Hey everyone

Discussion in 'New Members Introduction' started by mg123, Jan 24, 2008.

  1. mg123

    mg123 New Member

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    This is my introduction and as you can probably already see in your periphery, it's a long one. But who knows, you might get something from it. Here goes...

    I want to talk about how I ended up here on this site. I was a high achiever at school from an early age because I had the ability and the right attitude. Up till around GCSE that is, when my attitude changed. I became more concerned with being popular than being successful. And though I was capable of straight A's, I left school with 3 B's at A-level. Throughout school, I had always considered IT as a possible career path. I've always been good with computers and can troubleshoot mine most of the time. But when it came to choosing colleges, I chose Queen's like most of my friends. The idea of moving across the water to Britain or further afield seemed unthinkable to my immature 18-year-old self and because Queen's only offered one IT course, Computer Science, which looked horrible (programming was not something I liked the look of) I looked to other things. Like Chemistry.

    I enrolled in Chemistry in 2005/06, and realised I didn't like it much. I passed the 1st semester too easily, it was just A-level revision. So I became complacent and went from doing a little bit of studying to none. I failed the 2nd semester of that 1st year, repeated it in 2007 and just scraped through. I knew I was unhappy and other things interested me more but I decided to hold on and maybe I'd get a decent job out of it. Besides, the thought of changing course or dropping out was unbearable, what would people think? So I clung on and scraped through practicals, tutorials and tests, pissing away my time and cramming a week before exams, strategically memorizing the essentials without understanding the chemistry, a mere shadow of my formerly conscientious, academic self.

    The iceberg was slowly tearing the arse out of the ship, but I was afraid to jump. So I started 2nd year last September and was revising for my January exams two weeks ago when I came to a realisation: I was continuing with Chemistry out of fear of being judged by other people. That was the only reason. I was putting myself through all this shite, which would only get harder, to please others. I would have been disgusted with myself if I wasn't so happy to have realised that not only had I identified the source of a lot of unhappiness in my life, I could do something about it. Two weeks ago, on the day of my first exam, I met with my Advisor of Studies to inform her I was withdrawing. I felt empowered and excited about the future, and although I knew dropping out would mean having no qualifications to show for the last three years of my life, I have not dwelt on it or felt bad ever since.

    On the contrary, I'm more motivated and happier than I've been in a long time. I've been researching IT jobs ever since and I'm extremely glad I found this website. I had a call from Advent Training yesterday, who I had inquired about, and the lovely Heidi outlined their courses. She took a short questionnaire with me over the phone to see if I would be motivated enough. I told her about college and about taking control of my life. I told her about starting a job in sales about two years ago and being too nervous to approach customers, but I stuck with it and worked on myself and was eventually promoted to supervisor. (I still work there.) She was very impressed with me and amazed that I had 'such a wise head on young shoulders'. Whether this was genuine or just good salesmanship, I don't know. She advised me, based on my answers, to go for the MCSA. She told me it would cost £4450 and that I'd have the relevant certificates in 12-18 months, depending on my own pace. Then I'd be earning £20-25k.

    She told me she'd pass my application onto Advent's selection team or something like that, who would decide if I was suitable and get back to me. I suspect this was to create the illusion of scarcity, and if so it was done well. This morning I received an email from Advent accepting me on their course, along with a note that I had only 14 days to reply. People value their time far more than their money.

    I was about to accept but I decided to do more research and the fact that I couldn't find any independent recommendations for their training bothered me. I've spent all day searching the web and reading threads on this site and now I am much wiser. Thank you all. There are conflicting reports of Advent's value: some have criticised the materials and support yet others have reported a satisfactory service. Others were skeptical about the claims that A+, MCP, MCDST and MCSA could be done in 12-18 months. I decided if I was going to do this, I wasn't going to just read books and regurgitate them in exams. I was going to do it right. Finally, there was consensus on one important point: £4450 was too expensive.

    I decided that it was too much, especially if the course was of apparently questionable quality. I read some more threads and did some more searching. There seems to be nowhere in Fermanagh (where I'm from) that teaches CompTIA A+ or any of the Microsoft certificates, so classroom tutoring seems unlikely for me. Besides, the challenge of self-studying appeals to me and I'm eager to immerse myself in a new area of study. And it'll be cheaper.

    I feel in control of my life for the first time. It's a great feeling. Tonight I ordered "A+ Certification All-in-One Exam Guide, Sixth Edition (All-In-One)" and "A+ Certification Exam Cram (Exams 220-401, 220-402) (Exam Cram)" from Amazon. I'll browse through them and if I really enjoy it, which I hope I will, I'll make a commitment to the A+ exam, find a job in IT and commit to climbing that IT ladder. In the meantime, I'll continue with my part-time job and if the opportunity to progress on the sales path presents itself, I'll take it. I look forward to contributing to this superb forum and if you really read all the way through this verbose, self-examining drivel, I thank you kindly : )
     
    Certifications: None
    WIP: CompTIA A+
  2. BosonMichael
    Honorary Member Highly Decorated Member Award 500 Likes Award

    BosonMichael Yottabyte Poster

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    Read every word, mate. :)

    You couldn't be more right. I graduated with a BS in Chemistry. Going into Organic, they said, "Remember all that stuff we taught you in Gen Chem? Well, we lied... it REALLY works like this..." Then, in Physical Chem a couple of years later, they said, "Remember all that stuff we taught you in Organic? Well, disregard a good bit of that, HERE is how it really, REALLY works!" :D

    You're on the right path. As you've likely already gathered on this fine forum, according to Microsoft, the MCSA should be attempted by those who have 6-12 months of real-world experience in a 250+ user, multi-site, multi-server environment... not just 6-12 months in IT, but 6-12 months doing that job. But Advent wasn't going to tell you that. Either they don't know any better, or they don't want to tell you the truth. Either way, it's a shame.

    Welcome to the forums! :)
     
    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!
  3. GiddyG

    GiddyG Terabyte Poster Gold Member

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    Way to go! You have definitely made the right move. Welcome to CF... 8)
     
  4. greenbrucelee
    Highly Decorated Member Award

    greenbrucelee Zettabyte Poster

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    Hi Welcome

    Good choice but you could self study for those certs and with the MCSA as BM said you should have real world experience in a job administering a multi-user environment before doing the MCSA.

    But advent wasn't gonna tell you that.
     
    Certifications: A+, N+, MCDST, Security+, 70-270
    WIP: 70-620 or 70-680?
  5. wizard

    wizard Petabyte Poster

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    Hi there and welcome to CF 8)
     
    Certifications: SIA DS Licence
    WIP: A+ 2009

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