The IT Certification Megathread: Straight Outta CompTIA

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Gucci Loafers: May 20, 2006; Ask yourself, do you really want to talk to pair of really nice gaudy shoes?

Is anyone able to explain the mess of certifications that is MCSA/MCSE/MCIPT?

It seems that MCIPT > MCSE > MCSA if this make sense... I skimmed through a few books - do any have labs that have you go through and setup domain controllers, etc?

# ¿ Dec 9, 2012 05:31

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# ¿ May 5, 2024 00:20

Gucci Loafers: May 20, 2006; Ask yourself, do you really want to talk to pair of really nice gaudy shoes?

MC Fruit Stripe posted:

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.

Well! I guess now that someone is actually keeping track of my posts I'll get right on that :jerkbag:

What books did you guys use to become certified? I like labs as much as the next guy.

# ¿ Dec 9, 2012 06:42

Gucci Loafers: May 20, 2006; Ask yourself, do you really want to talk to pair of really nice gaudy shoes?

Zogo posted:

I read through one book (can't even remember the title now) but I found using training video CDs/DVDs to be much more effective. If there's a certification you want chances are that there's a video series that's been released for it.

I've seen CBTNuggets videos and while they're awesome I still would rather have someone give a lab to do.

It seems like I have two options the official MS Pressbooks or Sybex. I'm think you would study for the tests in this order 70-646 (Windows Server Administration), 70-646 (Windows Server 2008 Network Infrastructure), 60-640 (Configuring and lastly Windows Server 2008 Active Directory, Configuring)

Does that sound right?

# ¿ Dec 11, 2012 06:50

Gucci Loafers: May 20, 2006; Ask yourself, do you really want to talk to pair of really nice gaudy shoes?

How much did you guys pay for your MCSA tests?

My local test center is charging $350 a test.

# ¿ Dec 12, 2012 19:48

Gucci Loafers: May 20, 2006; Ask yourself, do you really want to talk to pair of really nice gaudy shoes?

Where did you see the exam expiration's?

# ¿ Dec 21, 2012 23:07

Gucci Loafers: May 20, 2006; Ask yourself, do you really want to talk to pair of really nice gaudy shoes?

Jesus Stick posted:

That sounds like the worst thing I've ever heard.

That said, I HIGHLY suggest 640 first. I, amongst others, think it was the worst of the MCITP:EA tests and covers the biggest range of new concepts if you don't have a lot of server admin experience.

Isn't this backwards? I started reading the 640 but I think I need to know how to configure a server before messing with AD.

# ¿ Dec 24, 2012 07:51

Gucci Loafers: May 20, 2006; Ask yourself, do you really want to talk to pair of really nice gaudy shoes?

How much did you learn from the OCA? How long did you study and how much did it cost?

# ¿ Dec 27, 2012 08:14

Gucci Loafers: May 20, 2006; Ask yourself, do you really want to talk to pair of really nice gaudy shoes?

I'd say at least 6-9 months for the CCNA. Maybe 1-3 months for basic CompTia certs.

# ¿ Dec 27, 2012 22:24

Gucci Loafers: May 20, 2006; Ask yourself, do you really want to talk to pair of really nice gaudy shoes?

Graves posted:

I actually learned quite a bit. The tests dig fairly deep into the mechanisms of the RDBMS and Oracle's brand of SQL. I passed both tests within about 9 months, but I also went to an Oracle University class for each of them. I also bought Sybex study guides and Kaplan Self-Test licenses (the combo I use for everything so far). I would guess the total cost at around $10k, but you could do it for much much less (probably about $750), and I doubt it would take significantly longer, if even as long if you have an familiarity with Oracle already.

Is the test required?

# ¿ Dec 28, 2012 17:08

Gucci Loafers: May 20, 2006; Ask yourself, do you really want to talk to pair of really nice gaudy shoes?

Most of time you'll want to be in a CLI as it's just so much faster to configure said switch/router.

# ¿ Jan 7, 2013 04:09

Gucci Loafers: May 20, 2006; Ask yourself, do you really want to talk to pair of really nice gaudy shoes?

Taz posted:

Has anyone had any experience with 70-410 yet? I'm finding it so much better than 70-640 (Which I got halfway through the text for and kind of just trailed off to not studying any more).

I'm reading the exam ref which seems pretty easy right now, do you think it would be sit-able with only the information in this ref?

(Note: I intend on also reading the Powershell 3 in a month of lunches book as well as skimming the actual 70-410 training guide before sitting the exam)

I don't understand why or how anyone is taking the new tests? Aren't the official MS Press books not even out?

# ¿ Jan 12, 2013 06:37

Gucci Loafers: May 20, 2006; Ask yourself, do you really want to talk to pair of really nice gaudy shoes?

DropsySufferer posted:

Any good estimate on how long IPv4 will remain the industry standard before IPv6 becomes the new standard? I've heard IPv4 will be the standard for at least another five years or more.

I was under the impression IPv4 would essentially last forever as it's backwards compatible. Would you not have corporate networks NAT'd with 10.0.0.0 internally?

# ¿ Jan 24, 2013 02:39

Gucci Loafers: May 20, 2006; Ask yourself, do you really want to talk to pair of really nice gaudy shoes?

With all the sub-netting talk going on, this is something I've never fully understood. Which leads me to ask - what did you guys read or watch to learn subnetting? There are unbelievable amount of resources but what did you find was the most helpful?

# ¿ Jan 25, 2013 22:45

Gucci Loafers: May 20, 2006; Ask yourself, do you really want to talk to pair of really nice gaudy shoes?

What the hell is business intelligence exactly?

# ¿ Feb 8, 2013 17:09

Gucci Loafers: May 20, 2006; Ask yourself, do you really want to talk to pair of really nice gaudy shoes?

psydude posted:

Maybe they blocked outbound ICMP requests. Not that it excuses his dumbness.

Is there a legitimate reason to block ICMP? I've seen a few large corporations do this I cannot fathom why...

# ¿ Feb 14, 2013 23:12

Gucci Loafers: May 20, 2006; Ask yourself, do you really want to talk to pair of really nice gaudy shoes?

BobSaget posted:

Harder to discover hosts on a network. Network scans use ping sweeps.

There are some web servers. Such as 4.4.4.4 that get pinged like crazy by tons of people to see if the internet is up and working. If this starts happening to a box you are paying for you may want to turn it off.

Edit: By web servers I mean servers on the web. 4.4.4.4 is a DNS iirc.

I don't know what you mean? Like, finding that a computer is pingable doesn't really mean much... Other than it exists.

# ¿ Feb 15, 2013 00:03

Gucci Loafers: May 20, 2006; Ask yourself, do you really want to talk to pair of really nice gaudy shoes?

May someone explain what's the difference between System Administration and System Engineering positions?

# ¿ Feb 17, 2013 03:05

Gucci Loafers: May 20, 2006; Ask yourself, do you really want to talk to pair of really nice gaudy shoes?

How do you guys keep the motivation when studying for certs, especially those whom already work in the field full-time? I'm on the 70-646 bit about IPv6 and I am really, really finding it hard to give a drat. :sigh:

# ¿ Feb 25, 2013 10:37

Gucci Loafers: May 20, 2006; Ask yourself, do you really want to talk to pair of really nice gaudy shoes?

Isn't the CCENT the first test of the CCNA?

# ¿ Mar 5, 2013 19:53

Gucci Loafers: May 20, 2006; Ask yourself, do you really want to talk to pair of really nice gaudy shoes?

Lord Dudeguy posted:

Well after 12 long years in IT, I'm actually going to get some certs this year!

The boss has put "get certified" as one of my goals this year, and he's put me up for some targets:

Linux+
MCSE: Communication
Certified Sonicwall Security Admin (CSSA)

Any hints or tips for these baddies? I've got Linux+ in the bag (5+ years RedHat/Debian experience). I'm wondering a little about the CSSA and a LOT about the MCSE.

I got my Websense Gateway 101 Cert, painfully easy but quite fun! You can remote into pre-setup labs for studying.

If its anything like a Firewall Cert...

# ¿ Mar 15, 2013 19:52

Gucci Loafers: May 20, 2006; Ask yourself, do you really want to talk to pair of really nice gaudy shoes?

ToG posted:

Video of CCNA 5.0 from Cisco

That has to be the worst promotional video I've ever seen...

# ¿ Mar 24, 2013 03:23

Gucci Loafers: May 20, 2006; Ask yourself, do you really want to talk to pair of really nice gaudy shoes?

Corvettefisher posted:

Only if you CertKing'd it(course any cert is at that point). If you actually set up the labs(even packet tracer is head and sholders above most), and read the material it is full of worth.

This has to be a joke... Right?

# ¿ Mar 26, 2013 10:31

Gucci Loafers: May 20, 2006; Ask yourself, do you really want to talk to pair of really nice gaudy shoes?

Sickening posted:

Redhat stuff would be a nice change of pace. Have you thought about that? It has a lot of value and its something you can still do on your own.

Check the op. It has the links to the linux stuff. Its really surprising how far a RHCSA can take you knowledge wise as well resume wise for the effort. RHCE is pretty much the gold standard and isn't a pipe dream.

What kind of job may one get with the Linux+ and RHCSA? It seems like the only thing is a possible job at Rackspace, but really don't want to move to Texas. :smith:

# ¿ May 16, 2013 01:45

Gucci Loafers: May 20, 2006; Ask yourself, do you really want to talk to pair of really nice gaudy shoes?

Sickening posted:

Even though I am in Texas, I am seeing tons of stuff that isn't rackspace. Where do you live?

Fargo, North Dakota.

I'd prefer to move to the West Coast. At all costs.

# ¿ May 16, 2013 03:39

Gucci Loafers: May 20, 2006; Ask yourself, do you really want to talk to pair of really nice gaudy shoes?

routenull0 posted:

If you could knock out something like Security+ you could open a few doors with government contracting job....given you can obtain and hold at least a Secret clearance.

Eh, that seems difficult unless I was already in the military.

Docjowles posted:

A... Linux admin job? There are lots out there, both in large organizations and flashy web startups. Get RHCSA/RHCE (I don't see a lot of demand for Linux+ personally, YMMV), learn at least one of Ruby or Python and one of Puppet or Chef, make fat stacks. I don't even have Linux certs and I get hit up by recruiters on LinkedIn several times a week for Linux work.

At my current job I'm essentially a admin for a bunch of Sun Solaris and HP-UX Boxes but more so the T3/T1-Provisioning Applications that run on them. The only thing I wish (probably should) make more money, live somewhere else and be skilled enough where I'd easily pick up another gig. A lot of my day is spent reading through various CRONs - troubleshooting them (bash,AWK,SED), tailing logs, approving change requests for upcoming software releases, going into the Oracle Database and updating tables that the application should have updated or didn't update then going back to development and telling them what works and what doesn't.

I know my job will pay for Linux+ and Oracle Certifications but probably not RHCSA. I'll pick up my Linux+ as soon as I'm able to too but I'm not sure how I should tackle the Oracle ones.

# ¿ May 19, 2013 03:25

Gucci Loafers: May 20, 2006; Ask yourself, do you really want to talk to pair of really nice gaudy shoes?

GOOCHY posted:

I made an attempt to go this path without any prior military or security clearance and it's been a tough road. They just aren't interested in you unless you have a pre-existing clearance, in my experience. Granted, the sequester may be throwing things off a bit.

My experience applying for clearance jobs distilled -

1) Apply for job I'm clearly qualified for (requires secret clearance)
2) Have contractor recruiter reply to me asking if I already have a clearance, "I didn't see that listed on your resume."
3) Reply to recruiter saying that I am not currently cleared but could easily be cleared since I have a clean background
4) Never hear from them again
5) Repeat about 100 times

Haha,

I think I'll get my Linux+ (maybe the Network/Server too, although I basically know this already) and then look into the Oracle Certifications but I'm really unsure where this will take me.

One thing really cool I did find was Coursera and their primary "Introduction Into Programming" course uses python, but the class started a month ago.

# ¿ May 20, 2013 02:29

Gucci Loafers: May 20, 2006; Ask yourself, do you really want to talk to pair of really nice gaudy shoes?

ryo posted:

Has anyone got, or is considering going for, the RHCA?
Most of my daily work is linux admin, and looking at the exam objectives for each RHCA unit it doesn't look too difficult, just expensive!
It doesn't look like there are any specific guides for these exams, has anyone had any luck passing any of the exams without also taking the training course?

I haven't but on the subject of Linux...

but I did see the other day that the Linux+ is no longer Linux+. It's now CompTIA Linux+ Powered by LPI and it's split into two separate tests. LPI is the :airquotes:Linux Professional Institute:airquotes: which a non-profit organization that provides vendor-independent professional certification for Linux system administrators and programmers.

Has anyone taken the new test?

# ¿ May 23, 2013 22:05

Gucci Loafers: May 20, 2006; Ask yourself, do you really want to talk to pair of really nice gaudy shoes?

Powdered Toast Man posted:

It may interest you all to know that Google now requires LPIC-1 for entry level and LPIC-2 for tier 2 ops engineers (basically sysadmins). I know this because I just came off contract there. This isn't confidential or anything; the recruiters spout it to candidates. My guess is they went for LPIC because they don't touch RedHat whatsoever.

I also found out, interestingly, that the Linux+ tests are now identical to the LPIC-1 tests, but if you take the Linux+ tests you automatically get LPIC-1 plus Novell tosses a couple of SuSe certs your way. Interesting.

Interesting, I guess everyone uses vendors these days.

How did you come across the job? What kind of background do you need?

# ¿ May 23, 2013 23:53

Gucci Loafers: May 20, 2006; Ask yourself, do you really want to talk to pair of really nice gaudy shoes?

Powdered Toast Man posted:

They contract through Adecco. You can find the jobs on their site if you look for the specific job titles. Mine was Operations Engineer I. I was quizzed heavily on general Linux stuff, networking, and of course the famous brain teasers.

That being said, I don't recommend it. Read my post in the "poo poo that pisses you off" thread for details.

That's sucks, but did how much was the pay? Did you like it while it lasted?

# ¿ May 24, 2013 02:34

Gucci Loafers: May 20, 2006; Ask yourself, do you really want to talk to pair of really nice gaudy shoes?

Is Citrix essentially remote desktop?

It can't possibly be that simple, there has to be more to it than this...

# ¿ May 24, 2013 04:20

Gucci Loafers: May 20, 2006; Ask yourself, do you really want to talk to pair of really nice gaudy shoes?

Corvettefisher posted:

What do you mean?

What the gently caress is - Citrix? And why is it always involved with HealthCare IT?

# ¿ May 24, 2013 10:03

Gucci Loafers: May 20, 2006; Ask yourself, do you really want to talk to pair of really nice gaudy shoes?

What makes Citrix so good? It's essentially a better version of RDP... Why couldn't Microsoft make a better version of RDP for their own OS?

# ¿ May 24, 2013 13:44

Gucci Loafers: May 20, 2006; Ask yourself, do you really want to talk to pair of really nice gaudy shoes?

Heh - there are Citrix Certs too... Curious, how much are these worth on their own? Are they as valuable as a CCNA or CCIE?

# ¿ Jun 17, 2013 04:18

Gucci Loafers: May 20, 2006; Ask yourself, do you really want to talk to pair of really nice gaudy shoes?

Ozu posted:

There are places that are heavily invested in Citrix and might place a check mark next to your resume because of a specific Citrix cert, but as a whole I'd say it's probably not nearly as "valuable" career-wise as a CCNA, and certainly not in the same universe as a CCIE.

We use XenApp Server and it's wholly owned, operated, and designed by the Windows sysadmin team.

Ah, I figured as much. Sounds like something you'd do after you got your MCSE.

# ¿ Jun 17, 2013 17:54

Gucci Loafers: May 20, 2006; Ask yourself, do you really want to talk to pair of really nice gaudy shoes?

kewld00d posted:

What's the general consensus on the CompTIA Linux+ then? That nets you LPIC certs in addition to the CompTIA one � but then is it best to just go for, say, the RHCSA instead?

It's what Google and Novel uses for their employees. It's not completely worthless but it's not as valuable as the RHCSA.

I'm working on getting it in a few months because my job will pay for it and I can't be unix illiterate no longer.

# ¿ Jun 29, 2013 14:06

Gucci Loafers: May 20, 2006; Ask yourself, do you really want to talk to pair of really nice gaudy shoes?

How long does it reasonably take one to get CCNA-Certified?

# ¿ Jul 8, 2013 23:58

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tarepanda posted:

Depends on your starting point.

I've programmed routers before... small things...

# ¿ Jul 9, 2013 00:15

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psydude posted:

Depending upon where you live, 48k may be pretty good money.

But it's senior... I'd expect a bit more.

# ¿ Jul 19, 2013 17:14

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Erkenntnis posted:

Passed ICND1 640-822 with a 950/1000. Wasn't as bad as I was expecting. Going to take the night off, and jump right back into studying for the 640-816.

e: Also, weirdly enough time wasn't much of a problem for me. Had like 40 or so minutes remaining at the end.

Is this the old one or the new one?

# ¿ Aug 2, 2013 00:51

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# ¿ May 5, 2024 00:20

Gucci Loafers: May 20, 2006; Ask yourself, do you really want to talk to pair of really nice gaudy shoes?

I'd assume the JNCIA is the exact same thing as the CCNA. I wonder what the actual differences are aside from command-line syntax.

# ¿ Aug 7, 2013 04:34

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