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LochNessMonster
Feb 3, 2005

I need about three fitty


Hotel Kpro posted:

Passed the CCNA. Much like PenTest+ I was pretty sure I wasn't going to pass. I've felt under prepared for pretty much every cert test I've taken and somehow keep scraping by with passing scores.

My only question now is how easy/difficult will it be to break back into IT. I did nearly two years of help desk and for the last month went back to calibrating stuff and things cause of a move.

Congrats, CCNA is a great achievment, especially if you have little experience in the field. That should be enough to get you an entry level network engineer role!

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Handsome Ralph
Sep 3, 2004

Oh boy, posting!
That's where I'm a Viking!


Currently looking to switch up my career field and I've decided on IT for a variety of reasons. Right now I'm just studying for the A+ cert using Mike Myers Udemy 1001/1002 courses though I am bit annoyed in that I paid ten bucks for study guides on a cert that I just found out yesterday will be retired in three weeks. Whoops.

Anyways, the vibe I've gotten from reading elsewhere is that the difference between 1001/1002 and 1101/1102 isn't too much of a leap if I am already technically proficient, and that I should be fine to continue using the Mike Myers course. Is that the case or am I setting myself up for failure? I plan on doing some practice exams for 1101/1102 before the real deal, so I think that would definitely tell me if I need to go back and study on something I missed.

Only other question is as far as vouchers, are there any reputable places other than CompTIA I can buy them from for less than what CompTIA charges?

Handsome Ralph fucked around with this message at 22:54 on Oct 1, 2022

LochNessMonster
Feb 3, 2005

I need about three fitty


I don’t know about CompTia but usually exams get changed slightly and the majority of topics stay the same.

Look for the differences and see which parts get dropped and what new topics get introduced. Then decide if you want to cram for Oct 20 or delay for the new exam.

FCKGW
May 21, 2006

Handsome Ralph posted:

Only other question is as far as vouchers, are there any reputable places other than CompTIA I can buy them from for less than what CompTIA charges?

https://getcertified4less.com/
I've bought a couple vouchers from them for both Comptia and Microsoft.


If you want training material I think Professor Messer is fantastic for CompTIA exams. I always found his lectures very easy to follow and the video series is completely free. He charges for supplemental material if you want more stuff.
https://www.professormesser.com/

FCKGW fucked around with this message at 17:08 on Oct 2, 2022

Hotel Kpro
Feb 24, 2011

owls don't go to school
Dinosaur Gum
Somehow I have a Cisco ID not associated with my personal email or my school email. Would be nice to get proof of passing.

Thanks Ants
May 21, 2004

#essereFerrari


Cisco learning accounts are separate from CCO IDs. The idea is that your learning ID is yours forever, and you attach it to different CCO IDs as you move between companies.

BornAPoorBlkChild
Sep 24, 2012
i broke down and decided to get the Odom OCG library. I'll get the ExSim-Max 200-301 CCNA for $99 in December

i am not putting a single loving cent to that $300 voucher until i know the TCP Control Bit Flags by heart

Hotel Kpro
Feb 24, 2011

owls don't go to school
Dinosaur Gum
I'd keep an eye on Boson's website, they normally do 25% off sales around the holidays

BIG FLUFFY DOG
Feb 16, 2011

On the internet, nobody knows you're a dog.


Handsome Ralph posted:

Currently looking to switch up my career field and I've decided on IT for a variety of reasons. Right now I'm just studying for the A+ cert using Mike Myers Udemy 1001/1002 courses though I am bit annoyed in that I paid ten bucks for study guides on a cert that I just found out yesterday will be retired in three weeks. Whoops.

Anyways, the vibe I've gotten from reading elsewhere is that the difference between 1001/1002 and 1101/1102 isn't too much of a leap if I am already technically proficient, and that I should be fine to continue using the Mike Myers course. Is that the case or am I setting myself up for failure? I plan on doing some practice exams for 1101/1102 before the real deal, so I think that would definitely tell me if I need to go back and study on something I missed.

Only other question is as far as vouchers, are there any reputable places other than CompTIA I can buy them from for less than what CompTIA charges?

I just found this out from this post and now I have two weeks less to study than when I wanted to take the test. Oh well! I’ll just be a mess of anxiety and stress for the next two weeks.

BIG FLUFFY DOG
Feb 16, 2011

On the internet, nobody knows you're a dog.


Anyone know good mnemonics for the A+? so far I've got:

I Eat Tacos Every Valentines Day for the troubleshooting process

Carry Extra Donuts To Fat Cops for laser printer process

G comes before O and Striped before Solid for keeping the Twisted Pairs straight.

Send Mail to People for which one of the email protocols actually sends vs receives (I usally forget this isn't its real name at this point)

guppy
Sep 21, 2004

sting like a byob
Please Do Not Trust Sales People's Advice for the OSI model.

This one is useful for the A+, Network+, and CCNA, and is good advice generally.

Professor Latency
Mar 30, 2011

drat that's way better than Please Do Not Throw Sausage Pizza Away

Hughmoris
Apr 21, 2007
Let's go to the abyss!
I've always been partial to Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally.

Moey
Oct 22, 2010

I LIKE TO MOVE IT
So, I was reviewing the guides for the VMware VCAP-DCV Design exam and the VCAP-DCV Deploy exam.

After working heavily with this crap for over a decade, I honestly feel good about passing them with minimal study. Those two would give me a VCIX-DCV.

My question, is this actually with it? Each of those exams would cost me $450.

I don't want to get my work to pay for this, because I plan on looking for new jobs after I knock out a handful of more certs.

Thoughts?

BIG FLUFFY DOG
Feb 16, 2011

On the internet, nobody knows you're a dog.


Moey posted:

So, I was reviewing the guides for the VMware VCAP-DCV Design exam and the VCAP-DCV Deploy exam.

After working heavily with this crap for over a decade, I honestly feel good about passing them with minimal study. Those two would give me a VCIX-DCV.

My question, is this actually with it? Each of those exams would cost me $450.

I don't want to get my work to pay for this, because I plan on looking for new jobs after I knock out a handful of more certs.

Thoughts?

Get them to pay for it. If you’re not stealing from your boss you’re stealing from your family

Moey
Oct 22, 2010

I LIKE TO MOVE IT

BIG FLUFFY DOG posted:

Get them to pay for it. If you’re not stealing from your boss you’re stealing from your family

I guess if I do that, I don't really care about the costs. Might as well give it a rip. I do get like $3k for training every year that I have only taken advantage of a few times. Current place doesn't value/care/know-about certifications, so I have not bothered with them for a while.

LochNessMonster
Feb 3, 2005

I need about three fitty


BIG FLUFFY DOG posted:

Get them to pay for it. If you’re not stealing from your boss you’re stealing from your family

This. The moment they need to get rid of you, they’ll do it without blinking.

Especially if you’ve got a budget for it and haven’t been using it.

BIG FLUFFY DOG
Feb 16, 2011

On the internet, nobody knows you're a dog.


Unless it’s a small business it’s not even your bosses money. It’s the money of some rich assholes in New York or London or LA you’ve never met. Take their money they’re taking yours

Killer_B
May 23, 2005

Uh?

BIG FLUFFY DOG posted:

Get them to pay for it. If you’re not stealing from your boss you’re stealing from your family

The only possibility where the choice to self-pay (no (re)imbursement from current company) would be if the current company expects the employee to pay the $$$ back if they leave before 18-24 months pass or something like that; not sure how many companies act like this though.

rafikki
Mar 8, 2008

I see what you did there. (It's pretty easy, since ducks have a field of vision spanning 340 degrees.)

~SMcD


Killer_B posted:

The only possibility where the choice to self-pay (no (re)imbursement from current company) would be if the current company expects the employee to pay the $$$ back if they leave before 18-24 months pass or something like that; not sure how many companies act like this though.

I think that’s pretty standard for that sort of reimbursement but even then, if you think your next job is going to pay a lot more then it’s probably worth it. Hell, you can even say to your next place that you’ll be forfeiting $dollars to accept their offer and can they toss you a signing bonus to make up for it.

App13
Dec 31, 2011

Not sure how relevant this is to this thread, but I started my Masters in cybersecurity and information assurance at WGU on Saturday.

Finished my first class yesterday (secure network design) and it feels great! Really hoping to dig deep and finish this thing in 6 months

BornAPoorBlkChild
Sep 24, 2012

BIG FLUFFY DOG posted:

Anyone know good mnemonics for the A+? so far I've got:

I Eat Tacos Every Valentines Day for the troubleshooting process

Carry Extra Donuts To Fat Cops for laser printer process

G comes before O and Striped before Solid for keeping the Twisted Pairs straight.

Send Mail to People for which one of the email protocols actually sends vs receives (I usally forget this isn't its real name at this point)

i vaguely remember somebody in the forums bout a few years back coming up with a really gross OSI Model mnemonic involving American women and that just always stuck with me:v:

BIG FLUFFY DOG
Feb 16, 2011

On the internet, nobody knows you're a dog.


Handsome Ralph posted:

Currently looking to switch up my career field and I've decided on IT for a variety of reasons. Right now I'm just studying for the A+ cert using Mike Myers Udemy 1001/1002 courses though I am bit annoyed in that I paid ten bucks for study guides on a cert that I just found out yesterday will be retired in three weeks. Whoops.

Anyways, the vibe I've gotten from reading elsewhere is that the difference between 1001/1002 and 1101/1102 isn't too much of a leap if I am already technically proficient, and that I should be fine to continue using the Mike Myers course. Is that the case or am I setting myself up for failure? I plan on doing some practice exams for 1101/1102 before the real deal, so I think that would definitely tell me if I need to go back and study on something I missed.

Only other question is as far as vouchers, are there any reputable places other than CompTIA I can buy them from for less than what CompTIA charges?

have not been a fan of mike myers course at all. professor messer's boring, monotone and dense but his videos track the COMPTIA objectives pretty closely. Myer's has his own system for covering information that is completely unrelated to the A+ objective structure. His videos seem mainly focused on trying to teach you to be a decent PC repairman which is what A+ is supposed to do but doesn't really help you so much with an exam that's mainly focused on making sure you know every single adjective, and how many pins are on particular pieces of RAM. He's been really helpful actually at getting me to understand the way certain computer things work more than the other guys so I wouldn't say he's a bad teacher just one teaching a different course than what he says he is. I've actually found Dion's practice exams and super helpful and the part where he goes over PBQ's to actually be really good grounding for the multiple choice stuff too. Other than that I'm just rereading my ExamCram textbook which I really don't like but its too late and too much money to switch to a better one (The author will often forget about facts hes supposed to cover and will just cram it into a single sentence in a different paragraph. His explanation for GPT in disc formatting was just the ways it upgraded MBR without ever explaining what MBR was as a baseline or even giving me the full name. I actually would have been completely lost without Myer's explanation on the subject credit where its due.)

TL;DR all the A+ exam prep guys suck in different ways except for Dion whose only sin is giving me long rear end stories about him buying his children a tiny pie.

navyjack
Jul 15, 2006



BIG FLUFFY DOG posted:

have not been a fan of mike myers course at all. professor messer's boring, monotone and dense but his videos track the COMPTIA objectives pretty closely. Myer's has his own system for covering information that is completely unrelated to the A+ objective structure. His videos seem mainly focused on trying to teach you to be a decent PC repairman which is what A+ is supposed to do but doesn't really help you so much with an exam that's mainly focused on making sure you know every single adjective, and how many pins are on particular pieces of RAM. He's been really helpful actually at getting me to understand the way certain computer things work more than the other guys so I wouldn't say he's a bad teacher just one teaching a different course than what he says he is. I've actually found Dion's practice exams and super helpful and the part where he goes over PBQ's to actually be really good grounding for the multiple choice stuff too. Other than that I'm just rereading my ExamCram textbook which I really don't like but its too late and too much money to switch to a better one (The author will often forget about facts hes supposed to cover and will just cram it into a single sentence in a different paragraph. His explanation for GPT in disc formatting was just the ways it upgraded MBR without ever explaining what MBR was as a baseline or even giving me the full name. I actually would have been completely lost without Myer's explanation on the subject credit where its due.)

TL;DR all the A+ exam prep guys suck in different ways except for Dion whose only sin is giving me long rear end stories about him buying his children a tiny pie.

Messer is greatly improved by putting him on 1.5x or higher speed so he actually talks at a rate that humans normally communicate at.

Professor Latency
Mar 30, 2011

Meyers' books (at least the net+ book) are way way better than his videos. I think they're fun, insofar as a textbook can be.

BornAPoorBlkChild
Sep 24, 2012

navyjack posted:

Messer is greatly improved by putting him on 1.5x or higher speed so he actually talks at a rate that humans normally communicate at.

2.0x for... literally everything on youtube, for me. 3.x if I'm on desktop.

Those Jeremy IT Lab vids, man...

theres only 24 hours in a loving day:colbert:

Handsome Ralph
Sep 3, 2004

Oh boy, posting!
That's where I'm a Viking!


BIG FLUFFY DOG posted:

have not been a fan of mike myers course at all. professor messer's boring, monotone and dense but his videos track the COMPTIA objectives pretty closely. Myer's has his own system for covering information that is completely unrelated to the A+ objective structure. His videos seem mainly focused on trying to teach you to be a decent PC repairman which is what A+ is supposed to do but doesn't really help you so much with an exam that's mainly focused on making sure you know every single adjective, and how many pins are on particular pieces of RAM. He's been really helpful actually at getting me to understand the way certain computer things work more than the other guys so I wouldn't say he's a bad teacher just one teaching a different course than what he says he is. I've actually found Dion's practice exams and super helpful and the part where he goes over PBQ's to actually be really good grounding for the multiple choice stuff too. Other than that I'm just rereading my ExamCram textbook which I really don't like but its too late and too much money to switch to a better one (The author will often forget about facts hes supposed to cover and will just cram it into a single sentence in a different paragraph. His explanation for GPT in disc formatting was just the ways it upgraded MBR without ever explaining what MBR was as a baseline or even giving me the full name. I actually would have been completely lost without Myer's explanation on the subject credit where its due.)

TL;DR all the A+ exam prep guys suck in different ways except for Dion whose only sin is giving me long rear end stories about him buying his children a tiny pie.

Thanks for the advice! I'm roughly half-way through Meyers' videos on 1001 right now. I'll likely just finish them up (been doing 1-2 hours a day) and look over Messer's videos as well. I'm going on vacation for a few weeks this week, but my plan is to schedule my 1101 exam when I return for sometime in December and hopefully knock that out then. I would love to buy Meyers' A+ book as it's been recommended to me by several people, but the 1101/1102 edition isn't out till next month and it feels silly to buy the current one since the 1001/1002 exams are being retired later on this month.

Right now the one thing that has given me a solid confidence boost is most of the material I've reviewed is pretty much stuff I already knew or at least was vaguely aware of. I also took a practice test for the hell of it and ended up with a 78% percent, which wasn't bad to me considering I hadn't really studied or reviewed anything prior to taking it. I think my biggest failings there are just printer stuff and some of the more minutia networking stuff I haven't touched or thought about since high school.

Anyways, I'll likely chime in here more as I get closer to taking the damned thing, as well as what next steps I'll take afterwards. Fully aware I will likely need to suck it up and work a help desk for 6 months to a year before being able to move higher up, but it's a foot in the door and I'm happy to take it.


Also your "I Eat Tacos Every Valentines Day" mnemonic device has been helpful, thanks for posting that.

BornAPoorBlkChild
Sep 24, 2012
https://twitter.com/ccna_tips/status/1578248755278757888?t=LtDhf2Ix8oxViJsKx0HxXQ&s=19

had to Google it to make sure it wasn't a shitpost of some kind

navyjack
Jul 15, 2006




There is actually a fun acronym that is so good that I forgot it and now just know that port off the top of my head and don’t know why.

THIS is FOR The PERVERTS!!!!!!

navyjack fucked around with this message at 08:12 on Oct 9, 2022

LochNessMonster
Feb 3, 2005

I need about three fitty



Nice

BIG FLUFFY DOG
Feb 16, 2011

On the internet, nobody knows you're a dog.


dumb question:

with boot problems when do i use fixmbr vs fixboot vs rebuildbcd?

I know you use mbr for the mbr and fixboot for the bootsector but right now the distinction between the two is kind of muddled for me. And I can't get my head around what the hell the bcd is and when i need to rebuild it.

BIG FLUFFY DOG
Feb 16, 2011

On the internet, nobody knows you're a dog.


Passed core 1 with an 800. Now to cram for core 2 tomorrow because I decided to do this in the stupidest way possible (both tests at once without researching edition retirement dates in a city with only one testing center only open on weekends run by a very mean man)

tokin opposition
Apr 8, 2021

The dialectical struggle of history has always, essentially, been a question of how to apply justice to matter. Take away matter and what remains is justice.

BIG FLUFFY DOG posted:

Passed core 1 with an 800. Now to cram for core 2 tomorrow because I decided to do this in the stupidest way possible (both tests at once without researching edition retirement dates in a city with only one testing center only open on weekends run by a very mean man)

congrats and good luck! :)

navyjack
Jul 15, 2006



BIG FLUFFY DOG posted:

Passed core 1 with an 800. Now to cram for core 2 tomorrow because I decided to do this in the stupidest way possible (both tests at once without researching edition retirement dates in a city with only one testing center only open on weekends run by a very mean man)

Doing core 1 on Monday and 2 on Tuesday. I feel pretty good about 1, less steady on 2. Guess we’ll find out.

BIG FLUFFY DOG
Feb 16, 2011

On the internet, nobody knows you're a dog.


navyjack posted:

Doing core 1 on Monday and 2 on Tuesday. I feel pretty good about 1, less steady on 2. Guess we’ll find out.

Everyone on reddit who talks about their scores seems to get a lower score on 2 than on 1. I had an anxiety attack during the test I'm having an anxiety attack now cramming and wish I had just restudied for 11 and taken my time.

navyjack
Jul 15, 2006



BIG FLUFFY DOG posted:

Everyone on reddit who talks about their scores seems to get a lower score on 2 than on 1. I had an anxiety attack during the test I'm having an anxiety attack now cramming and wish I had just restudied for 11 and taken my time.

I felt my soul leave my body during Net+ and passed it, so you got this

thewizardofshoe
Feb 24, 2013

The 2nd A+ test has a higher amount of intentionally vaguely worded questions in the troubleshooting sections that I felt and still feel are bullshit. I wouldn't worry too much about it though, if you passed 1 then 2 is definitely doable easily. I think I scored similarly on both but felt more confident going into the 2nd and did a little better and I think there's something to that, as some of the questions seem designed to make you 2nd guess your instinct.

BIG FLUFFY DOG
Feb 16, 2011

On the internet, nobody knows you're a dog.


BIG FLUFFY DOG posted:

Passed core 1 with an 800. Now to cram for core 2 tomorrow because I decided to do this in the stupidest way possible (both tests at once without researching edition retirement dates in a city with only one testing center only open on weekends run by a very mean man)

BIG FLUFFY DOG posted:

Everyone on reddit who talks about their scores seems to get a lower score on 2 than on 1. I had an anxiety attack during the test I'm having an anxiety attack now cramming and wish I had just restudied for 11 and taken my time.

After all that I passed with a score exactly two points higher. I am a+ certified just under the retirement wire. I was much less confident going in then for the first one but once the test was going I thought it was easier (even though I scored almost the same so I guess not really) I guess my anxiety made me over-prepare.

Going to get so drunk tonight and not even look at a technical term until Halloween. Then updating my resume, looking for jobs, and figuring out what cert I should take next (while researching retirement dates this time).

navyjack
Jul 15, 2006



BIG FLUFFY DOG posted:

After all that I passed with a score exactly two points higher. I am a+ certified just under the retirement wire. I was much less confident going in then for the first one but once the test was going I thought it was easier (even though I scored almost the same so I guess not really) I guess my anxiety made me over-prepare.

Going to get so drunk tonight and not even look at a technical term until Halloween. Then updating my resume, looking for jobs, and figuring out what cert I should take next (while researching retirement dates this time).

Grats! Network + just retired iirc so you’ve got 3 years if you want to do that one.

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BIG FLUFFY DOG
Feb 16, 2011

On the internet, nobody knows you're a dog.


navyjack posted:

Grats! Network + just retired iirc so you’ve got 3 years if you want to do that one.

I think I’m going to study for the net+ but not take it unless any job I get needs me to. I want to improve my understanding of networks but it’s an expensive test like all of compTIA compared to others and I’ve heard it’s one that nobody really cares about.

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