Oziwifi

I have been waiting for Ekahau Wireless Troubleshooting course for almost six months. I wanted to join the next training in Australia after I finished my ECSE Design as I found it was very valuable training. It put me on the track not only for improving my designing skills but for troubleshooting. I felt very confident after taking ECSE Design; and my job tests that new knowledge daily.

I received an email about the training 45 days before the training, and I knew I was going to take it. I just gave myself more time for have more money in my bank account, and I say myself you will join a week before and all good. I forgot to set the alarm or reminder and I almost forgot. It became trickier as it matched with black Friday so I have to spend on some Christmas presents. I ended up confirming and paying two days before the training. I was fortunate I receive some extra assistance because there was a lab training kit that I needed to have for doing some labs. They delivered one lab kit on Monday from Sydney to Adelaide, and it arrived on Tuesday. Thanks to them I could make it.

I think the organizers took some suggestions from former courses to make it easier. I think this time they nailed it. We have four-day classes. We started on Tuesday, the first good point is that Monday is always a crazy day. We started by 10:00 am, the second one; that gave me time to organize the day, responding to some emails and urgent calls. The third one; we had a 40ish-minute lunch which gave me some extra time to do some urgent tasks as I couldn’t ask for a week off my job. Even though I missed almost 20 minutes because of a remote support job I had to do; what a shame. I couldn’t recover them and felt weird to ask. Could you imagine that, Can you please repeat the last 20 minutes, LOL. I wouldn’t be able to take this course if a remote trainer didn’t deliver it via the Internet. I saved a lot of money on flight tickets, accommodation and expenses. One colleague got sick, and I had to cover some of his tasks on-site.

On the first day, we did the theoretical overview of wireless, troubleshooting approaches and How to use the laminated material we received as part of the training, massive day.

On the second day, more theory and labs. We use the WlanPi; I think it is a compact and handy tool, it came with great tools and, I will add this one in my set of tools.

The third day was very valuable to me; we went through real scenarios and explored what happens in the field. Ferney explained clearly and repeated several times until everyone got it. I think the core of the course was here and I learned extra stuff from Ekahau. I took notes about of procedures that I haven’t seen before, and I hope to apply now.

The last day included more labs; this time it was with the Mikrotik. I had some previous experience with Mikrotik and I think I forgot most of it. Another toy to add to my tools set. I might need to repeat those labs and add some extra hours to take full advantage of the embedded software tools on this device. We went through some unplanned exercises; neither the trainer nor the students knew the solution to a couple of weird cases that the other students shared as a challenging exercise. We put into practice the troubleshooting approach, and the trainer showed his troubleshooting powers and found the issues. I enjoy it when my trainers know more than I know. The trainer, Ferney Munoz, was very knowledgeable and approachable; he went straight to the point

The dreaded exam took us almost 3 hours; it wasn’t too bad; all questions were part of the course, so no surprises on the exam.

I liked the fact that they didn’t save money on the lab guides; the quality of the printing and paper was excellent. I think the expectations I had about the training were fulfilled. I have my hands full of new toys and software that will assist me in performing very accurate wireless troubleshooting; and if I don’t, at least I will have a guru to ask.

Takeaways:

1.     I will set the alarm for my next training in ECSE Expert, I am not volunteering as an early bird.

2.     I definitely will ask for a week off next time. I think those 20 minutes were important.

3.    I hope Ekahau keep this kind of training with a remote expert trainer. COVID restrictions and closing frontiers could start at any time. I don’t want to be in a position where you can’t come back home because your home city is in lockdown and you have to pay for an unplanned hotel for one or two additional weeks. 

      The lab kit is not part of the course, so don’t get excited you will have to return it.