WHY you need to study Python, Linux, CCNA 📚 AT THE SAME TIME! // ft. Cisco_Panther

About this video

An interview with network engineer Ernest, known as Cisco_Panther, about how he went from CCNA to CCNP in about a year and why he studies Python, Linux and CCNA/CCNP/CCIE topics at the same time. Ernest says he moved to the US from Nigeria in 2017 and, while waiting about a year for employment authorisation, studied five hours every day from January to November, earning CCNA in June and moving straight into CCNP. His commitment device is to book and pay for an exam months ahead, tell people around him, and treat study as non-negotiable — listening to courses during chores and labbing whenever possible. He prefers virtual labs (GNS3, then EVE-NG, including a friend’s home lab) over physical gear because topologies are easier to build and tear down. Motivation, he says, came from a concrete target: he looked up CCNP pay and used a picture of a Mercedes he wanted as a screensaver reminder. After CCNP he applied to Google and Facebook, got callbacks from both, and prepared networking to a CCIE-blueprint level, but says he was knocked out at the coding phase because his Python was not good enough — the failure that pushed him to learn Python and Linux seriously. Resources he names include David Bombal, Codecademy (which he repeated), Udemy courses, DataCamp, Cisco DevNet and the python.org tutorial/language reference to learn how Python itself works, not just Netmiko-style automation. By the interview he rates himself intermediate: comfortable with APIs and network automation, giving an example app where creating a VLAN in a UI creates it on a router/switch and syncs it to a SQL database. He now blocks time each day for different subjects — e.g. Linux, then Python, then AWS, then networking labs — studies heavily on his days off while protecting Sunday/family time, types configs in Notepad before pasting to build recall, revisits CCNA-level material in spare minutes so basics stay sharp, and advises learners to get networking foundations (layers 1-3) solid first, then add Python/Linux, because automation is useless without knowing networking.

Key takeaways

• Ernest’s system: book and pay for the exam first, announce it, then study about five hours daily — money and accountability on the line drive consistency.
• He failed Google/Facebook coding interviews despite strong networking; he attributes that specifically to weak Python, which is why he added Python and Linux to networking study.
• Learn Python beyond network-automation recipes: he used Codecademy repeatedly, DataCamp, DevNet and the python.org tutorial to learn functions, classes and program organisation.
• He time-blocks multiple subjects in one day and revisits CCNA basics regularly, arguing foundations must come first and automation requires real networking knowledge.
• Practical automation example given: a tool where a VLAN created in an app is deployed to router/switch and synchronised to a SQL database.

Episode details: published July 27, 2019 · 51:02 long. Summary written by Self Growth Videos from the episode itself. Business results and any income figures mentioned are NetworkChuck’s own claims, shared for education — they are not typical or guaranteed.

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