So now the topic that most of you have been dreading, Python examination preparation.
So I'm going to be totally real with you here and I'm going to give you a really good option that I hope many of you take for the certification exam.
And I support this option I'm going to give you.
So first of all, what is Python? If you don't know what it is, it's a programming language.
It's powerful, fast, user-friendly, easily integrated in many different things.
It's open, so it works on Windows, Mac, Linux. It even works with our routers.
It even works with our switches. So yes, I can run Python scripts on our switches.
So why do I care about this? I care about this because it allows me to programmatically manage, monitor, maintain my network.
I can eliminate my CLI. I can script everything with Python and then I can run it, execute it, so on and so forth.
All right, so let's focus on the exam objectives here for Encore version 1.1.
If we scroll down, Python is found under the automation section.
It's 15% of your exam. So here it is. Interpret basic Python components and scripts.
Let's pull up a calculator. So with my calculator here, what I'm going to do is I'm going to approximate about 90 questions on the exam.
Let's multiply that by 15%. 15% of your exam is on automation.
That's about 13.5 questions from this section on your exam.
There is one, two, three, four, five, six, seven subsections. Divide that by seven.
You're going to get approximately 1.9 Python questions on the exam.
You might be saying, Raymond, that's not exact. That's not necessarily accurate. That's OK.
So you could get one question. You could get two. You could get three. You could get four.
But I highly, highly, highly doubt that you will get more than four if it happens.
So my question to you is, do you want to spend the time, energy and effort learning Python for maybe four questions?
That won't matter if you failed them all and you did well everywhere else.
You are still going to pass the certification exam. Think about that for a second.
So for those of you who dread Python, you don't want to get into programming, anything like that.
And you're like, I just want to get through this exam. You can skip them all if you want.
You see Python question? Yes. A, B, C or D. Move on. A, B, C or D. Move on.
Literally, you could do that. And as long as you did well everywhere else, it's not going to fail you.
All right. So if you truly want to learn Python, I'm not going to teach it to you here. Why?
Because let me show you. If we go into Discover in our campus environment and under Discover, you search for Python.
We have two Python courses that I would encourage you to take if you want to learn Python.
There's an intermediate course and a beginner course. So under View All, go down to the Ps.
You're going to find Python. Scroll back up. You'll see Foundations and Intermediate.
Notice Foundations is 10 hours. If you have no Python experience, you're going to have to take a 10-hour course minimum to get ready for maybe four questions.
That really won't make or break you on the exam, right? Do you want to do that? That's up to you.
But Foundations may not cover 100% all four questions. You might actually need to know intermediate stuff.
Yes. To what? To answer all four of those questions.
That's 29 hours of Python training, folks, to interpret basic Python components and scripts.
So that is up to you. Do you want to invest 29 hours in Python that you feel you will maybe not use in the real world for a long time?
Or you don't have time to invest 29 hours in Python because the return on your investment is not going to be there?
Here's what I recommend. Take those 29 hours and invest those extra 29 hours really learning your infrastructure topics, really learning your security topics.
Why? That is 50% of your exam. That is half of your exam infrastructure and security.
Take those extra 29 hours. Do the invested time and energy you need in there so that way you get more of those right and the Python questions don't matter.
That is my recommendation. I'm serious. Why? Because Python is a significant amount of training.
And most people are not going to invest the time anyways. So I'm not going to teach Python live. We got courses for that.
You want to take the courses? Take them. I encourage you to do that. I do. But for the exam, not necessary.
Here's another thing, too, I've put together for you. If you just didn't know enough about Python, you're like, Raymond, can you just kind of help me prep for the exam?
Just give me give me some nuggets of information. Give me a little bit of feedback.
All right. So right now, as I am recording this Python video, my Encore course for version 1.1 is still being built.
But here's the deal. I already have a resource up there that I can show you that has some Python nuggets of information in it for the certification exam.
So let me show you that right now. All right. Let's hope this works. Come on. Oh, there we go.
All right. So over on the right hand side, you're going to find in your environment CCNP Enterprise Encore exam crash.
So you click on that and then you can open up a PDF. And if you scroll down to the Python information, which is pretty far down.
Right. You'll see the little Python symbol I put on all those pages. So that way there you can find it pretty quickly.
You'll see here there's some nuggets of information like know what NC client is. Know maybe how to read this output.
Know what this output does based on what I've specified here. Know what this does based on what I've written here.
So if you review this and it makes a little bit of sense to you, then you'll probably be pretty successful answering the possible Python questions
that may show up on the exam. Now, I'm not saying that these are related to exact questions. That's not what I'm saying.
And to be honest with you, no, they're not. OK. But it's information that we feel based on our own experience is important for you to know
if you want to be successful at addressing those Python related questions on the certification exam.
Notice there's a lot here more than four. Right. As I said, it could be one, two, three or four questions.
Why? Because I as well as colleagues have had our own different experiences. You put those together.
We come up with something that everyone can take advantage of to prepare for an exam.
So with that said, we are trying to give you the information you need to be successful.
So if you already know Python, you're like, I just kind of dig in for me, Raymond. Give me, you know, what I need to kind of focus on.
That's the exam crash information right here for you. If you're new to Python, you're like, you know what?
I don't want to learn it, but I still want to read this. Then do it. OK.
Now, there you have at least a chance for one, two, three or four questions on the exam.
So just keep that in mind, folks. That's what we've done for you here. I'm not going to teach you Python.
I never did it for version one. I'm not going to. Yeah. Version 1.0. I'm not going to do it for version 1.1 either.
It's up to you if you want to learn Python on your own. I've provided the exam crash for you.
And if you choose to skip Python altogether on the exam and pick A, B, C or D on the fly, that is your choice.
And it's not a bad option. Most people do that. Most people do that.
So with that in mind, folks. Pick your own adventure. Choose your own adventure when it comes to Python.
And whatever you choose, especially the path of not even studying Python, then take those 29 hours you would have invested in Python
and use them to perfect those other areas.
So that way there, Python won't matter, even if you got all the questions wrong on the exam.