IT Certifications and Careers (Official Discussion Thread)

[无名的]

Currently attending Hack Reactor... interested to see where this brings my skills

 

[D1renegade]

Just failed the 801..


I'm so sick right now.

I just redeemed myself and passed this with a 780

To all the brehs giving advice and encouragement.
Now I'm about to start preparing for the 802, hopefully I'll have passed it by this time next month.

 

[Kid McNamara]

I've done self study for everything. I have my CISSP and CCNP Security. I was getting ready to take my CCIE security lab exam but I realized I don't want to be in IT anymore.

Hey man, this is an interesting post. Why do you feel this way?

.

 

[Sonny Bonds]

Had an interview last week Tuesday. Before I was even home, I got an email asking for my references. I know for a fact that my references are legit. Company dude said I'd hear from them late last week or early this week. i haven't anything from them. Should I send a follow up email and if so, what should I say?

Hey man, this is an interesting post. Why do you feel this way?

...and this is a good-ass question.

 

[Kid McNamara]

Had an interview last week Tuesday. Before I was even home, I got an email asking for my references. I know for a fact that my references are legit. Company dude said I'd hear from them late last week or early this week. i haven't anything from them. Should I send a follow up email and if so, what should I say?

Usually they give a timeframe and it takes an extra week or so.

Best way to follow-up: "I just wanted to call/email and thank you for [taking the time | for the interview | for the opportunity]."

You can add a couple of pleasantries, depending on how comfortable you feel, you can say you look forward to working with them, or contributing to the project/company.

It'll get you a response and normally some type of update ("we just wrapped up interviews and you should be hearing from us in the next couple of days").

It'll also show off your soft skills, people appreciate a good follow-up...but no one wants to be hounded about whether they're going to hire a person or not.

 

[Ice_MF_Mike]

Had an interview last week Tuesday. Before I was even home, I got an email asking for my references. I know for a fact that my references are legit. Company dude said I'd hear from them late last week or early this week. i haven't anything from them. Should I send a follow up email and if so, what should I say?

...and this is a good-ass question.

Always follow up. If you were working for them they would want to know you would follow up on a project or something.

So if you havent heard from them by when they said you would, just reach out and say you wanted to follow up on next steps.

 

[King Sun]

I just redeemed myself and passed this with a 780

To all the brehs giving advice and encouragement.
Now I'm about to start preparing for the 802, hopefully I'll have passed it by this time next month.

Make sure you study your windows features. They have simulations on there. Also its network heavy too.

 

[notwhoiusedtobe]

Currently attending Hack Reactor... interested to see where this brings my skills

You're attending the on site bootcamp? Did you have to complete any exercises to get accepted or just pay up? How long you been coding?


I have an interview Monday with someone from a career accelerator where I am, tryna get in on this program where I'll only have to pay $1500 to learn and, in turn, give back. No experience in programming and my application project is so I gotta work on it this weekend.

 

[King Sun]

You're attending the on site bootcamp? Did you have to complete any exercises to get accepted or just pay up? How long you been coding?


I have an interview Monday with someone from a career accelerator where I am, tryna get in on this program where I'll only have to pay $1500 to learn and, in turn, give back. No experience in programming and my application project is so I gotta work on it this weekend.

I would stay away from those and just go to a community college program if you can . Bootcamps are typically for people that already know the field the company pays for the bootcamp refresher courses

 

[notwhoiusedtobe]

I would stay away from those and just go to a community college program if you can . Bootcamps are typically for people that already know the field the company pays for the bootcamp refresher courses

I already have a BS degree ( ). Paying for 8 or so credits in programming at a CC in these parts as a non-matriculated student costs more than the $1500 I would potentially be paying for this 12 week $10,000 bootcamp. And lbr, how much could I possibly do with 8 credits anyway? I can at least say I know someone who earns a good salary after attending bootcamp. Granted, they had more experience than me.

you don't have to take a credited course. Check for the local CC they should have plenty of non credited programs

They do, but they're still 300 bucks a pop in my city. For example, beginners/Inter/Adv Javascript is $900. Five ten day, 3 hour courses will amount to the $1500. Yet it's 522 hours less the bootcamp I'm looking at, and it comes with none of the connections and networking assistance.

 

[King Sun]

I already have a BS degree ( ). Paying for 8 or so credits in programming at a CC in these parts as a non-matriculated student costs more than the $1500 I would potentially be paying for this 12 week $10,000 bootcamp. And lbr, how much could I possibly do with 8 credits anyway? I can at least say I know someone who earns a good salary after attending bootcamp. Granted, they had more experience than me.

you don't have to take a credited course. Check for the local CC they should have plenty of non credited programs

 

[Kid McNamara]

I would stay away from those and just go to a community college program if you can . Bootcamps are typically for people that already know the field the company pays for the bootcamp refresher courses

I already have a BS degree ( ). Paying for 8 or so credits in programming at a CC in these parts as a non-matriculated student costs more than the $1500 I would potentially be paying for this 12 week $10,000 bootcamp. And lbr, how much could I possibly do with 8 credits anyway? I can at least say I know someone who earns a good salary after attending bootcamp. Granted, they had more experience than me.


They do, but they're still 300 bucks a pop in my city. For example, beginners/Inter/Adv Javascript is $900. Five ten day, 3 hour courses will amount to the $1500. Yet it's 522 hours less the bootcamp I'm looking at, and it comes with none of the connections and networking assistance.

Right.

You'll learn much more, much much more, by finding and working through a course offered by a top University.

You have access to courses offered at an elite university and the ability to really understand the concepts being taught (your hand isn't being held, you're forced to research concepts you don't understand, you're forced to understand the tools and IDEs).

Also, the skills learned will transfer to any programming language.

Best part...free.

http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/electric...computer-science-and-programming-spring-2011/

 

[无名的]

You're attending the on site bootcamp? Did you have to complete any exercises to get accepted or just pay up? How long you been coding?


I have an interview Monday with someone from a career accelerator where I am, tryna get in on this program where I'll only have to pay $1500 to learn and, in turn, give back. No experience in programming and my application project is so I gotta work on it this weekend.

Remote Bootcamp... Hack Reactor is different than some of the others. There's a technical interview to get in and a lot of people don't pass. I've been doing some basic learning to code on and off for a year.

I would stay away from those and just go to a community college program if you can . Bootcamps are typically for people that already know the field the company pays for the bootcamp refresher courses

Hack Reactor has a 99% graduate placement rate and average salary is 105k. You're not doing that after spending $$$ and years at a community college.



I'm impressed with how they are structuring things. They've made it accessible and affordable for people, while still creating a win for them.

They offer a remote course now.
They now offer a prep class with intro HTML, CSS and JavaScript to prep for the technical interview. A little over $600 for 4 weeks, 15 hours a week. If you end up attending Hack Reactor, that money is credited towards your tuition (win for them... win for student that attends)
They now offer a needs-based program where you only put down $2,500... if you have a salary well under the expected rate after graduating, you end up paying that money back over time for less than the cost of regular upfront tuition and if you exceed expectations making well over 100k, you pay back a few thousand more than the regular cost of the bootcamp. (win for them... win for the student).

Some of these other bootcamps are straight shyt, but these guys... I'm impressed and they're delivering results for students.



My wife is also the director of an iT staffing firm in LA, so I'll be straight.



Anybody looking for a job in LA, holler

 

[FreshFromATL]

Im going for it . A+ aint shyt , I was learning that in jail . The shyt Im interested in is the CCNA and network stuff. I got a certification in Cisco Copper Network Cabling. I remember constructing coaxial cables,twisted pair, RJ 45 , etc and troubleshooting em with this damn device that looked like a bomb. I know it was some beginner networking type shyt because I remember peer , node , client ,hub etc . That was back in 2011 and I forgot some of it so Imma need a refresher. Im might take the A+ within 45 days

Im in, all I need is like 4 rack a month and Im good

SMH you already put a ceiling on yourself

 

[se1f_made]

Anybody else notice that the cost of living doesnt translate well in IT?
I was looking at some jobs in San Diego and the salaries were the same as the South