Career direction :S VMWARE?

Discussion in 'VMware Certifications' started by Asterix, Jan 21, 2010.

  1. Asterix

    Asterix Megabyte Poster

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    Background:
    __________
    I have worked on a helpdesk since graduating for about 18 month now and currently have exposure to some pretty interesting things on a daily basis (basic 2003 server admin, RSA, Citrix etc). I seem to be doing pretty well and have been for a couple of interviews for a desktop promotion within the same company (2 different branches), one of the desktop team leaders also manages the server team and was very interested to see that I am only one exam away from the MCSA (70-291 to complete still :S). On discussion into my future progression within the company he recommended not completing my CCNA as I originally planned and concentrating my studies on upgrading MCSA to 2008 and focusing on VMWARE. I am very keen on this idea but have several queries:
    My Questions:
    _________
    1) I was previously studying CCNA but dropped this due to limited exposure in role, I have passed a degree in networking, have had a small exposure to configuring switches/routers and attended a 5 day boot camp, and feel that i could complete the CCNA in 1/2 months. Would it be worth passing CCENT + CCNA after MCSA (after all there are a lot of jobs that list CCNA as a requirement) although I do not wish to pursue an infrastructure role?
    2) From a quick search there are no entry level VMWARE certifications, am i missing something or do these not exist?
    3) Although work currently use VMWARE is it worth doing any MS virtulisation certs, and is there any crossover?
    4) What is the best method of making a break from a home setup (currently VMWARE Workstation lol) to commercial equipment?
    5) Would Citrix certs benefit me on this career path?

    Sorry for all the Q's :oops:
     
  2. craigie

    craigie Terabyte Poster

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    Woah tons of questions!

    1. If you can crank out the CCNA in 1/2 month then why not. If you are doing some Server Admin work, employeers will expect you to have the networking skills to go with it.
    2. VMware Certified Professional is the qualifcation, you have to attend a VMware certified course to get accredited. However, you can pass the exam only if you like. Information can be found here
    3. From what I have heard others say the MS Hyper V exam is meant to be a dodle.
    4. I recently brought an HP ML115, see this thread it the ESX and ESXi Hardware Compatibilty Lists. You can see a quick installation guide here to boot from USB here
    5. Citrix, do you use it, if not mate, get your MCSA, CCENT, CCNA and VMware stuff, that should keep you going for a little while.
     
    Certifications: CCA | CCENT | CCNA | CCNA:S | HP APC | HP ASE | ITILv3 | MCP | MCDST | MCITP: EA | MCTS:Vista | MCTS:Exch '07 | MCSA 2003 | MCSA:M 2003 | MCSA 2008 | MCSE | VCP5-DT | VCP4-DCV | VCP5-DCV | VCAP5-DCA | VCAP5-DCD | VMTSP | VTSP 4 | VTSP 5
  3. Asterix

    Asterix Megabyte Poster

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    Thanks for the Response Craigie,
    I do use Citrix, but only really perform very basic tasks such as shadowing user sessions and forcefully booting out user sessions, I understand you are Citrix certified (and have read your posts on this), did you find your Citrix cert beneficial?
    i feel that there is a pretty large gap between MCSA and VCP (from what i have read), as well as possibly gaining further knowledge on Citrix and gaining a relevant accreditation what other what other 'sys admin' certs could help progress my learning and fill this void?
     
  4. Phoenix
    Honorary Member

    Phoenix 53656e696f7220 4d6f64

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    Yes, ignore all the fluff you read about not having a cert because you dont have the hands on
    if your skilled enough to pass the cert, pass the cert, so get your CCNA out of the way, it does expire, so if you dont plan on using it, keep that in mind


    Virtualization is the FUTURE of IT, get on the wagon now
    how you do it, who you do it with, all minor details, start understanding the concepts behind computing on demand and you will do yourself a **** ton of favors
     
    Certifications: MCSE, MCITP, VCP
    WIP: > 0
  5. craigie

    craigie Terabyte Poster

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    As both myself and Phoenix have mentioned, get balls deep on the CCNA and finish of your MCSA.

    In relation to the Citrix stuff, have I found it useful yes, I have done some application rollouts and added another server into an existing farm.

    What it did help on was printing issues, we only use Citrix about 5% of the time.

    If I was you, would I do it, nah, not right now.
     
    Certifications: CCA | CCENT | CCNA | CCNA:S | HP APC | HP ASE | ITILv3 | MCP | MCDST | MCITP: EA | MCTS:Vista | MCTS:Exch '07 | MCSA 2003 | MCSA:M 2003 | MCSA 2008 | MCSE | VCP5-DT | VCP4-DCV | VCP5-DCV | VCAP5-DCA | VCAP5-DCD | VMTSP | VTSP 4 | VTSP 5
  6. Asterix

    Asterix Megabyte Poster

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    Thanks for the response guys, Think the plan is to finish off MCSA and then do CCNA, then think about gaining a messaging/security specialisation for MCSA (probably security as i do not have any exposure to exchange at the moment) and try and play around with some virtualisation along the way, this should hopefully keep me busy for a while!
    Phoenix- are these virtualisation concepts product specific or is there any crossover between Microsoft\VMWARE?
     
  7. Phoenix
    Honorary Member

    Phoenix 53656e696f7220 4d6f64

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    the concepts should be pretty transferable between brands
    virtualization is a concept, a platform
    its not really vendor specific

    they do call things different names, and they do have different feature sets
    however the concepts are the same across the board
     
    Certifications: MCSE, MCITP, VCP
    WIP: > 0
  8. BosonMichael
    Honorary Member Highly Decorated Member Award 500 Likes Award

    BosonMichael Yottabyte Poster

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    ...but... didn't he say he had a small amount of exposure to routers and switches? To me, that's enough hands-on to pursue the CCNA.
     
    Certifications: CISSP, MCSE+I, MCSE: Security, MCSE: Messaging, MCDST, MCDBA, MCTS, OCP, CCNP, CCDP, CCNA Security, CCNA Voice, CNE, SCSA, Security+, Linux+, Server+, Network+, A+
    WIP: Just about everything!
  9. Asterix

    Asterix Megabyte Poster

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    Thanks for the posts guys, very much appreciated as always, good to get some great info and help refocus once in a while!
     
  10. Asterix

    Asterix Megabyte Poster

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    Phoenix- have you come across any books (or training vids) that would serve as a good introduction to the world of Virtualisation?
     
    Last edited: Jan 25, 2010
  11. SimonD
    Honorary Member

    SimonD Terabyte Poster

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    There are a number of books\training providers out there with regards to VMware etc.

    Trainsignal Vsphere training is a good one to have a look at, I would also suggest CBTNuggets as well.

    As far as books go anything by Scott Lowe would be where I would be looking.

    Also get yourself some hands on with the product. ESXi is free (and more of a direct comparison to ESX then say VMware Server), and can be set up relatively easily on pretty standard hardware. You would want to make sure you have decent memory so that you can start expanding on your virtualisation of different os's\apps.
     
    Certifications: CNA | CNE | CCNA | MCP | MCP+I | MCSE NT4 | MCSA 2003 | Security+ | MCSA:S 2003 | MCSE:S 2003 | MCTS:SCCM 2007 | MCTS:Win 7 | MCITP:EDA7 | MCITP:SA | MCITP:EA | MCTS:Hyper-V | VCP 4 | ITIL v3 Foundation | VCP 5 DCV | VCP 5 Cloud | VCP6 NV | VCP6 DCV | VCAP 5.5 DCA

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