Books! Wonderful Books!

Discussion in 'MCDST' started by Qs, Aug 22, 2008.

  1. Qs

    Qs Semi-Honorary Member Gold Member

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    Hi all,
    This may turn into an essay... you have been warned! After recently completing my HND and CCNA as well as getting my driver's licence (wooo) I've been working full time and thoroughly enjoying it. Strange thing is that now I've been working full time for approximately four/five months I now really want to learn something else.

    Backstory section - Prior to July of this year I was on quite a low wage at work and although I was lucky enough to have an IT job (with no prior experience) that I enjoyed I still felt quite crappy about it. When July hit I finally got a pay-rise and was told by my manager that he wanted me to take his job once he retired in a few years. I was extremely excited, and thought this was another way to get additional certs but was told (quite truthfully in all honesty) that I wouldn't need any additional qualifications in order to get his job and to not bother looking. Bummer. :(

    After doing the usual 9-5 grind I finally had a breakthrough moment. I started to hint a lot at the possibility of me getting additional certs to my manager and spoke to the lady in charge of training (who seemed extremely positive - in turn making me happier about it). I finally managed to convince my manager by sending him a large email expressing how I felt and that I really really wanted to go for more. I got a quote for the two MCDST MS Press books from our supplier at work before-hand (and having spoken to the training department) I was totally prepared. My manager gave in and said he'd go and ask our Financial Director for the books on the quotation. This was yesterday.

    I came in this morning only to find out that she's totally up for it (in a qualification kind of way :p) and hadn't even looked at my grovelling email.... total waste of my English Language A Level! :dry

    She's knocked up a purchase order for both books and a few other bits and bobs totalling £150 and will cover the cost of any future exams - no strings.

    Woo! Bring it on!! I'm totally over the moon now and ready to go kick the exam's ass! :D

    What I'm trying to point out by this article is to say to everyone don't give up! A couple of years ago I was failing my A-Levels and totally depressed with the fact that I wasn't going to university which I thought meant bye bye IT career, but hey I did it - which means others can too.

    It's nice to know other people in your company believe in you and want you to succeed regardless of cost. :biggrin

    Right... back to the coffee.

    Qs
     
    Certifications: MCT, MCSE: Private Cloud, MCSA (2008), MCITP: EA, MCITP: SA, MCSE: 2003, MCSA: 2003, MCITP: EDA7, MCITP: EDST7, MCITP: EST Vista, MCTS: Exh 2010, MCTS:ServerVirt, MCTS: SCCM07 & SCCM2012, MCTS: SCOM07, MCTS: Win7Conf, MCTS: VistaConf, MCDST, MCP, MBCS, HND: Applied IT, ITIL v3: Foundation, CCA
  2. craigie

    craigie Terabyte Poster

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    Nice!
     
    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. Arroryn

    Arroryn we're all dooooooomed Moderator

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    Excellent post Qs, and thanks for the encouragement.

    I've been trying to prompt my work to help with training materials and stuff - but my manager does not hire on the basis of certification, and so, similar to yours, does not support training.

    I've put forward the argument for ITIL but everything else I'm happy to do on my own. Will keep prodding. I too produced a wonderfully grovelling email, to no avail as yet!

    So I went to Waterstones today to sate my constant craving for books. Had a Red Dwarf-fest yesterday, and when browsing today I saw a book called 'Parallel Worlds - the Science of Alternative Universes and our Future in the Cosmos'. It's by a chappy called Michio Kaku. I've never heard of him, but there again I don't do much on science apart from the occasional book and buying New Scientist. Looks interesting though!

    Anyway, that was a bit off topic! Hurrah for books Qs! And for the long term prospect at work!
     
    Certifications: A+, N+, MCDST, 70-410, 70-411
    WIP: Modern Languages BA
  4. kevicho

    kevicho Gigabyte Poster

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    ..... And for those out there with tight companies, the price of a book and a VMware download is less than 50 quid, so there really is no excuse for not doing self learning.

    Also you could do what i do, i do survey sites where I win amazon vouchers, got 10 pounds this month, which will go towards my next book spending spree :)

    Theres always a way. :)
     
    Certifications: A+, Net+, MCSA Server 2003, 2008, Windows XP & 7 , ITIL V3 Foundation
    WIP: CCNA Renewal
  5. onoski

    onoski Terabyte Poster

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    Thanks for the inspiring post Qs as I too am a go for it or make it happen type of person too. Keep on working hard and keep up the good work too. Cheerio:)
     
    Certifications: MCSE: 2003, MCSA: 2003 Messaging, MCP, HNC BIT, ITIL Fdn V3, SDI Fdn, VCP 4 & VCP 5
    WIP: MCTS:70-236, PowerShell

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