attempt with the boat load of MPLS questions slowing me down as I didn’t get below the MPLS surface.
- You need to invest in your training (i.e. Time and $$$). I skated by (CCNA & CCNP ENCOR) with just Boson Exsim, Kevin Wallace videos, Some physical Routers & Switches, and skills & a few blessings. For the ENARSI I needed to build some decent sized labs for the routing protocols along with things related to routing, and I read white papers, and finally decided to pay for Rene’s ENARSI course which I am glad I did! Basically I had to become a sponge for knowledge, and it’s hard when you have experience, but remember you never stop learning.
- I played sports growing up and the one thing I learned was to trust the process, and it’s the same with studying for the ENARSI exam. It might take a year or two for you to grasp the concepts well enough for you to take the exam but that’s ok as the process will make you a better engineer in the long run. I took my 3rd very unprepared as I rushed so I could get the free retake deal, but on the 4th attempt I slowed down and worked on depth instead of width.
- Troubleshooting, and surprisingly chatgpt drove home this point while slightly insulting me
. Verbatim it said that with 1 to 2 show commands you should have an idea of what the problem is and how to fix it, and what separates good engineers vs. great engineers is that great engineers don’t chase configs but that they isolate the problem which stuck with me. I think that conversation changed the way I looked at the exam overall.
I hope and pray this helps someone as this was a trying journey for me, and the 4th was the charm.