IT Certifications and Careers (Official Discussion Thread)

[se1f_made]

Yo brehs so long story short I'm still in IT off this thread my company got me learning cisco and avaya phone systems this shyt got a breh skreesed
... but I'm going to need that paper when it's all said and done. Any brehs that work the application side of voice got any idea of certs i need and money I can be looking at. I'm already getting voice tickets now.

I'm working with Cicso Call Manager and Cisco Unity at my current job, strictly web interface and phone programming. Know how to do that alone can be valuable, I had an opportunity to earn $75k in a role to where all I had to do was program cisco phones

 

[Illmagic]

Im kinda the same way, im a hands on type so i excell most in class settings where im doing actual hands on work our at most case study type stuff where i can apply my knowledge to something. Reading and trying to remember stuff never been my thing

Yea man. Glad to see someone can relate. Im gonna have to try something different. Have you taken any courses online? Believe or not I've actually never taken a course online before. Im just wondering if it has that classroom feel we both are looking for.

 

[BamdaDon]

I'm working with Cicso Call Manager and Cisco Unity at my current job, strictly web interface and phone programming. Know how to do that alone can be valuable, I had an opportunity to earn $75k in a role to where all I had to do was program cisco phones

That's the tools I need to know /learn now I'm thinking that 75k is where I should be at especially given these mf's want me to know the avaya shyt on top of my normal tickets

 

[Spiritual Stratocaster]

So I'm a year away from finishing this CIS bachelors degree (a personal goal of mine). And I have been working IT Tech Support on campus for the past 7 months (equivalent to level II support).

I think I have decided I want to go the virtualization route in this IT life... what is the recommended cert path for my down time? Should I just skip A+ and start with CCNA?

I'm going to school for Computer Science but been looking to switch into CIS after the first quarter

I always been more interested in that technical side...hell I was the one who troubleshooted the computer back when the comcast dude tried to setup the cable internet on our old gateway pc back when I was 12

Only reason I can't take any CIS course in the fall is because my math skills are ....have to take 2 remedial courses before I can take any CIS course

 

[Reid2Achieve]

I'm going to school for Computer Science but been looking to switch into CIS after the first quarter

I always been more interested in that technical side...hell I was the one who troubleshooted the computer back when the comcast dude tried to setup the cable internet on our old gateway pc back when I was 12

Only reason I can't take any CIS course in the fall is because my math skills are ....have to take 2 remedial courses before I can take any CIS course

Computer science programs are a lot more math intensive then CIS/MIS

 

[Apollo Creed]

Yea man. Glad to see someone can relate. Im gonna have to try something different. Have you taken any courses online? Believe or not I've actually never taken a course online before. Im just wondering if it has that classroom feel we both are looking for.

Yea, I do good in Online classes because there is order/structure. For ex. I tried to self study for GMAT and half the time would just stop, ended up bombing the GMAT, not because it was hard, but because it was almost insulting that this test stands in the way of getting an MBA and relates nothing to management/business.

 

[Spiritual Stratocaster]

Computer science programs are a lot more math intensive then CIS/MIS

Apart of why I don't want to do Computer Science ..I know there is money there but just looking at IT jobs and shyt on indeed.com alot of them are looking for CS OR CIS,IT degrees AA/BA.

I can't take CIS classes this quarter because i'm horrible at math so pretty much I have to pass these two remedial math classes before I can get cracking into the CIS courses. So i'm taking the obvious ENG,MATH and a humanities class just in case I want to transfer into a 4 year. I'm going to school with the GI BILL so they paying it.I'm 2 classes under the required for CIS

In the meantime I only did 15 credits(3 classes) this quarter because I wanted to have sometime to study these certs and shyt..been chopping it up with one of the CIS advisors as well for guidance and shyt.

 

[Apollo Creed]

Apart of why I don't want to do Computer Science ..I know there is money there but just looking at IT jobs and shyt on indeed.com alot of them are looking for CS OR CIS,IT degrees AA/BA.

I can't take CIS classes this quarter because i'm horrible at math so pretty much I have to pass these two remedial math classes before I can get cracking into the CIS courses. So i'm taking the obvious ENG,MATH and a humanities class just in case I want to transfer into a 4 year. I'm going to school with the GI BILL so they paying it.I'm 2 classes under the required for CIS

In the meantime I only did 15 credits(3 classes) this quarter because I wanted to have sometime to study these certs and shyt..been chopping it up with one of the CIS advisors as well for guidance and shyt.

Find the area you want to be in and tailor your skills to it while you are in school. Looking for a job with no direction will be overwhelming becauss there are SO MANY areas and skills needed in the IT spectrum and it will make you feel like you didnt learn anything because you will see a ton of stuff you dont know.

 

[Reid2Achieve]

Apart of why I don't want to do Computer Science ..I know there is money there but just looking at IT jobs and shyt on indeed.com alot of them are looking for CS OR CIS,IT degrees AA/BA.

I can't take CIS classes this quarter because i'm horrible at math so pretty much I have to pass these two remedial math classes before I can get cracking into the CIS courses. So i'm taking the obvious ENG,MATH and a humanities class just in case I want to transfer into a 4 year. I'm going to school with the GI BILL so they paying it.I'm 2 classes under the required for CIS

In the meantime I only did 15 credits(3 classes) this quarter because I wanted to have sometime to study these certs and shyt..been chopping it up with one of the CIS advisors as well for guidance and shyt.

Have you looked at the prerequisites for CS classes?

You say you're not good at math....well computer science majors typically have to get deep in to calculus before you can even learn anything IT/programming related

I'm using the GI Bill as well btw

 

[Spiritual Stratocaster]

Have you looked at the prerequisites for CS classes?

You say you're not good at math....well computer science majors typically have to get deep in to calculus before you can even learn anything IT/programming related

I'm using the GI Bill as well btw

Yea I should've explained better, for financial aid/registration purposes where you put in your program and shyt I put in Computer Science. I won't touch Calculus, I need to pass MATH 077 and like MATH 099, then i'll meet the prereqs for CIS. CIS at my school requires you to have MATH 099 complete before you get into the program ..the program starts off with Applied Tech Math,>Math in Society>Precalc 1 is the last.

I gotta pass 2 remedial math classes to get into Applied Tech ...though I have been out of school since 2007...i'm confident i'll pass em. My study habits were shyt in high school,and I was lazy. I didn't really develop good studying habits until I was in Navy

 

[Trustus]

Yea I should've explained better, for financial aid/registration purposes where you put in your program and shyt I put in Computer Science. I won't touch Calculus, I need to pass MATH 077 and like MATH 099, then i'll meet the prereqs for CIS. CIS at my school requires you to have MATH 099 complete before you get into the program ..the program starts off with Applied Tech Math,>Math in Society>Precalc 1 is the last.

I gotta pass 2 remedial math classes to get into Applied Tech ...though I have been out of school since 2007...i'm confident i'll pass em. My study habits were shyt in high school,and I was lazy. I didn't really develop good studying habits until I was in Navy

Don't trip. There is all kinds of help for math online that is free(edx. udacity.com) to use. Try this site http://www.mathplanet.com/courses study for a while and then test out of them two remedial math classes

 

[Kid McNamara]

@bdizzle

About to take this CCIE (R&S) lab, but I'm thinking I might go back and grab either CCNP Security or CCDP after I finish.

I've avoided the Cisco Security line because the focus seemed a bit Cisco proprietary. Now this is true of all Cisco material, but after taking CCNA Security, I'd had enough of dealing with simulated ASAs and GUIs that...you know...no organization uses in real life.

Question: Is there enough Cisco independent security material to spend time wading through CCNP-Sec or is it a bunch of DMVPN and ASA shyt?

 

[↓R↑LYB]

@bdizzle

About to take this CCIE (R&S) lab, but I'm thinking I might go back and grab either CCNP Security or CCDP after I finish.

I've avoided the Cisco Security line because the focus seemed a bit Cisco proprietary. Now this is true of all Cisco material, but after taking CCNA Security, I'd had enough of dealing with simulated ASAs and GUIs that...you know...no organization uses in real life.

Question: Is there enough Cisco independent security material to spend time wading through CCNP-Sec or is it a bunch of DMVPN and ASA shyt?

CCNP Sec covers a lot more than just ASAs and VPN. 802.1x, securing routing protocols, securing spanning tree and VLANs, securing the data plane and control plane, protecting against IP spoofing, dhcp snooping, VLAN hopping, Mac spoofing, SSH, SNMP, configuring VPNs, firewalls, and IPS on routers, PKI, TACACS+, on top of being able to configure all the routing and switching that founds found on the R&S exam.

And there's more than just DMVPNs FYI. There's GET VPN, IPSec, EZVPN, SSL VPN, VTI, and probably some others I'm probably forgetting.

I used the Cisco Press books when studying and they were really good. I had a lot of fun studying for the exam, but I enjoy being in Info Sec and I'm a fukkin nerd

My plan was get a dual CCIE in R&S and Security since there's about an 80% overlap. But Cisco changed the exam blueprint for the security tract when I was studying and added a shyt ton of new shyt to the requirements. I was maybe 2-3 months away from taking the lab when they updated to v4 and it completely fukked my schedule up as I had to wait to see all the new iOS and hardware requirements and shyt, not to mention trying to find study materials

 

[Kid McNamara]

CCNP Sec covers a lot more than just ASAs and VPN. 802.1x, securing routing protocols, securing spanning tree and VLANs, securing the data plane and control plane, protecting against IP spoofing, dhcp snooping, VLAN hopping, Mac spoofing, SSH, SNMP, configuring VPNs, firewalls, and IPS on routers, PKI, TACACS+, on top of being able to configure all the routing and switching that founds found on the R&S exam.

And there's more than just DMVPNs FYI. There's GET VPN, IPSec, EZVPN, SSL VPN, VTI, and probably some others I'm probably forgetting.

I used the Cisco Press books when studying and they were really good. I had a lot of fun studying for the exam, but I enjoy being in Info Sec and I'm a fukkin nerd

My plan was get a dual CCIE in R&S and Security since there's about an 80% overlap. But Cisco changed the exam blueprint for the security tract when I was studying and added a shyt ton of new shyt to the requirements. I was maybe 2-3 months away from taking the lab when they updated to v4 and it completely fukked my schedule up as I had to wait to see all the new iOS and hardware requirements and shyt, not to mention trying to find study materials

Would give you rep but...

R&S and Sec is exactly what I'm thinking about. I figure once I get the one out of the way, I'll find it easier to tackle the other.

Also hearing good things about CCIE Sec positions in Atlanta. I realize I can wherever I go, but there may be some good opportunities out there. Also wouldn't mind going to Georgia Tech in a couple years.

How you liking the industry out there. More importantly, how you liking everything else out there?

 

[↓R↑LYB]

Would give you rep but...

R&S and Sec is exactly what I'm thinking about. I figure once I get the one out of the way, I'll find it easier to tackle the other.

Also hearing good things about CCIE Sec positions in Atlanta. I realize I can wherever I go, but there may be some good opportunities out there. Also wouldn't mind going to Georgia Tech in a couple years.

How you liking the industry out there. More importantly, how you liking everything else out there?

CCIE is good everywhere breh. Once you get it you're pretty much set. I don't have mine and I've been hit up for jobs in Europe, Africa, and the Middle East. I've had positions come across my email paying 200k+ a year. You can even hit 3-400k a year if you know how to hustle right, but we'll save that for another convo

I love Atlanta and the market is pretty good for a city this size. I haven't had any problems finding work, but I have a pretty strong resume and 10 years of experience.