On Wed, 22 Feb 2006, Timothy Allender wrote:
> Mean while, I'm tring to transition from college back into the work force.
> Looking for
> even an entry level systems or network admin position. And every opening I
> see requires
> experience or certifications. But, besides small time consulting, I've never
> actually been
> "employed" by a company in the field, and have no certifications (yet).
Don't forget that involvement in an Open Source project (e.g. contributing
documentation, patches, maintaining ports, creating packages/PBIs, etc.)
not only lets you gain experience it also provides a tangible audit you
can put on your resume. Starting a local user group, speaking at events,
maintaining a blog, volunteering at the local seniors residence or school
to teach basic computer skills or to install hardware--these all show
initiative, get your name out there and can separate your resume from the
crowd.
> So... "Welcome to New Horizons" and it's ICND time, preping for my first
> Cisco certs.
> Proprietary still, yes I know. But a fellow I've come to hold in high regard
> in these matters
> recommends Cisco certs as "the only certifications in the industry that arn't
> entirely laughable."
> And, I felt I needed to round out my networking knowlege a bit.
CCNA is a great way to do that and always looks good on a resume.
> The problem with defining a thorough and comprehensive BSD curriculum is that
> we'd be endevoring to create courses of instruction that span the history,
> theory, design,
> implementation and applicaton of computation, programming, operating systems,
> networks,
> internetworking (and just about any conceivable method of electronic
> communications).
> And, not just covering what has been, but staying abreast of continuing
> development,
> bugs, vulnerabilities and ever new emerging technology.
>
> Thats a pretty tall order. Reads more like a doctorate in Computer Science
> than a
> Certification System.
>
> In my experience (limited though it is) the main difference between the
> academic approach
> and the Certification approach is the focus on Business-Centric Applications
> of the
> technology in question.
Also keep in mind the different audiences such as:
1. Those already working and knowledgable in BSD. This audience could
attempt the cert without class instruction or a book, they would read
the exam objectives and use existing resources to brush up on the
objectives they are rusty on.
2. The self-starters who are comfortable learning on their own using
reference materials and their own mini-lab of BSD computers. This
audience would benefit from a well written "official" guide and probably
already own the existing published BSD books.
3. Those who have been using BSD casually for some time and who would like
to fill out their knowledge gaps in a classroom setting where they can
interact with an instructor and other students. This audience would
benefit from an "official" instructor and lab manual set and a database
of pre-screened testing centers in their geographic region.
4. Those who are brand new to BSD. This audience would ideally be taught
BSD as part of a larger college/university diploma where they could
learn context and how BSD fits into the larger scheme of things. For
this it would be ideal to have a framework of associations with
educational institutions.
Looking at the audiences in this order, you can see that the first
audience needs the least support and is basically just waiting for the
exam itself to be available. The other audiences need more support where
it takes more time, some money and lots of man-hours to create the
supporting frameworks.
Dru
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