General tech certification discussion

[jDSX]

I wanted to create a general discussion topic on IT/Tech Certification.
This includes CompTIA, Microsoft, Linux, Apple, Unix, Android, Programming, Penentration Testing, Cellphone Tech, Server, Cisco, Security, etc..etc, etc etc and etc......
In order to help anyone and everyone achieve that next level in their study's or life goals or help getting the proper information they might not understand or need advice on.

I'll start with my own question and what I'd like to achieve and get, just need some advice.
I would like to talk about Microsoft Certification.
I would like to take my exams and get certified. Although I am not entirely sure which ones I would like to take.
I know Windows 7 is still the industry standard along with Windows 2008 Server.
I currently have a setup for Windows 10 and Windows 2016 Server. Technical Preview.
I want to be capable of doing migration from Windows 7 Pro to Windows 10 Pro and same with Windows 2008/2012/R2 Server to Windows 2016 Server.
What should I be looking at. I mean I know what to basically go for. I just would like everyone's opinions on what you think.
I'd like to get my MCSE. What do you suggest I look at, and which courses should I take for what I am talking about above.
Thank you for your time and any input or correction is appreciated.

 

[FAST6191]

Unless your job requirement (so usually US government work) requires it then I would say most entry level certs for any vendor are not worth the paper they are printed on, and that goes double for the A+/compTIA stuff which I could almost see working against you if you are going to try your hand in private industry (I will have to conduct a test of that one of these days). After that though a degree might still be preferable the value of certs increases significantly. There are some absolutely insane certs out there, the virtualisation world having one that the test for I would put on par with a phd, for which holders are in great desire by loads of people but I am drawn to wonder if that is not more the person than the cert.

Penetration testing... never seen an undergrad course worth it though I will not rule out the possibility of one being good, postgrad maybe if it is a good one and you know are going to be applying for people that know what goes (the average hiring wonk will have heard of a MCSE, pen testing is more likely to be assumed to be testing literal pens) and certs are right out.

Cisco stuff, and I guess Juniper as well, can do well but there is the old adage of "everybody has microsoft". To that end maybe consider floating around the local job websites and seeing numbers. I would value a good red hat, suse or similar cert more than cisco in terms of knowing the person I am speaking to knows their stuff but you do have the "how many are needed" issue again, on unix and Linux then in most cases if it is not directly related to something on http://distrowatch.com/dwres.php?resource=major or something from the Oracle/Sun and maybe HP world it is probably not worth the time and even a few of those have some of dubious value (linux mint does not have anything that I can see but even if they did I would be dubious, and I love mint and use it on loads of client systems).

Apple. hahahahahahahaha. I guess you could do OK in the more creative industries, in a little shop or at an American university.

database/db admin stuff... Oracle and mysql have some good stuff, microsoft not doing badly either. You might be surprisingly employable with such things but I hope you have something else you can do if that dries up as it will probably not leave you with many general computer/network skills.
On a related note you rock up with skills in https://puppetlabs.com/ https://www.vagrantup.com/ http://www.webmin.com/ and definitely know you way around http://www.spiceworks.com/ and you will probably not have too much trouble.

"Cellphone Tech"... I guess maybe phone repair could do something, and if they had good ones for deploying them in enterprise or something then it would be valuable. As it stands if you know how security works then most of this should be common sense, not to mention I can not see any sensible sysadmin allowing someone with a shiny phone certificate to play on a big boy network.
More general telecoms can still do things but if "what is voip and sip" is a question you are left asking after such a couse then I hope you have access to a time machine as there is little else that you might be useful for.

Back to the question at hand I am a couple of years out of knowing what each and every one meant and they have rejigged it once more -- though I am not likely to respond that MCSE is Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer it could still happen if you catch me early in the morning (others with older knowledge reading it is now Microsoft Certified Solutions Expert, and is more aimed at the old MCITP market though it is more or less equivalent and not an insult to those that previously have a MCSE). The MCSA stuff is better from where I sit than the A+ but I would not hope to do much with it, as a springboard/I am continuing on then and here is how I prove it then absolutely.

Still 7 and server 2008 are more or less the standard, however we are now in extended support and that runs out on 14/01/2020 in both cases. https://support.microsoft.com/en-gb...=0&esdate=0&medate=0&spdate=0&Filter=FilterNO
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/lifecycle
It is basically 2016 now and if you are going to spend a year getting these certs that is going to be 2017 or about 3 years of work time if you do train up on 2008 server. That is enough time for training up to 2012 if you do self study I suppose. I would start in the very near future though as next summer will probably be a bit too late I reckon.

Those "boot camps" I am quite distrustful of. Many will do what is advertised and will do well if you already know a fair bit about computers but they way they are sold, especially to those that might not know computing,... urgh.

" I want to be capable of doing migration from Windows 7 Pro to Windows 10 Pro and same with Windows 2008/2012/R2 Server to Windows 2016 Server."
Normally I would say virtualise and do it, however that is not quite what you asked. If you can though do set up everything in a nice VM and do it..

Anyway I have to go and was dangerously close to waffling so I will leave it there for now.

 

[jDSX]

Thanks for that @FAST6191 . I'm a HS sophomore this year. I want to be either an Electronics Engineer or a Computer engineer. Not sure which one to choose, I'm leaning towards computer engineer. I'm guessing there's math involved so I'll have to study that more (not very good at it to start).

 

[FAST6191]

I have met examples of both that are superlative mathematicians and use it day in and day out to conduct said trades. If you want to go into 3d graphics, video and the like (by no means is that a complete list) then yeah maths is a pretty serious requirement for it. At the same time though I would place much more stock in being able to work through logical problems and with that I have also met engineers in both of those fields that I would not trust to do matrix maths at high level and for whom calculus was something they once learned and never used.
Similarly it has been a while since I subject myself to US high school math(s) but judging by homework help/school sucks threads around here it has not changed much. If so then I should note that I am really really not a fan of the way maths is taught there, I am not a fan of the way it is taught here either but I will single out the US to shake my head at in that one. Afraid all the times I have ever had to undo damage done by schools or make up for their shortcomings it was more on a per case basis, I guess I could do the thing that most younger folks seem to like these days and link up some youtube videos though





The underlying theory is specific to the things in question (though nothing too taxing) but the maths and analytical style he is using there is something that anybody that can justifiably call themselves an engineer will probably see all the time, I specifically linked a non electrical engineering (the guy is a very good electrical engineer) in that just to show how it works for somewhat unrelated things. Or if you prefer
http://www.youtube.com/user/mikeselectricstuff https://www.youtube.com/user/arduinoversusevil?feature=hovercard https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDbWmfrwmzn1ZsGgrYRUxoA/videos http://www.youtube.com/user/Matthiaswandel
See if you can spot similar thought processes in those, not all videos in those channels will have it in so look for the failure analysis, design/design explanation and teardown/review videos in those.
On maths specifically I am not sure what I can link up, https://www.youtube.com/user/numberphile/videos is fun, https://www.khanacademy.org/math is noted for a reason and http://mathworld.wolfram.com/ is worth a play with. Again though most of the times I have to play maths teacher it is with someone I have since got to know and know how they think/learn so if they do not work for you then do not sweat it too hard.

Computer engineering is something you want to check what a given course defines it as -- I have seen both one that puts together computers/networks/installs and another that is basically programmer/software engineer.

 

[PityOnU]

I wanted to create a general discussion topic on IT/Tech Certification.
This includes CompTIA, Microsoft, Linux, Apple, Unix, Android, Programming, Penentration Testing, Cellphone Tech, Server, Cisco, Security, etc..etc, etc etc and etc......
In order to help anyone and everyone achieve that next level in their study's or life goals or help getting the proper information they might not understand or need advice on.

I'll start with my own question and what I'd like to achieve and get, just need some advice.
I would like to talk about Microsoft Certification.
I would like to take my exams and get certified. Although I am not entirely sure which ones I would like to take.
I know Windows 7 is still the industry standard along with Windows 2008 Server.
I currently have a setup for Windows 10 and Windows 2016 Server. Technical Preview.
I want to be capable of doing migration from Windows 7 Pro to Windows 10 Pro and same with Windows 2008/2012/R2 Server to Windows 2016 Server.
What should I be looking at. I mean I know what to basically go for. I just would like everyone's opinions on what you think.
I'd like to get my MCSE. What do you suggest I look at, and which courses should I take for what I am talking about above.
Thank you for your time and any input or correction is appreciated.

I won't go into as much detail as the other guy (he seems to have lots of experience and has hit all the major points), but I am a Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer (got the cert 5-6 years ago before they change the title) and am currently a Ph.D. student in Computer Engineering, so I figured I'd just add my 2p:

In my opinion, getting some Microsoft Certifications is perhaps one of the best things you can do at your age. My MCSE landed me my first job (system administrator for a neuroscience lab on campus) and gave me a very firm understanding of many underlying technologies used in modern computers that I still use on a daily basis. As was said, don't pay to take any courses to get the certs. Just (legally?) download the books that Microsoft publishes to go with each exam and read through them front to back. They are actually really great, and with a little experimental setup like you have, you will learn SO MUCH. Expect to put about a month of full time study into every exam.

In regards to selecting between electrical and computer engineering, the line between the two is actually pretty blurry. You can think of the study of computing as a gradient, with theoretical mathematics (computer science) being on the far left, and hardcore practical physics (electrical engineering) being on the far right. Computer engineering occupies the no man's land between the two, and is actually where (what I think are) the most exciting breakthroughs in tech occur. Given the above, though, any institution worth its salt will allow for a lot of cross-pollination between programs, so you could absolutely be an electrical engineer with a strong coding background, or a CS major who is great at computer architecture.

 

[jDSX]

What about Kali Linux Offensive Security training and certification, etc.
Does anyone have any opinions on that?

 

[jonthedit]

What about Kali Linux Offensive Security training and certification, etc.
Does anyone have any opinions on that?

Trash.
Kali is open source stuff, you can learn it on your own fairly easily.
The cert basically just says "Hey I know how to read and apply what I read"
Also pen testers are lowest paid in CySec.

Edit: I am not trying to discourage you to learn how to use open-source tools that are in kali
Knowing Pen Testing is good especially if you want to end up at a high end position. Just do not become a 'pen tester' only.