IT Certifications and Careers (Official Discussion Thread)

[duckbutta]

Don't agree about virtualization (or most core infrastructure lanes for that matter) having long term growth potential. As IT becomes commoditized, and more people move the cloud, the on premise delivery of IaaS and PaaS are going to be less and less... unless you are working for Microsoft Azure, RackSpace, or AWS you're really not going to need to do Virtualization. It's going to be completely commoditized.

Virtualization is no different than Directory Services, Email, Collaboration or IM.... all areas of IT that are offered through the cloud today.

Think those ExchangE admins are a little shook of Office365? If they aren't, they are idiots. That's the other problem.... thinking long term. It's easy to think about the immediate, but what about 5-10 years from now? Where do you plan to be then once everything is in the cloud? Gotta stop thinking myopically.

IMHO where the real dough is going to be, is the SaaS part. Folks should be focusing on Ozone Widget Framework, or other AppDev areas - Sharepoint is another one. Coding will always have long life.

Of course I am talking a long time out - could be 5-10 years who knows. But all of these disciplines will be on the decline as more business move to the cloud regardless.

I work for a company that does Iaas and is similar to Rackspace. For future growth, well...eventually everyone who can afford to be in the cloud...will be in the cloud...

But that is a LONG way out...virtualization and storage are going to be THE hot markets for at least the next 5 - 7 years, if for no other reason that it allows some c level corporate bean counter to package up his entire department, turn his infrastructure into some Iaas offering that cost WAY less than actually having real physical infrastructure, and then going the managed hosting / IT services route, which is WAY cheaper than having your own IT department...

The problem with IT, in the corporate world, is that IT people do not run it...some random c level manager does and all he wants to do is save money. That is all I hear from customers all day. "Duckbutta our IT department is costing us X amount of dollars if we give it to the company you work for will it be cheaper?" That answer will always be yes, and hardly ever does it go pass that. They don't care if their application is ready for the cloud ( i would never virtualize anything oracle, and though exchange is improved i have still seen some problems with it i would attribute to being virtualized" ) they just want it cheaper. They don't care that once we own their infrastructure and IT services we pretty much got them by the balls, it pretty much becomes so expensive to leave ( find floor space, hire IT people again, go to another company but oh wait who is gonna import your VM's to that new environment ) that at some point we start charging them out the ass and their is nothing they can do about it. But the guy who signed the contract doesn't care about that. All he cares about is that when something breaks he can blame the company i work for, when he want's some extra money in his pocket he can try to ding us for SLA's, and when he gets called at 3 am he can tell that person to call my company because "they own the IT".

As long as people like that are making decisions then virtualization will thrive, and these people have a strangle hold on the IT budget so they are not going anywhere

Saas is pretty much cloud as well...cause that software has to be hosted somewhere...and it is probably on some virtualized offering.

I would say Virtualization is completely different in that it is a substitute for physical infrastructure...and the savings, depening on your physical footprint...can get up into the 10 of millions...i worked on a project for a company where just consolidating 3 datacenters saved them almost 6 million dollars a year...we are talking about over 30,000 machines running 24/7 being turned into two USC chassis and Nexus switch running 24/7

 

[No Homo]

Virtualization is one of those "black box" IT disciplines that is very hot because most people do not understand it and it is something you have to work with for awhile to get good at. It is very hard to study for on your own and can be very expensive. I have a VCP and a VCAP and the lab I built cost me around 1500 and I took a lot of shortcuts, and i spent that out of my own pocket. My company paid for classes and test but if they had not, just the VCP class alone would have cost me 1300 at the time. Vmware test are very difficult because they are all conceptual questions...or design questions. Since the classes are so expensive...since the certs are so hard...since their are so few people who really understand virtualization...it becomes a black box that most companies don't understand and don't want to understand...they just want to hire a guy with the supposed credentials and tell him "virtualize my shyt. Turn my desktop and laptop into a screen I log into and save me 100 of thousands of dollars a year by allowing me to close a datacenter and have my entire IT infrastructure in one cabinet " Because of this virtualization guys make a lot of money and are always going to be in demand because virtualization is associated with "the cloud" and "getting rid of datacenters"

If you want to make a lot of money in IT it is the way to go, but the issue most people start to have is that eventually you have to know much more than just virtualization. You have to know networking because without networking knowledge you will have no idea how to set up a virtual network for your infrastructure, or have no idea how to configure a nexus, and those are things you have to know. You have to know about storage, how to connect it, what types, what the good and strong points are of each type. You have to know about blade technology and architecture because virtualization has moved toward the Cisco UCS, so you need to understand the difference between the physical cpu and ram in the blade and the logical way you can set it up to be used in a virtual environment. You have to know about a lot of virutalization technologies. Vmware is the major player but you have to know Microsoft Hyper V as well since it is basically free if you are a windows shop. You have to know citrix and how to set up citrix farms. It is essential that you be able to script as well, because you will be doing some of the task perhaps dozens of times and at some point from just a time constraint it will not be feasible to do it manually.

Storage is another "black box" IT discipline where you can make a lot of money. Where I work the storage and backup positions START at around 72k. However, storage is a very high stress job, because you are dealing with company data, and the first time you fukk up and lose or fukk up and can't restore company data, you will be fired. Most storage guys I know never get a second chance. They make bank though...

If you are interested in Virtualization I would look up some stuff on Vcenter from Vmware...it is pretty much the defacto standard app suite for virtualization now.

Yep VMware would be the way to go.

My cousin's husband specializes in virtualization and lets just say he told my cousin she doesnt have to work anymore just stay home with the kids :wow15:

 

[Rice N Beans]

Experience trumps all. Go join the military to get that.

Well obv. experience trumps all. I'm looking for a civilian lifestyle as the military I no longer wish to join. I'm just looking for any personal stories that may help.

EX. I'll probably start working help desk in temp scenarios at an agency until I get full time, then use the cash to get more stuff done on the side and hopefully move up.

 

[JT-Money]

Well obv. experience trumps all. I'm looking for a civilian lifestyle as the military I no longer wish to join. I'm just looking for any personal stories that may help.

EX. I'll probably start working help desk in temp scenarios at an agency until I get full time, then use the cash to get more stuff done on the side and hopefully move up.

Most companies aren't interested in letting people move up from the help desk. Be warned you may have to job hop several times in order to move beyond help desk gigs. In my opinion those are the worst type of jobs to have in IT. And if you stay in one past 5 years the less likely you'll ever move up the ladder.

 

[Rice N Beans]

Most companies aren't interested in letting people move up from the help desk. Be warned you may have to job hop several times in order to move beyond help desk gigs. In my opinion those are the worst type of jobs to have in IT. And if you stay in one past 5 years the less likely you'll ever move up the ladder.

Yeah I expected to stay for a few years (you'd look undependable otherwise) but the entry point is what is key to me. Thanks for the post nonetheless.

 

[JT-Money]

Yeah I expected to stay for a few years (you'd look undependable otherwise) but the entry point is what is key to me. Thanks for the post nonetheless.

I'm just saying there isn't much else to learn after 1 year on a helpdesk gig. Much of the work is repetitive and in some cases the longer you stay in those positions the harder it is to advance. Good luck either way though.

 

[Rice N Beans]

I'm just saying there isn't much else to learn after 1 year on a helpdesk gig. Much of the work is repetitive and in some cases the longer you stay in those positions the harder it is to advance. Good luck either way though.

Ah ok. thanks for the clarification and the luck stuff. I'll keep it in mind to look for situations where I can get my hands wet in another department (network maybe).

 

[Buggsy Mogues]

Ay I know this post been made a thousand times, but its too many damn pages to go look back. I'm jobless at the moment and have enough saved up to chill for a few months and I figure I should look into this stuff and see whats up.

So I dont need anyone to write out some long detailed answer cause I'm sure it's all been touched on, but can anyone put me on quickly of what are the basic certs one should start with? Is there like a certain trajectory that would be good to take as far as starting with this cert, then that cert, the this cert, etc.

Are there certain websites I should be checking for in terms of classes and reading? Or just going to the library? How do you take the test to get these certs?

Daps for any gems ya'll can drop

 

[patscorpio]

Most companies aren't interested in letting people move up from the help desk. Be warned you may have to job hop several times in order to move beyond help desk gigs. In my opinion those are the worst type of jobs to have in IT. And if you stay in one past 5 years the less likely you'll ever move up the ladder.

truth.com...i always say you got to use help desk as a way to learn outside your job and pick up skills..but damn near everyone starts out at help desk in this IT thing

 

[RubioTheCruel]

I'm just saying there isn't much else to learn after 1 year on a helpdesk gig. Much of the work is repetitive and in some cases the longer you stay in those positions the harder it is to advance. Good luck either way though.

True story. There is a difference between 5 years work experience and 1 year done 5 times.

 

[havoc]

Ay I know this post been made a thousand times, but its too many damn pages to go look back. I'm jobless at the moment and have enough saved up to chill for a few months and I figure I should look into this stuff and see whats up.

So I dont need anyone to write out some long detailed answer cause I'm sure it's all been touched on, but can anyone put me on quickly of what are the basic certs one should start with? Is there like a certain trajectory that would be good to take as far as starting with this cert, then that cert, the this cert, etc.

Are there certain websites I should be checking for in terms of classes and reading? Or just going to the library? How do you take the test to get these certs?

Daps for any gems ya'll can drop

Start with studying the A+ 801 and 802. You could purchase a lab from testout.com for $495 that will prepare you for the exam. I have a promotion code that can reduce the price. If you are interesting in the A+ certification, send me a request for a promotion code.

 

[semtex]

siteground is fukking annoying

 

[Silkk]

Start with studying the A+ 801 and 802. You could purchase a lab from testout.com for $495 that will prepare you for the exam. I have a promotion code that can reduce the price. If you are interesting in the A+ certification, send me a request for a promotion code.

Glad i got that groupon when i did

 

[havoc]

Glad i got that groupon wvhen i did

That is the original price. But with the promotion code you can purchase testout lab for 89.00 and keep the lab for three years. Groupon is cheaper but their lab expire in one year.

 

[Silkk]

That is the original price. But with the promotion code you can purchase testout lab for 89.00 and keep the lab for three years. Groupon is cheaper but their lab expire in one year.

A year is a long time, just gotta put in the work