Certification Survey Extra is a series of periodic dispatches that give added insight into the findings of our most recent Certification Survey. These posts contain previously unpublished Certification Survey data.

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It's not uncommon among certified IT professionals to take and pass a certification exam without so much as cracking the cover of a study guide, downloading a single video walkthrough, or sitting through even 60 seconds' worth of anyone's online training course. Many experienced professionals have learned everything they need to know for a given exam just by working in the industry.

Among certified computer networking professionals who participated in our recent Computer Networking Certification Survey, 56.4 percent did not use any training materials or study aids created by the certification provider to prepare for their most recent certification exam.

In a similar vein, roughly 62.8 percent of survey respondents did not use any training materials or study aids created by a third-party training provider to prepare for their most recent certification exam. So one key takeaway relating to the various kinds of the certification study and training materials out there is that a lot of people in the industry don't use them.

Some individuals, on the other hand, probably especially including those who are relatively new to computer networking, do indeed rely on certification training materials and study aids to help them prepare for certification exams. For those who do use books, videos, training courses, and so forth, we asked them where they tend to get their training from.

Among certified networking professionals who prepared for their most recent computer networking certification exam using certification training materials created by the certification provider, the five most popular sources of training are as follows:

1) Cisco
2) CompTIA
3) Microsoft
4) (ISC)²
5) TestOut

Among certified networking professionals who prepared for their most recent computer networking certification exam using certification training materials created by a third-party training company, the five most popular sources of training are as follows:

1) Udemy
2) Pluralsight
3) CBT Nuggets
4) Pearson
5) Cybrary

If there's a computer networking certification in your future, and you'd like to have the benefit of some additional training, but haven't been certain where to turn — well, now you have some options.

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