IT Certifications and Careers (Official Discussion Thread)

[↓R↑LYB]

Im assuming the CCNA is alot harder. So im thinking Ill proceeed with studying the net+ meterial to make sure I got the basics down. Then make the decision on if ill still take the net+ or try for CCNA. If I tried for CCNA now im thinking I might be a bit lost.

The CCNA will teach you the basics better than the network+ will. The CCNA will give you a strong understanding of TCP/IP, routing, switching, ACL's, subnets, and how these technologies work.

And don't shy away from a cert just because it's hard. The hard certs are typically the ones that make you the most money.

 

[Tunez]

2 phone interviews lined up

Finished 1, the other phone interview is next week

 

[Silkk]

@Blaxican707 Can i get you to go into detail about your sig and how your opportunities got better with each one

 

[Silkk]

200k on W2 so I don't have to worry about taxes.

How?

 

[kevm3]

I'm about to go really hard on this programming. Thank God I finally got my foot in the door, but I'd be an idiot to be complacent, especially after being underpaid for about 7 years in a small town hoping some 'accounting job' would fall through. I made the transition fairly late at around age 28 with a degree in a completely different subject than my degree(accounting), so if you want it you can go out there and get it. I plan on focusing on full stack development to eventually be able to create sites that can eventually turn into my own businesses.

I'm really going to focus on building a distraction free environment. One of the huge things is shutting down a lot of the side internet sites that siphon off my focus.

 

[the bossman]

How?

As in I could've got more on hourly rate doing Corp 2 Corp, but you have to handle how you pay all taxes versus W2 where its handled for you (you're still paying taxes either way )

 

[Silkk]

As in I could've got more on hourly rate doing Corp 2 Corp, but you have to handle how you pay all taxes versus W2 where its handled for you (you're still paying taxes either way )

Oh, i thought there was a loophole

 

[Solano707]

@Blaxican707 Can i get you to go into detail about your sig and how your opportunities got better with each one

@Silkk yeah, so I study for my first cert which was net+. It was actually a good choice to start with because it served as a solid foundation for the rest of the certs. I think I studied about 4 months for it? I passed on the first try. I think N+ is a great cert to have if you are just getting into the field becuase when net techs start explaining stuff, you'll have a solid understanding of what they are saying.

I went after CEH and studied for another 3 months for that - in actuality, it pulled a lot of information n+ which made it easier to study for. I then went and study for CISSP - I studied about 5 months for that. I used Shon harris 6th edition book, the 11th hour and I used cccure.org and paid for the quiz engine (its not a dump, but it helps you to get comfortable about how the questions are worded. I passed that on my first try.

The army put me through a 2 month course for CCNA - again, using N+ helped, but CCNA is much more deeper and have to know how to program, firewalls, switches and routers. I recommend that you use GNC or packet tracer to study and get comfortable with. There are simulators on the exam. Again, I passe this one on my first try.

Finally, I went after the PMP. I studied about a good 3 months. I will say this, this one was much harder than the other certs because of how the questions are worded and it asks you what phase you are in the project phase.

CISSP and PMP are my prize possessions. I mean, I literally get job offers thrown left and right at me all the time. ALL THE fukkING TIME. For instance, the editor in chief for Wiley publishing (the guys who make the Sybex textbooks), asked me to be a technical editor for the new CEHv9 study guide. And he also wanted me to write their CEHv9 Practice exam book. I actually finished that project like a month ago - it should go to print in about a month I think after all the proofs and editing are completed. I also do a lot of side contract jobs during my off time which is nice. For isntance, I was teaching online for a 5 week course for CISSP, CEH, PMP and Sec+. I was getting paid $50 an hour Nice chump change. I'm going to get back into it, but right now I'm just taking a chill pill because the bok I wrote was like a 5 months project and it took up a lot of time (I'm also in school for a second masters degree - two more semesters and I'm done).

One thing that I would advise not to do is use dumps - you don't learn anything that way. Just take your time to study. I used Quizlet for terms and other things. You can put it on your phone or tablet.

 

[Illmagic]

The CCNA will teach you the basics better than the network+ will. The CCNA will give you a strong understanding of TCP/IP, routing, switching, ACL's, subnets, and how these technologies work.


And don't shy away from a cert just because it's hard. The hard certs are typically the ones that make you the most money.

I appreciate the insight.

 

[GollyImGully]

Anyone got any good meterial for subnetting? I've read the subnetting chapter of my net+ book over and over and I still cant quite grasp it.

What aren't you getting exactly? There are a lot of techniques people use to subnet. You gotta understand the basics of an IP address 1st

There are 8 bits in an octet. 1's and 0's binary form. For a total of 32 bits (remember this)

11111111 = 255

11111111.11111111.11111111.11111111 = 255.255.255.255
11111111.11111111.11111111.0 = 255.255.255.0 = /24
etc.

These are the subnet masks you can use

11111111 = 255
11111110 = 254
11111100 = 252
11111000 = 248
11110000 = 240
11100000 = 224
11000000 = 192
10000000 = 128

So when someone says a /22 (cidr notation) network. This is what they are referring to, 255.255.252.0

/30 = 255.255.255.252
/16 = 255.255.0.0
/26 = 255.255.255.192
etc.

If said find the subnet & broadcast mask of 192.168.32.129 255.255.255.192, Here's two ways you could do it...

1 - First you need to find out which octet you are working with. Look at the subnet mask. 192 is in the 4th octet of the subnet mask so in this scenario we are working with 4th octet of the ip address.
192.168.32.129
255.255.255.192

2 - Subtract 192 from 256 to find the block size
You use 256 because...that is the total numbers from 0-255
This will leave us with 64 which is your block size

3 - Count from 0 to find the subnet where 129 is in range of without going over
192.168.32.0
192.168.32.64
192.168.32.128
192.168.32.192

So we could see here 129 is between 128 and 192. Making it within the 128 subnet. The last number in the subnet is 191 which in this case would be the broadcast mask.

so 192.168.32.129 is in the
Subnet = 192.168.32.128
With a Broadcast Mask of = 192.168.32.191

Lets say they gave you that same problem but in CIDR notation 192.168.32.129 /26

Remember there are 8 bits in every octet right? So in total 8.8.8.8 = 32

What you can do is subtract the cidr notation from the next block size up

In this case
32 - 26 = 6

then use exponents...

2^6 = 64

The same block size we got earlier



I explained it like a coli goon but this is basically subnetting

 

[Apollo Creed]

What aren't you getting exactly? There are a lot of techniques people use to subnet. You gotta understand the basics of an IP address 1st

There are 8 bits in an octet. 1's and 0's binary form. For a total of 32 bits (remember this)

11111111 = 255

11111111.11111111.11111111.11111111 = 255.255.255.255
11111111.11111111.11111111.0 = 255.255.255.0 = /24
etc.

These are the subnet masks you can use

11111111 = 255
11111110 = 254
11111100 = 252
11111000 = 248
11110000 = 240
11100000 = 224
11000000 = 192
10000000 = 128

So when someone says a /22 (cidr notation) network. This is what they are referring to, 255.255.252.0

/30 = 255.255.255.252
/16 = 255.255.0.0
/26 = 255.255.255.192
etc.

If said find the subnet & broadcast mask of 192.168.32.129 255.255.255.192, Here's two ways you could do it...

1 - First you need to find out which octet you are working with. Look at the subnet mask. 192 is in the 4th octet of the subnet mask so in this scenario we are working with 4th octet of the ip address.
192.168.32.129
255.255.255.192

2 - Subtract 192 from 256 to find the block size
You use 256 because...that is the total numbers from 0-255
This will leave us with 64 which is your block size

3 - Count from 0 to find the subnet where 129 is in range of without going over
192.168.32.0
192.168.32.64
192.168.32.128
192.168.32.192

So we could see here 129 is between 128 and 192. Making it within the 128 subnet. The last number in the subnet is 191 which in this case would be the broadcast mask.

so 192.168.32.129 is in the
Subnet = 192.168.32.128
With a Broadcast Mask of = 192.168.32.191

Lets say they gave you that same problem but in CIDR notation 192.168.32.129 /26

Remember there are 8 bits in every octet right? So in total 8.8.8.8 = 32

What you can do is subtract the cidr notation from the next block size up

In this case
32 - 26 = 6

then use exponents...

2^6 = 64

The same block size we got earlier



I explained it like a coli goon but this is basically subnetting

Man I used to be a beast at this in Undergrad dont know why I didnt get Certs ASAP after I took my Networking Course then

 

[Silkk]

What aren't you getting exactly? There are a lot of techniques people use to subnet. You gotta understand the basics of an IP address 1st

There are 8 bits in an octet. 1's and 0's binary form. For a total of 32 bits (remember this)

11111111 = 255

11111111.11111111.11111111.11111111 = 255.255.255.255
11111111.11111111.11111111.0 = 255.255.255.0 = /24
etc.

These are the subnet masks you can use

11111111 = 255
11111110 = 254
11111100 = 252
11111000 = 248
11110000 = 240
11100000 = 224
11000000 = 192
10000000 = 128

So when someone says a /22 (cidr notation) network. This is what they are referring to, 255.255.252.0

/30 = 255.255.255.252
/16 = 255.255.0.0
/26 = 255.255.255.192
etc.

If said find the subnet & broadcast mask of 192.168.32.129 255.255.255.192, Here's two ways you could do it...

1 - First you need to find out which octet you are working with. Look at the subnet mask. 192 is in the 4th octet of the subnet mask so in this scenario we are working with 4th octet of the ip address.
192.168.32.129
255.255.255.192

2 - Subtract 192 from 256 to find the block size
You use 256 because...that is the total numbers from 0-255
This will leave us with 64 which is your block size

3 - Count from 0 to find the subnet where 129 is in range of without going over
192.168.32.0
192.168.32.64
192.168.32.128
192.168.32.192

So we could see here 129 is between 128 and 192. Making it within the 128 subnet. The last number in the subnet is 191 which in this case would be the broadcast mask.

so 192.168.32.129 is in the
Subnet = 192.168.32.128
With a Broadcast Mask of = 192.168.32.191

Lets say they gave you that same problem but in CIDR notation 192.168.32.129 /26

Remember there are 8 bits in every octet right? So in total 8.8.8.8 = 32

What you can do is subtract the cidr notation from the next block size up

In this case
32 - 26 = 6

then use exponents...

2^6 = 64

The same block size we got earlier



I explained it like a coli goon but this is basically subnetting

 

[DMGAINGREEN]

Anyone on the path to taking their COMPTIA A+ test , I advise you watch this video and annotate 2 times a week , that if you possess the patience of course it's 3 hours so if you want to break it down into small intervals throughout the day that's your best bet ... I passed mine with flying colors off the strength

 

[DMGAINGREEN]

@bdizzle Breh , so what the next step after acquiring my COMPTIA A+ ? Thanks in advance breh

 

[yakamein]

Brehs I'm actually tired of the manual labor force. Been an Enviornmental supervisor for the past 5 years, but it isint consistent. Been looking for a while about copping this groupon bundle for comptia A+ & security+. Is it worth it? I'm already computer savvy, but don't have any work experience with it.