The IT Certification Megathread: Straight Outta CompTIA

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Serious Hardware/Software Crap > The IT Certification Megathread: Straight Outta CompTIA

ilkhan: Oct 7, 2004; I LOVE Musk and his pro-first-amendment ways. X is the future.

CCENT as someone who has been doing desktop IT and a little network stuff shouldn't be too difficult, right?

# ¿ Feb 6, 2019 01:53

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# ¿ Apr 25, 2024 02:41

ilkhan: Oct 7, 2004; I LOVE Musk and his pro-first-amendment ways. X is the future.

hmm. Well I've got a couple switches and a router on the way to familiarize myself with iOS first. Signed up for the exam on the 22nd, so I have that long to get gud.

# ¿ Feb 6, 2019 06:38

ilkhan: Oct 7, 2004; I LOVE Musk and his pro-first-amendment ways. X is the future.

So would it be better to learn Network+ and then go CCNA?

# ¿ Feb 7, 2019 06:30

ilkhan: Oct 7, 2004; I LOVE Musk and his pro-first-amendment ways. X is the future.

Yeah, I'm mostly looking at timing and order. CCENT first, then N+, then CCNA seems like the best path. I'm already signed up for the CCENT exam, anyway.

# ¿ Feb 7, 2019 15:40

ilkhan: Oct 7, 2004; I LOVE Musk and his pro-first-amendment ways. X is the future.

Probably better to have CCENT + N+ than just the CCENT though, right?

I got let go from my help desk and maintenance spot 6 months ago through no fault of my own and been having trouble finding a new gig. So whatever I can do to open new avenues is worthwhile. I'm finishing my degree in May and just wanting to get by until that happens and I can finish studying for CCNA and being "book" qualified for a bunch of new roles.

ilkhan fucked around with this message at 22:50 on Feb 7, 2019

# ¿ Feb 7, 2019 22:43

ilkhan: Oct 7, 2004; I LOVE Musk and his pro-first-amendment ways. X is the future.

Hmm. Ok. Maybe I'll just take the CCENT and go straight to studying for the CCNA.

# ¿ Feb 7, 2019 23:22

ilkhan: Oct 7, 2004; I LOVE Musk and his pro-first-amendment ways. X is the future.

AlternateAccount posted:

It's semi-IT, but anyone here passed the PMP? I feel like the difficulty of it has to be overblown, but maybe I am just overconfident?

Not PMP, but CAPM is the other cert I want to get in the near future. All the PM jobs around here are construction though, and want like 5-10 years of experience.

# ¿ Feb 10, 2019 22:48

ilkhan: Oct 7, 2004; I LOVE Musk and his pro-first-amendment ways. X is the future.

Mouse Cadet posted:

I passed it two years ago. Feel free to ask any questions.

How helpful was it career wise for you?

# ¿ Feb 14, 2019 03:53

ilkhan: Oct 7, 2004; I LOVE Musk and his pro-first-amendment ways. X is the future.

skooma512 posted:

So I'm going to try something different.

I took all the ICND1 objectives and put them on a page individually, essentially making them essay prompts. I'm going to put them in a binder and fill them with notes.

This will hopefully solve my habit of aimlessly studying and anxiety around wasted time. An objective is always on the test, and I have to go digging through the book to find the info I need rather than only read the chapter and retain basically nothing. I have an internet-addled attention span, and I don't really know how to effectively take notes from text. It's all important to me, otherwise it surely wouldn't be here, so nothing's important, nothing stands out, nothing is retained.

Hopefully by the end I have a binder full of notes that will give me confidence to keep going and to eventually take the test.

Got a link to that sheet?

# ¿ Feb 16, 2019 04:40

ilkhan: Oct 7, 2004; I LOVE Musk and his pro-first-amendment ways. X is the future.

Passed CCENT exam this morning. Feels good, even if just barely. Wouldn't have been anywhere near passing without the exam prep, so thanks Boson. :toot:

rock2much posted:

Does anyone have any recommendations for MS Teams training and (unrelated) practice tests for CCENT 100-105? I need Teams for work (VoIP) and the CCENT cert is just something I'd like to get after letting my Net+ lapse years ago.

Boson did a pretty good job for me on the 100-105. Just taking their practice tests and explanations made the difference for me.

# ¿ Mar 19, 2019 18:49

ilkhan: Oct 7, 2004; I LOVE Musk and his pro-first-amendment ways. X is the future.

Is security+ still a good cert for getting past screenings and stuff? The book link in the OP is dead. I finally graduate next Friday and picked up another MSP spot for now, but the pay is poo poo and I want to climb the ladder ASAP. CCNA is next, but I don't want to focus on just one thing either.

ilkhan fucked around with this message at 05:16 on May 9, 2019

# ¿ May 9, 2019 05:14

ilkhan: Oct 7, 2004; I LOVE Musk and his pro-first-amendment ways. X is the future.

Aren't there like a dozen MCSA certs? Which is the best starter one?

# ¿ May 18, 2019 00:33

ilkhan: Oct 7, 2004; I LOVE Musk and his pro-first-amendment ways. X is the future.

I just got back from doing the CAPM. 150 questions is a lot, but if you know what the inputs and outputs of everything are it's a piece of cake.

Now let's hope it actually helps me land a job, this underemployed poo poo sucks.

# ¿ May 30, 2019 23:55

ilkhan: Oct 7, 2004; I LOVE Musk and his pro-first-amendment ways. X is the future.

BUG JUG posted:

This is currently my personal hell: do I take A+ (and try to rush through some sort of practice testing/reading in the next couple weeks) before 901/902 retires, or do I wait to take 1001/1002 after perhaps taking a Cybrary course on Network+/Security+? Or does simply getting Net/Sec+ grant you an A+ as well?

My experience in IT is two years of troubleshooting/help desk for a small photography company about a decade ago, and 30 years of working generally with computers, and I consider myself somewhat literate in regards to the basics of PCs/mobile devices/networking. My ultimate goal is to get into a sweet sweet pentesting gig in the next 2-3 years.

If you have 30 years of working with computers and 2 years of help desk you can walk into a test center tomorrow without any worries.

# ¿ Jul 1, 2019 20:49

ilkhan: Oct 7, 2004; I LOVE Musk and his pro-first-amendment ways. X is the future.

The Good Professor posted:

I'd go so far as to say if you have 30 years of working with computers and 2 years of help desk, you don't need to get an A+ anyway. Start with the Net+ or Sec+, it'll be marginally more interesting and nobody's going to care whether you have an A+ or not once you have one of those.

This too.

# ¿ Jul 2, 2019 00:14

ilkhan: Oct 7, 2004; I LOVE Musk and his pro-first-amendment ways. X is the future.

Darchangel posted:

Boss wants us all to have Sec+. Company reimbursed, so why not. Got lucky and Udemy had the Mike Myers course for all of $15 (would have been :tenbux: but I procrastinated enough to miss that price last week.)

Fake edit: just looked an it�s $11.00 for the next 6 hours.

On the second video, and Mike seems pretty entertaining. I think I have access to his books via my company�s learning portal, so that could help, as well.

Yeah, I know it�s baby�s first security, but I�m not planning a career in Infosec. Seems like a good idea to have at least basic knowledge of infosec, though, especially since that�s very much related to what my host company does (AV, anti-malware, and network security.)

Any suggestions on actually taking the cert exam in the very near future?

# ¿ Apr 8, 2020 14:21

ilkhan: Oct 7, 2004; I LOVE Musk and his pro-first-amendment ways. X is the future.

Cyks posted:

CompTIA is allowing testing from home.

I looked at pearson vue to schedule and it was all unavailable. How do you do the from home testing?

# ¿ Apr 8, 2020 14:27

ilkhan: Oct 7, 2004; I LOVE Musk and his pro-first-amendment ways. X is the future.

SlowBloke posted:

The home testing package in pearson vue usually has a different code from the standard test to do at a test site, you might have to search on the certification provider site for the exact one.

Good info, thanks.

Looks like CompTIA doesn't offer remote until the 15th.
https://www.comptia.org/testing/online-testing-interest-form

# ¿ Apr 8, 2020 16:45

ilkhan: Oct 7, 2004; I LOVE Musk and his pro-first-amendment ways. X is the future.

SRE? Seen the term.but not familiar with it.

# ¿ Aug 12, 2020 16:59

ilkhan: Oct 7, 2004; I LOVE Musk and his pro-first-amendment ways. X is the future.

Grats. Lots of certs are like that. My A+ was from 20...14? Don't remember, but I know its expired. I walked in without having studied anything and fully expected to pass from my existing knowledge, but that is usually the way tests and I work. I did study for CCENT and CAPM though. Did not expect to pass on CAPM, my test date was a couple of days earlier than I thought and I was going to reschedule, signed in to do that and the test was 14 hours away. I went in for the scheduled appointment fully expecting to have to pay to re-take.

# ¿ Dec 1, 2020 05:12

ilkhan: Oct 7, 2004; I LOVE Musk and his pro-first-amendment ways. X is the future.

Is there a current recommendation for a ccna course on Udemy or the like? I probably don't need one, but it never hurts to be sure before taking the test.

# ¿ May 16, 2022 20:55

ilkhan: Oct 7, 2004; I LOVE Musk and his pro-first-amendment ways. X is the future.

BIG FLUFFY DOG posted:

I have a lot of questions but for just one:

What exactly are ports and what does it mean to have them open? Exam cram just kind of assumes I already know what they are and how they work.

If your IP is the house address that tells mail where to go, a port is the name portion or apartment/suite code of a letter, telling it specifically who it's address to. Various services listen on specific ports for incoming communication.

# ¿ Sep 2, 2022 01:52

ilkhan: Oct 7, 2004; I LOVE Musk and his pro-first-amendment ways. X is the future.

Kazinsal posted:

It would honestly be weirder if they managed to go more than three years without rewriting the CCNA.

Does seem that way. I need to finish my studying and schedule the exam.

# ¿ Dec 11, 2022 02:18

ilkhan: Oct 7, 2004; I LOVE Musk and his pro-first-amendment ways. X is the future.

BIG FLUFFY DOG posted:

Most of the jobs that I would like want Active Directory and SQL knowledge. What's the best way to get trained up on those for cheap?

I can't think of any help desk role that would need SQL experience/knowledge.

guppy posted:

I can tell you what I personally would want to see in a helpdesk candidate, but it really depends on who's doing the hiring and if they know what makes for a good helpdesk tech. I would like to see:

- the basics of how to computer
- troubleshooting/methodological mindset
- plays well with others

The rest is teachable. I've seen too many helpdesk techs who have absolutely no idea how to approach a problem they've never seen before. Show me that you know how to think through a problem and that's like 90% of the battle right there.

200% this.

ilkhan fucked around with this message at 01:52 on Dec 12, 2022

# ¿ Dec 12, 2022 01:50

ilkhan: Oct 7, 2004; I LOVE Musk and his pro-first-amendment ways. X is the future.

Yeah if you already unemployed no reason not to be applying for the 2-6mo contract gigs that nobody wants to leave a long term position for. It's probably clean up or set up, and either way you'll learn a lot and add resume experience.

# ¿ Aug 8, 2023 16:02

ilkhan: Oct 7, 2004; I LOVE Musk and his pro-first-amendment ways. X is the future.

Robert half is a good one. Just put in sys admin or network admin, your location and On-Site/hybrid/remote, and contract in LinkedIn. Should give you some leads.

# ¿ Aug 9, 2023 01:20

ilkhan: Oct 7, 2004; I LOVE Musk and his pro-first-amendment ways. X is the future.

KillHour posted:

Is Robert Half the one that calls your current employer to say "So and so is out looking for a new job. It looks like you're going to need to backfill that position - you want someone?"

Hadn't heard that, but lol sounds right for any staffing co.

# ¿ Aug 18, 2023 18:24

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# ¿ Apr 25, 2024 02:41

ilkhan: Oct 7, 2004; I LOVE Musk and his pro-first-amendment ways. X is the future.

Bought the voucher for CCNA. I have 90 days to get it done. Time to get a movin'.

# ¿ Apr 12, 2024 18:30

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