I'm finishing up my training for MCSE at a local university that incorporated A+, Novell, and Microsoft. The last couple of quarters, I have been building pcs and not working anywhere else which is led me to being one of the new hoes on the block here at PR. Just wondering how many others out there are or have done the same thing.

So, lets play who wants to be certified!

i graduated a few months ago and was taught most of that stuff but havent even though about taking any tests. im still not ready. i realized that i didnt learn very much. my fault and their fault. i almost had a 4.0 and i never studied or anything. and most of the teachers didnt know how to teach. former students that took like one teaching class. oh well. i guess im back to buy books. lol!

I think it would be better to do OJT and use books as a secondary source. I have seen complete n00bs that are good at studying and cramming for test, take the MCSE and all of a sudden be an expert because they passed the test. Meanwhile, guys like me are running around fixing their screw ups.

Most of the people in the college I graduated from used Novell, I think one guy did at a series of retirement homes..but he said they were going to Windows 2000. Good luck on the test, or congratulations if you passed

I agree w/ both of you, half the fools I've been in school with just simply take trancenders for week, pass the tests, and never once set up networking in their home much less ever apply any of it in the real world. Too many paper certified punks, so I see it like I gotta just get out there and do it so I'll actually know what the hell I'm talkin 'bout.

Im at a school here in GA, and i'm TRYING to get my associates in computer info systems for networking, and at the same time im doin training for RHCP, CCNA, and MCSE (notice linux=first, m$=last)...we'll see how it goes....wanna get a career oriented job and then ask for them to help pay for the certs...we'll see...

Well, the on nice thing 'bout my school is that you get one free go at each test as you go through the program, so it is good motivation to try and get it down the first time, although it hasn't always worked, lol.

i need to set up a network in my house but im just shy a router and/or a switch. good thing i have a job now so i can get one. to bad it will still be a few weeks. waiting for the boss to sell me the one he uses in the office and with christmas coming i need to buy gifts. man i forgot how much you spend when you have a g/f. im not complaining just its been so long i forgot. lol!


EDIT: ok i know this doesnt have anything to do with it but i saw Damion metion a home network and it reminded me that i needed to set one up here.

Hey Mav, what brand are you getting cause I've had serious issues w/ some I've tried and my broadband.

Hey Napalm, where are you going to school in GA, I grew up in LaGrange and Peach Tree City.

goin to school in griffin....called Griffin Technical Institute...the thing has really blown up since i've been there...they're finishing up a two story building that's gonna be all wireless and have a cafeteria in it...just for the people who dont know: griffin, ga is the 'white ghetto'...so, to get a two story building for a school is a major stepping stone....

never read a book, never listened (too hard) to what others told me, learned all that i know from doing it wrong several times (sometimes irreversibly) and then getting it right and forcing myself to not get it wrong ever again, learned what i do by loving what i do and not caring what others thought of me (nerd, geek, dweeb) even back in the day when names like those actually hurt (about 1986), i still have small copper fragments still buried in my fingertips and gums, have visible (some horrible) scars from repairing pc's (gashed the palm of my hand wide open when it slipped and found the sharp edge of the case), i hate computers because i love them so much...

and i love putting those rent-a-techs at best buy and comp-usa in their place...

i think id like to be A+ certified...i know i could pass it, anyone got $2-300 i could borrow so i can take the test?

I take offense to that rent-a-tech line, Fu3lman. I am a BB tech, been trained in A+, MCSE, MSOE and have my Cert in CNA at Instructor level. I was a Network Engineer for about 3 years and was doing well until the crap started flying with the economy, I was a relative noob so I was the first to go. I tell you waht, making 10 steady bucks an hour at BB is better than making 13 as a contract employee not knowing if your next paycheck is going to be your last and getting tossed around the state just to get employment for a few weeks. Most of the guys I work with are in a similar place, either working there is a second job, are former contractors, or they are attend a tech school. I can't speak for others, but my co-workers and I are not rent-a-techs, I've seen more bizarre crap working in retail (and learned from it) than I ever did working for a IT department or as a contractor.

first, answer me this, is every tech at BB and Comp USA a "rent-a-tech"?

no

all of us, even you im sure, have had bad experiences with some of the techs at places like them...maybe not you, but the other ones...

sorry if i offended you, the post wasnt directed at you if you dont consider yourself to be a rent-a-tech...

and by rent-a-tech, i dont mean a liaison (spelling), i mean a second-rate solution to not having credible techs...

Well last summer my dad was going to send me to one of those...2 weeks long courses where you study and then take the tests...but it flopped when the course was cancelled.
i am going to do it my junior year

I felt sorry for my brother, he is a programmer and did tech support for AOL for two months to supplement his income while saving for a new house. He said the people that called him shouldn't even own computers. I'm talkin' people that literally can't figure out how to turn on a PC. He quit after two months.

I do tech support. After doing it a while, I must be pretty qualified. My co-workers keep saying I'm certifiable.

hmm...i know one of the writers of the A+ test...hes offered to set up a lil workshop for those that want to learn it...we just need to get enuf people in the area to go to it. Maybe i can contact him and get one set up fer xmas break...hey...good idea!!!

LOL BA, thats why I quit phone based tech support, i couldnt hack it, all the stupidity made me want to scream, not to mention the carpal tunnel constant mouse use was giving me.

I sorta have a job now, but am between projects at the moment, sucks working like that. When im working i can make 20.00 an hour easy but whern im not, well you get the picture

as for certifications, in this job market you have to have them to get the jobs from what ive seen, and just 1 or 2 isnt enough for the good jobs.

I am recently CCNA, have MCSA and numerous comptia certs including net+ inet+ a+ server+ and am taking linux+ next week, and will soon start working on project+, then maybe some novell or finish up my MCSE

but bottom line, in a networking environment, outside some limited experience doing troubleshooting for advance auto parts, the odd job here and there and my own home network, i am not qualified to be a networking guru.

now a hardware engineer, im working on it. i cant wait til next year, gonna be going to engineering school at virginia polytechnic institute, or va tech for short, will be interesting to be back in a 4 year college with recently graduated high schoolers.

i wanna work for a server motherboard manufacturer like supermicro or a storage company like lsi or adaptec doing r&d, i can think of no more rewarding career path than that.

im considering going for my ACSP (adaptec certified storage professional) very soon if i can muster the funds for the courses

" Luke, I am your father". "You don't know the power of the Dark Side".

Unix work has been doing me real good for almost five years. I am not completely qualified for the job in any technical sense, but I have the experience, know the customer and his job. And a little thing called a security clearance that puts me in a select crowd.

Guys, if your young, do yourself a favor. Go into the Army Reserve into an Military Intelligence MOS, (Military Occupational Specialty). You will get some training, a little money, they might call you up and you'll have to do some weekend time, etc. And you will get that clearance.

That clearance is better then ten certs I do guarantee

Hey Damion the one my boss is selling me is a Linksys Cable\DSL router with a 4 port switch I believe. He has told me anything since then.

Hey Maverick, that is the exact same one I was using untill I put my cable modems 15v adapter into the back of it and fried it(note my avatar,lol!). Anyway, I loved my lynksis and I say good choice!