On the subject of global media distribution, it's no secret that many organizations only control copyrights or licensing rights within the borders of the countries they have jurisdiction in. Outside of those countries? Well, that's another story - a different organization likely controls the rights there.

In light of this, it shouldn't come as a surprise that while this is pretty apparent in terms of digital content, it also occurs on a similar level in the area of books and physical publishing. Publishing entities are limited to their country's borders, and entities will thus vary around the world.

Why does this matter to the average IT person, though?

Great question! It means that if you're looking for certification study books, there are channels you can go through in order to get your hands on course materials for a fraction of the cost that the distribution vectors here in the U.S. will charge you for these resources.

And best of all, while it's cheating the system a bit, it's completely legal for you.
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Let's take a look at one of the books I've obtained recently for one of my certification tests I'm studying for. The front of the book is labelled as the "International Version" of the book, and it has a different ISBN number than the U.S. Version, but the content is otherwise 100% identical to the version of this book I'd otherwise buy from a licensed distributor here stateside.

Looking on the back of the book, we note that there's a disclaimer on it:
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Sounds ominous, doesn't it? Very clearly states that this book isn't supposed to be sold by a distributor outside of the countries listed. Why is that? Well, the publisher of this book only has the right to distribute it within these countries. For the United States, a different publisher would need to produce it and/or sell it here.

How did I legally get a hold of it, then? This was accomplished by an individual in India buying the book from a licensed distributor, then re-selling it to me here Stateside and shipping it over. According to a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in 2013, this isn't illegal to do - and thousands of individuals do this every day to get around regulations in certain localities either on an individual level or for business reasons.

So here I am, with an official course book that I obtained, even including international shipping costs, for less than half of the cost that I'd drop on it off of Amazon brand new.
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You've probably guessed that a publisher who otherwise would be making some extra money for their locality is getting cheated by people who obtain books this way, and you're not wrong.

It's also a fair bet to assume that since the average labor cost here in the United States is higher than it is in India, for example, that it would cost more to produce books here than elsewhere. On the other hand, the shipping costs in the U.S. would almost certainly be lower than costs elsewhere for things within our country, so that fact is offsetting the difference a bit, too.

So, how much "damage" is this actually dealing to the vendor?

It's very hard to definitively say, although it's less than you might immediately think. This is due to several things that when added together, lower the overall value of the book content compared to the tests you're expected to pass with their knowledge - and subsequently mitigating the damage you're doing to a level that I'd argue is barely over inconsequential:

1. The certification industry is a multi-billion dollar industry, and nearly every vendor these days is using IT certification programs purely as "cash cows" because IT is so dependent on them for advancement these days. Quality doesn't mean as much in light of this, because all employers care about is the "letters behind your name" if they don't know any better. (and most don't)
2. Many, but not all, books don't equate to the test content well. To use the more recent example in my life, the CCNP exam books are a joke compared to what the exam actually covers. In the case of CCNP, I've actually had to spend an additional $150 on books on top of all of the Cisco-suggested resources I already had for my exam just to try and obtain the necessary knowledge the test was concerned with. Why should I shell out hundreds of extra dollars when I don't need to for an exam that isn't "fair", anyway? Microsoft isn't dissimilar to Cisco in this area, either.
3. The markup that U.S.-based vendors charge for their local books here is vastly more than it realistically needs to be. While this is difficult to prove in terms of hard numbers, it becomes evident by comparing prices on some of the books I've obtained this way to their costs on Amazon for the Kindle version. If the U.S.-based vendors aren't charging a substantially-higher markup than they need to be, then the Kindle version of all these books should be more affordable than the cost of buying a book from an Indian individual and having it shipped here, right? Amazingly, the Kindle version is almost always more expensive than a physically-printed copy from the other side of the world. This continues to reinforce that U.S. vendors are using these certifications as "cash cows", and needless markup runs rampant.
4. In trying to phrase this as kindly as possible and not naming specific names, my opinion is that some of this "damage" needs to be done. Far too many certification vendors are beginning to run their cert programs into the ground in terms of quality and real-world skills tested, and the concerns of many IT workers to these vendors have seemed to fall on deaf ears. Since the "stats don't lie", to quote the famous words of eSports analyst Alan Bester, perhaps dwindling markup profits will be enough of a real-world catalyst to these vendors that something needs to change. This certainly isn't true of all vendors, but it is of many.

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The easiest place is likely eBay, although there are other private-party sources one could use.

Keep in mind that to be consistent with obtaining these books legally, you're going to have to get them from a private party instead of through a business distributor - since that would be crossing the line into illegal territory.

Remember that this approach can also be applied to college or university books as well, and many people have already used this approach with them to the point that you may even be able to source the books you want locally, albeit second/thirdhand.
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There are multiple ways to obtain certification study books for less, and this method is one of them. It's also a way to finish your certification paths out, and then get your media resources into the hands of your colleagues so that they can do the same for an even further reduced cost to them.

At the end of the day, it's nice to know that I don't have to spend a veritable "arm and a leg" on books anymore.

And believe me, I read a TON of 'em.

Cheers,
​Caleb

I'll admit - Cisco has given me a measurable amount of cause for concern so far this year with seeing firsthand how bad their Quality Control has become, particularly in terms of their IOS and IOS-XE software engineering. The sheer amount of bugs that I've had to deal with of theirs on a daily basis and being told "well, this will be fixed in the XX.XXX.RXX release, so just keep your eyes out for that" is hardly a comfort when your network is suffering an undeserved fate in terms of security or stability in the interim.

Sadly, Cisco's certification exams may be headed down the same road. After receiving a 76% score on my CCNP Route exam this last week (passing is 79%), I was forced to ask myself the same question post-test that I found myself wracking my mind about 5 questions in - does Cisco even reasonably know what they're doing anymore?

While I'll try to avoid dropping any major spoilers on the exam, I would like to at least attempt to convey a bit of my concern and frustration with a vendor that some would argue as getting a bit "too big for their britches" in trying to hold on to the wavering market share they have at present. If their high-level certification exams are any indication, the #1 vendor in networking today may have a rocky future in the works for the next few years.

** DISCLAIMER ** - If you're reading this, and you're a Cisco employee trying to preserve certification exam integrity, please reach out to me to discuss further. I've already submitted a formal email to Cisco regarding my concerns about this exam and its notable straying from documented exam objectives, and would much rather talk over these considerations rather than be the subject of certification revocation threats. Thank you for understanding. - ** END DISCLAIMER **
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Before we talk a bit about CCNP Route and what to expect on it, let's take a step back for a minute, shall we?

Now, I've got a pretty old-fashioned mentality about certification exams. Get multiple study resources, run through plenty of practical hands-on labs, and do your practice tests - all vital aspects of dealing with today's technical examinations. And really, when the exam objectives are set out in "black and white", that's going down the proper road to success, am I right?

So, when Cisco recommends that for the 300-101 exam you get their official Cisco Press book, their Cisco hands-on lab guide, their NetAcademy course, and the MeasureUp! practice tests, I figured I'd go ahead and snatch these resources up to get adequately prepared (although I did wait for sales on the books and a voucher on the practice tests, mind you).

Armed with these tools, I read through the Press book twice, took the online course (scored 91% overall), scored low 90s on the practice tests, had no struggle with the labs, and figured that I was pretty ready to take the test itself.

   ...well, if you know me, you know that I never 'just' stop there.

After going through the guts of the Cisco Press book, I forged a command reference guide with every single command that the book uses in its examples and walkthroughs (I've attached it at the end of this guide for anyone who already owns the book and would find it useful). In addition to the IOS commands, it also includes some nifty matrix charts of concepts that would likely be on the test, such as OSPF and BGP neighbor states, stub area types and LSAs, etc.

One thing about the book, however, left me a bit confused and unsure of if further study was needed. See below, an except from page 169 in the official Cisco Press book (used here to prove a point):
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Now, if you've taken CCNA recently, you know that Frame Relay isn't tested on CCNA anymore. Matter of fact, Frame Relay hasn't been on CCNA for over 8 years. However, some references from the book and the NetAcademy course used Frame Relay configuration examples, so in the forethought that it was going to be featured on the exam, I've added it into the command guide and did some additional study on it as well.

If I could be allowed one side comment here in passing, Cisco, why are you still featuring Frame Relay on a professional certification exam in the year 2018 instead of a more relevant technology such as MPLS, EoMPLS, or Metro Ethernet? First-world country engineers haven't used Frame Relay for over 10 years, and that's being generous! Are the CCIEs writing these books even paying attention to Cisco's tests and modern trends? But, I digress..

Minor detour aside, this raised some cause for concern on my part that I wasn't fully grasping the exam objectives. In an effort to try and confirm to what degree I needed to know Frame Relay instead of simply leaving this ordeal up to fate, I obtained a 12-month old brain dump for this exam to try and get an idea of what Frame Relay concepts here would be tested.

Allow me to VERY HASTILY clarify, I'm not an advocate of cheating your way through exams! I used the 12-month old dump that I did here because the questions from it wouldn't be on the actual test anymore, and it would at least give me a rough idea of Frame Relay depth on the test - which was the only real thing I was after. After doing a quick search for Frame Relay on the dump, I found a lot more than I bargained for. Additional study on Frame Relay would have to be undertaken.

As a second clarification for the Cisco employees that might be reading my ramblings here, my thought process in finding out about Frame Relay here is absolutely necessitated because Cisco isn't offering this knowledge themselves as part of their mid-tier R&S certification paths even though their books say they are. Please take this into consideration.​

So, my exam test day pushed back another two weeks to make sure I was confident about having a grasp on everything, the only thing left was to finally, at long last, take the exam.

Or, so they say.
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As is my habit with major test-taking, I got enough sleep the day before (a weekend) so that I could stay up all night and cram for the exam proper.

Armed with my command reference guide and the MeasureUp! practice tests, I felt that I had a pretty comprehensive knowledge of the test contents and would be able to react accordingly regardless of what commands or concepts were thrown at me.

I arrived at the test center an hour early to perform a final review. The test center staff (Metro Community College in Omaha, NE) were very courteous, and I was able to get checked in and started with my exam without too much trouble. They've got a very nice facility as well - I'd recommend them if you're looking for a local exam center in the eastern Nebraska area.

The test itself...    was an uncalled-for nightmare.

Roughly 75% of the commands on the test weren't featured in either the Cisco Press book or in the NetAcademy course. Since I had an honest-to-God printed copy of every single command in the book that I crammed with all night and took to the test center with me, I'm saying this with a pretty forceful degree of confidence. I could feel my stomach filling with dread about halfway through the test, having guessed at the majority of the commands thus far and trying to keep track of some of the ones I hadn't recognized to look them up afterward but losing count. Numerous typographical errors didn't help, either.

In addition, several questions on the test weren't part of the documented exam topic objectives, ​with questions that should have belonged in CCNA Collaboration, CCNP Switch, and CCNP T-Shoot being thrown in. I found myself scrambling to guess at the more identifiable ones, and praying that the remainder were part of the "unscored" questions that exam vendors love to throw in to scare people.

Getting up from my chair at the end of it all, I knew without looking at my results that I'd failed. Frankly, I wasn't sure what to think - I'd received a veritable "gauntlet" of an exam that effectively robbed me of $300 worth of exam fees in addition to the time and gasoline it took to drive up to Omaha. I'd expect something like this from the legendary CCIE exam, but CCNP?

What was more confusing to me was that I'd done everything right in terms of prepwork. All the recommended study materials on Cisco's website? I'd done them all. Methodical, thorough notes of all the printed topics, and my understanding in relation to all the exam objectives was there in a neatly-sorted line.

So, holding my head in my hands while getting back in my car for the long drive home...

What went wrong?

If the CCIE community's outcry about Cisco's high level exams being made granularly hard to the point of absurdity is any indication, I may not be alone in the boat I'm apparently in.

​In my opinion, if you're going to clearly outline the necessary study tools and topics needed to pass an exam and demonstrate an accredited degree of technical proficiency on a platform, you need to stick to what you've said you'll do. The IT industry is struggling substantially right now in terms of trying to get test takers to avoid "brain-dumping" their way through as many exams as they can afford, and test practices of whoring exams into something drastically different from their documented scope aren't helping.

I've learned a lot from my first attempt at CCNP Route, although most of this knowledge was ultimately unwanted. While I'm confident having seen "the beast" firsthand that I'll know how to approach it the next time, I'm left deciding on how much time and money I can afford to throw at this venture now in the state that it's in.

Dropping $3,000 or so to achieve CCNP is a rough bullet to take considering you'll likely have to recertify within 12-18 months of getting it with the way that the cert dates are issued. While I can somewhat manage that, how would a blue-collar worker with a family and other obligations to tend to fare? Not a pleasant thought.

At the end of the day, I can laugh and be honest with you - I'm still pissed. Really pissed. I'm still somewhat fighting the urge to go on a mild rant that Cisco stole $300 from me due to absolutely no fault of my own on an exam that was NOT what they advertised.

But, as with all my vendettas, that score will be settled. In time.

Stay thirsty, my friends,
​Caleb