What next?

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I'm feeling fairly confident I'm going to pass my A+ exam in a couple of weeks, I'm just waiting for payday to go make my reservation. What should I do after this though that will 1) Be easiest to finish in the quickest amount of time, 2) Net me the best skill set/look best on a CV?

The two options are Network+ or MCDST.

 

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If I had to choose one to do first, I'd choose the Network+. That said, why settle for just one? Do both!

That'll be one dollar, sir!

 

I plan on doing both, I start school back up full time again in about 2 weeks so I do not know how much time I will have to dedicate to studying and I'll have to take a studying break when we transfer to San Diego in a few months, so mostly I just needed to know which was wiser to do first to ensure I have it done before I went job huntin'.

 

I'd go for the Net+.
Only 1 exam to work towards (although half an MCDST is still an MCP)
The Net+ exams change later in the year and the passmark goes up.
Having had a look at the Self-Paced Training Kit I think it would more accurately be called Microsoft-Paced Training Kit.
I'd prefer to continue with the CompTIA exam mindset, I believe the MS exams are very different.

 

I'd go with the Network+ based on personal experience. I found it very helpful to both my knowledge, and job role.

As already said, its also similar to the A+ "exam mind" you've doing at the moment, so its the natural choice.

Best of luck.

 

Thanks y'all I guess my mind is set on taking down the N+ before September as well as finishing my A+.

 

yep N+ will help you for your MCDST

 

Alright so I know I'm going to order Mike Meyers' book when I get some extra cash, what kind of hardware am I looking at getting? Could I do the labs in a VM environment? If so how many VMs do I need and copies of Windows? Thanks for advice.

 

The A+ is a very hardware oriented book so it's probably better to pick up a cheap, crap PC (or use your desktop PC at home)

Doing a lot of the hands-on stuff inside a VM just isn't going to work.

For future reference - you only need 1 windows license (the one you're using). For your VM environment use Virtual Pc 2007 as it's free and doesn't require any additional costs, plus you can use as many VMs as you like.

Qs

 

How does the licensing work?
I have two computers and I assume I can't use the same licence for both, even though one will only be for educational purposes. Is this correct?
Is it only virtual OSs on the same PC as the original OS that are covered by a single licence?

 

Perhaps I was a bit vague...

I was specifically commenting about windows licenses per VM, but I see how it could have been misunderstood.

Example

You have Windows XP installed as your default OS on your home PC.

You want to install Virtual PC 2007 and install a VM with windows on it.

In order to do this you will need an additional license.

Licenses total two - One for the Windows XP local OS. One for the Windows installation on the VM.


Hope this clears things up.

Qs

 

yep or to put it this way you need two windows cds one for your pc and one for the vm.

I got around this by using the free trials that come with the mspress books and downloaded free trial of win2k3

 

Not necessarily

You can mount your local CD/DVD drive to Virtual PC.

...So technically if you had two product keys (both for Windows XP Pro for instance) you'd only need one disc.

Damn, I'm picky this morning.

Qs

 

Yep I know I use deamon tools n stuff for that.

 

No additional software required.

Open up Virtual PC, start your VM.

Go to CD, then choose Use Physical Drive D: (or whatever letter is assigned)

or

Rip a .iso image from your CD and point Virtual PC to it



Qs

 

didn't know that I also used deamon to simulate the drive running from .iso

 

Happy to help.

It's better practice to use Virtual PC directly as there's always the chance of Daemon Tools crashing and taking down your VM during important installations (Operating Systems, CD-based Service Packs etc)

Plus it uses less resources.

Obviously outside of the VM environment Daemon Tools is a good choice.

Qs

 

This is all good stuff.

I've used my previous knowledge from building my own computer from scratch when it came to studying A+, and I took some things out and put em back in for refresher. My question is more for the Network+ training.

When using the Mike Meyers do they require you to have different hardware setups or whatnot to network different machines together? At the moment I have my desktop running vista ultimate, a VM running XP Pro, and a tablet running XP tablet edition. I have a cable modem with a wirless linksys router. Is this all I'll need or do you recommend picking up a spare pc or getting another windows license and run another VM along with what I already have?

 

If it was me - I'd use my home rig to do the A+ exercises (which I'm going to do once the MCDST is out of the way, booking it for the 3rd/4th? time tomorrow lol).

But it depends how competent you are. If you're worried you're going to screw something up then a cheap spare PC would be best.

As for kit, you're pretty much set for both exams. They are entry level certs and so won't require you to have access to multiple setups, servers etc.

Note -

The A+ is more hardware oriented so having hands on kit will help.

The N+ is more software oriented (with a focus on networking) so using a VM will help.

Qs