Autodidacticism — self-education or self-directed learning.
An autodidact is a mostly self-taught person, as opposed to learning in a school setting or from a full-time tutor or mentor. Wikipedia
If you want the fancy term for a key part of what you learn during your Cisco certification – the word is Autodidacticism. As much as you learn, it is far more important that you learn to keep learning. The knowledge you get today will change over the next few years and you will need to keep re-learning to stay up to date.
Musing: On Permananent and Ephemeral Knowledge and Exam Study
