The IT Certification Megathread: Straight Outta CompTIA

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Serious Hardware/Software Crap > The IT Certification Megathread: Straight Outta CompTIA

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MC Fruit Stripe: Nov 26, 2002; around and around we go

Mantle posted:

For PMP I heard you have to somehow verify your work experience hours and verification is very strict. What is the best way to keep track of 4,500 hours experience in project management?

Stealing it right up front.

I want someone to answer this man's question AND answer "how do you get 4,500 hours of project management experience without the project management cert?"

Mantle and I eagerly await your advice!

# ¿ Dec 6, 2012 18:33

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# ¿ Apr 29, 2024 18:30

MC Fruit Stripe: Nov 26, 2002; around and around we go

At some point dude, stop asking about certs and just get them. You've been asking cert/IT questions for like all of 2012 and haven't really gotten anywhere. Quit planning and just buy a book and take a test.

MCITP, not MCIPT, is a failed attempt on Microsoft's part to rebrand their certification. It failed horribly and has been aborted.

MCSA 2003 became the 2008 MCITP: Server Administrator, which became the MCSA 2012.

MCSE 2003 became the 2008 MCITP: Enterprise Administrator, which became the MCSE 2012.

# ¿ Dec 9, 2012 06:21

MC Fruit Stripe: Nov 26, 2002; around and around we go

oogs posted:

As a linux sysadmin with 6+ years experience, am I crazy to not care about certs?

Yes. It's just like not caring about a degree or any piece of knowledge that does not apply directly to your current position. It's about getting another job with more authority and more benefits. All the pieces matter.

# ¿ Dec 21, 2012 18:18

MC Fruit Stripe: Nov 26, 2002; around and around we go

Even if you use dumps for your certs, I'd think through sheer osmosis you'd figure out what the gently caress a subnet mask is while you get your Network+.

# ¿ Dec 28, 2012 02:54

MC Fruit Stripe: Nov 26, 2002; around and around we go

SPICE MUST FLOW posted:

Is there a general consensus on the quality of CBT Nuggets video training?

I think the consensus is basically "you can find them everywhere" so people use them. That said, if I ever meet James Conrad I'm going to try to punch him before he relates a disarming story about how wacky his daily life is.

# ¿ Jan 8, 2013 20:57

MC Fruit Stripe: Nov 26, 2002; around and around we go

madmaan posted:

I use to think they were okay, but unless you are getting them free from work I can't really recommend them anymore.

They need more quality control over their content anyway. The "flavor" that the side stories add to the videos is not my cup of tea anymore. They would have to be a lot cheaper and a lost more focused to change my opinion.

This post reminds me of the first time my wife and I went to the Grand Canyon. We purchased a novelty sombrero from the gift shop and fed soft serve to pigeons for hours before hopping into our rent a car to go back to the hotel. And wouldn't you know it! The car wouldn't start! That's kinda like today's topic, non repudiation in Exchange 2010.

:psyboom:

# ¿ Jan 8, 2013 21:13

MC Fruit Stripe: Nov 26, 2002; around and around we go

psydude posted:

Thanks for this. Adding it to the OP.

Yeah, those are fantastic. I saw them one time before but forgot to ever follow up with them - ie, print, learn, use them. Gonna print a few out for the cubicle.

# ¿ Jan 12, 2013 08:20

MC Fruit Stripe: Nov 26, 2002; around and around we go

Go even simpler.

/24 is what we deal with every day and you know there are 256 IPs available. So every number higher than that halves it. Every number lower doubles the number of hosts. Just work it from there.

So if /24 is 1 group of 256, /26 is 4 groups of 64, take out the network ID and broadcast, and you've got 1-62, 65-126, 129-190, 193-254. Those are the available IPs.

Swear to god, I don't do it any more cleverly than that. If someone came to me and said, hey stripe, I need you to carve out a /1 subnet on 1.0.0.0, how many hosts would we have available, I'd just be like, oh hey calc.exe. 256. Times two. Times two. Times two.

# ¿ Jan 23, 2013 06:55

MC Fruit Stripe: Nov 26, 2002; around and around we go

psydude posted:

ROUTE costs $200? Ugggghhhhh.

The cost a certification is only relevant if you plan to fail it. :eng101:

# ¿ Feb 4, 2013 04:42

MC Fruit Stripe: Nov 26, 2002; around and around we go

The :0: indicates that there is a group of zeroes there. The :: indicates that, when all is said and done, put as many sets of zeroes in as you'd need to flesh out the address.

So aaaa::ffff would be aaaa:0000:0000:0000:0000:0000:0000:ffff

You'd never have two sets of :: because it would blow your mind.

aaaa::cccc:0:ffff -> aaaa:0000:000:0000:0000:cccc:0000:ffff

Don't know if that makes a lick of sense.

I think you're thinking of consecutive as "two consecutive", that distinction might be your mental block.

e: Put another way, consecutive is as many as you want. Your loopback address is ::1. 0000:0000:0000:0000:0000:0000:0000:0001.

MC Fruit Stripe fucked around with this message at 08:27 on Feb 7, 2013

# ¿ Feb 7, 2013 08:23

MC Fruit Stripe: Nov 26, 2002; around and around we go

I have a cousin who proves how IT he is by posting CPU overclock results and benchmark scores etc from his home PC. He's so IT.

# ¿ Feb 14, 2013 06:00

MC Fruit Stripe: Nov 26, 2002; around and around we go

Red Robin Hood posted:

A support guy at work is a lot like this. He's so very about it, too...

I still have trouble with that conversation, because some people care A LOT about it, and I, well

"hey stripe what video card do you run at home?"
"ATI, I believe"
"oh yeah what model?"
"uh, the red one. yeah. the red one."
"what's the texture fill rate on that guy?"
"... seven? seven textures? i think it's seven"

Anyway, certs is the topic - hey guys aren't certs the best? Anyone else into certs like I am?

Martytoof posted:

I'm into some pretty obscure routing protocols. You've probably never heard of them

Also I didn't want to let you think this isn't funny. It's very funny, good stuff.

e: Oh, you're into EIGRP? Yeah that was pretty cool before it went all mainstream.

there's a pitchfork pun in here somewhere - routefork? pitchwork? netfork? it's there somewhere it's just not coming to me.

MC Fruit Stripe fucked around with this message at 06:56 on Feb 14, 2013

# ¿ Feb 14, 2013 06:51

MC Fruit Stripe: Nov 26, 2002; around and around we go

I'm greedy as gently caress, that's how.

# ¿ Feb 25, 2013 18:41

MC Fruit Stripe: Nov 26, 2002; around and around we go

Oh waaaah I have to take soooo many tests to make 6 figures and have an awesome job, waaaaah

# ¿ Mar 5, 2013 18:04

MC Fruit Stripe: Nov 26, 2002; around and around we go

I forget, how big is the raise you're getting both to retain your new skillset, but ensure their partner status? Is it whopping? It was whopping right?

# ¿ Mar 12, 2013 06:19

MC Fruit Stripe: Nov 26, 2002; around and around we go

It sits uselessly on my shelf with plenty of other books that I will continue to tell myself I'll get around to, but Sams SCCM Unleashed seems like the right choice for all things SCCM.

Does anyone else have preferred publishers, or do most people take books one at a time? I find myself trusting anything Wrox or Oreilly print.

# ¿ Mar 12, 2013 18:31

MC Fruit Stripe: Nov 26, 2002; around and around we go

What do you study for EMCISA? I don't even see books specifically geared for it, is it just the Information Storage and Management book? I guess I expected there to be more, that seemed pretty high level, I dunno.

# ¿ Mar 21, 2013 05:58

MC Fruit Stripe: Nov 26, 2002; around and around we go

Ser Pounce posted:

whenever I use gns3 I find that I spend a huge amount of time troubleshooting gns3 problems and not cisco ones.

This is a great way to put it. I've used GNS3 for about 10 hours, and I'd say I've gained 9 hours of GNS3 experience, 1 hour of Cisco. I'm sure this gets better as you go on but it doesn't make me eager to revisit it since I feel like I'm working on irrelevant knowledge.

# ¿ Mar 30, 2013 19:48

MC Fruit Stripe: Nov 26, 2002; around and around we go

Yeah since we're talking about it, what IS a current CCNA lab looking like these days?

# ¿ Apr 5, 2013 22:14

MC Fruit Stripe: Nov 26, 2002; around and around we go

ToG posted:

The same as ever. Ideal lab for cheap seems to be 2-3 2600xms, 2 x 2950s and a 3550. The new exams need ios15 but it's pretty identical to ios12.4 bar a few commands relating to how licensing works. A cisco 1841 256MB Ram/64MB flash is the minimum kit that can run IOS15 if you really want to run it.

Ahh cool, I didn't know if there had been strides or suggested upgrades in the home lab industry, thank you.

# ¿ Apr 6, 2013 04:55

MC Fruit Stripe: Nov 26, 2002; around and around we go

I don't care if you dump the test or not, I could give a poo poo about your life. People who don't know things are always exposed in an interview.

Here's an interview which has never happened:

Me: I see here you have your CCNP, can you tell me the subnet mask of a /24 network?
CCNP: 255.255.255.0.
Me: That satisfies all of my networking questions, I'd like to discuss our generous benefits package with you.

# ¿ May 15, 2013 18:34

MC Fruit Stripe: Nov 26, 2002; around and around we go

Pudgygiant posted:

Apply for the position I'm leaving. Good luck!

I didn't mean to open the braindump can of worms, I just thought it was dumb that having worked with Aruba and knowing what GRE is made Pass4Sure call me wrong.

Man you picked the wrong thread and the wrong guy to whip it out on. You're losing this argument and it's not as close as you think.

# ¿ May 15, 2013 21:30

MC Fruit Stripe: Nov 26, 2002; around and around we go

metavisual posted:

I'm putting together a modest CCNA lab, and I specced out the following, does this make sense?

Do I need anything else? Cables, etc?

What website is that? Must... spend money...

# ¿ May 28, 2013 20:02

MC Fruit Stripe: Nov 26, 2002; around and around we go

Can't believe I didn't recognize it, thank you!

# ¿ May 28, 2013 20:39

MC Fruit Stripe: Nov 26, 2002; around and around we go

As with everything at a community college that isn't "transferable gen ed credits 101", you'll learn more on your own at home if you remain motivated. However, if motivation and attention span are an issue, that might be an interesting experience and will keep you on track. Would give you exposure to a lot of stuff, serve as a way to network with a couple of people, etc. I dunno, that looks interesting enough to me!

# ¿ Jun 14, 2013 05:38

MC Fruit Stripe: Nov 26, 2002; around and around we go

Vintimus Prime posted:

Wow!! This is amazing. If I can get my healthcare it banged out soonish, I am going to do this.

Back off it son. If their website comes back up (I get an error when attempting to register from multiple PCs and browsers), I am signing up for this. You're all free to sign up AFTER I have done so. Harumph.

# ¿ Jun 18, 2013 07:29

MC Fruit Stripe: Nov 26, 2002; around and around we go

Buy and insert as much RAM as your current desktop PC can support. You're done.

# ¿ Jun 22, 2013 19:02

MC Fruit Stripe: Nov 26, 2002; around and around we go

Corvettefisher posted:

Wait I thought we were talking about lab environments?

We are, and I am consistently amazed at how much people over estimate their needs in a lab environment. In order to run a home lab, you need

- A computer with a decent amount of memory, and HD space for your VMDKs (you will run out of memory well before hard drive space)
- VMware Workstation
- 180 day trials of a Microsoft product
- FreeNAS
- Openfiler
- GNS Workbench

But talking to some people around here, you'd think you need a rack of servers with offsite DR to lab some poo poo.

Stop overthinking and planning people, just install a copy of Server 2008 R2 in a VM, dcpromo, then think okay what else would I want in my sandbox domain, then build that computer, etc.

e: I'm not mad at anyone, I just think that a lot of people are guilty of that "plan it to the nth, the environment must be perfect" mentality and have to shake out of it for this. You'll spend all your time planning and not enough learning. Part of the point and fun of the lab environment is to slap poo poo together haphazardly. You don't need a perfect setup for it, you just need to get in there and do it. I appreciate that people want to be efficient, but if you spend too much time in the planning phase you'll never see results.

MC Fruit Stripe fucked around with this message at 21:15 on Jun 23, 2013

# ¿ Jun 23, 2013 21:05

MC Fruit Stripe: Nov 26, 2002; around and around we go

Daylen Drazzi posted:

https://vmware.stanly.edu/waitlist.php

Brilliant, signed up.

# ¿ Jun 27, 2013 22:47

MC Fruit Stripe: Nov 26, 2002; around and around we go

Moey posted:

Ehh. Maybe I should just cram and knock out the CCNA before those tests retire?

The CCNA retirement has me thinking the opposite - be ready to go for the new ones, in the belief that, oh, early adopter, they'll "last longer".

# ¿ Jun 27, 2013 23:57

MC Fruit Stripe: Nov 26, 2002; around and around we go

hackedaccount posted:

I don't want CCNA because I don't want to be a network guy.

Sorry, I just don't understand this sentence.

I don't want to be a network guy either, but I want my CCNA. It's hard enough to get past that HR screen. I'll take any bullet I can get. And if the CCNA in any way allows me to communicate better or seem that much more impressive to my network team, then I'm right there. I mean, if it's a free time issue, if you literally have a choice between a sys admin cert and the CCNA, then yes go sys admin, but I will not unilaterally dismiss any certification.

Except for the CompTIA cert. I agree with skipdogg completely. Skip all of them. I am just one guy, but I see A+ at this point and I think "guy with a sweet gaming rig and 20k posts on a troubleshooting forum, 19k of which are copy/paste instructions of how to scan for a virus and post the log".

Certifications I want because they make me more employable and more knowledgeable:
[ ] CompTIA
[x] Everything else

If I was to list the certifications that I want, they'd read like a who's who of a bad Craigslist post, and I'll never get there. I know I won't get there. It's not the point. I'd rather overreach than pick up a Windows 7 cert and go oh yeah that's probably enough. I'd like a CCIE, a VCDX, and a MCM. That can't happen, but it's a goal. I'd rather overshoot.

MC Fruit Stripe fucked around with this message at 10:37 on Jun 29, 2013

# ¿ Jun 29, 2013 07:35

MC Fruit Stripe: Nov 26, 2002; around and around we go

Those exams will set you up with a lot of knowledge which will benefit your career and your paycheck. But man, two months? That's cert dump territory. You're going to cram knowledge in as quick as you can get it and retain very little. That's really unfortunate.

And honestly, I wouldn't consider that a "basic" certification at all, to address your last paragraph. I'll never disparage anyone's efforts, but 95% of the posts in this thread are some variant of "I'm thinking of an A+/net+", you're skipping right over that. I won't say 6 figures, but a CCNA is Very Employable. There's absolutely nothing to scoff at there.

You have the Nuggets subscription, that's good, Jeremy Cioara (sp) is highly regarded.

Your study habits deserve commendation. Between that and your jumping right to the CCNA in two months, I'd say there's a fair chance we're all working for you some day.

MC Fruit Stripe fucked around with this message at 08:07 on Jul 2, 2013

# ¿ Jul 2, 2013 08:05

MC Fruit Stripe: Nov 26, 2002; around and around we go

For 3 exams and an upgrade? Probably a little skimpy, to be honest - but then those books are geared toward passing and not learning the material.

# ¿ Jul 5, 2013 19:55

MC Fruit Stripe: Nov 26, 2002; around and around we go

Martytoof posted:

Arrite, registered and paid for my Stanly VCP5-ICM course. Who else here is in my class?

I've received no word from them, and even re-waitlisted to make sure. Nothing.

# ¿ Jul 10, 2013 22:57

MC Fruit Stripe: Nov 26, 2002; around and around we go

QPZIL posted:

Guess all my worry was unfounded.
925/1000 - CCENT: check.

Next Friday is Server 2012 MCSA part one, time to switch gears.

CCENT? MCSA? Within a week of each other?

Can I just give you my resume right now in case you want to hire me in a year's time when you're running things?

# ¿ Jul 12, 2013 01:54

MC Fruit Stripe: Nov 26, 2002; around and around we go

I don't know of anywhere else that you could ask a question that specific and get an answer based on personal experience in 15 minutes.

Currently awaiting my registration information, but once that arrives I'll be in a VCP class in the fall. FINALLY.

# ¿ Aug 8, 2013 21:04

MC Fruit Stripe: Nov 26, 2002; around and around we go

skipdogg posted:

Yeah, the community here is pretty cool. I got into my VCP course this fall as well. 219 bucks for 16 Tuesday nights. I'm 32... I feel too old to go back to community college.

Got in for about $170, huzzah, finally my VCP! VMware's line of products has always been one of the two parts of my job I'm most passionate about, and not having a VCP, only-a-cert though it may be, has been holding me back a bit. Will be nice to fix that.

# ¿ Aug 9, 2013 05:24

MC Fruit Stripe: Nov 26, 2002; around and around we go

Dilbert As gently caress posted:

Well I hope it has gotten a bit better since then, good news is I can get a head start on the new stuff and hopefully another cert I was looking to get anyways. Time to study

If you find yourself particularly motivated, can you provide some good resources for studying for 2nd and 3rd tier VMware certs? The VCP has a book, official VCP guide, but beyond that it looks like we're on our own.

# ¿ Aug 9, 2013 21:44

MC Fruit Stripe: Nov 26, 2002; around and around we go

I think he's just making a comment on how much we all always have on our list.

Hell I'm pushing a good 20k pages in SQL books I want to read.

But yes, actually reading it, that's the key.

# ¿ Aug 20, 2013 02:36

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# ¿ Apr 29, 2024 18:30

MC Fruit Stripe: Nov 26, 2002; around and around we go

Why are you guys still taking 70-680? Shouldn't you be on to 70-687 that way you're up to date with the latest and greatest, Windows 8?

hahahahaha I'm sorry, I shouldn't kid.

Dilbert As gently caress posted:

So I know some College classes are starting, any updates on that Stanely ICM class?

I never heard a word. I did register at a relatively local community college for it, and just did my nightly check that the class isn't cancelled. Only 7 days until my VCP class begins, huzzah!

# ¿ Aug 23, 2013 09:10

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