I'm certifiable!

[Gurm]

Ok, so as some of you may know, I've been working as a Senior Systems Engineer - and network admin, etc. - for a long time now. But up until now my only real certification (due to lack of money) was A+, which is a bit of a joke but was required for some contract I did back in 2001.

Now I am - as of yesterday - Microsoft Certified. It's just an MCP, no big deal, but I was very stressed because I hadn't actually taken any MS tests before.

Well, now apparently I'm certified to "Manage and Maintain Windows Server 2003" or some such rubbish.

It was, blessedly, easy.

Ok, that is all. Again, I know it's no big deal, lots of people have their MCSE's. Hell, the guy we have answering the phone - who is in training to be an Anglican Minister - has his MCSE but can't figure out how to add a new user! But it makes a big difference in my potential pay grade for any jobs I might be considering. So I suppose it's $100 well spent.

[RhinoZ]

Look out world Gurm has got some credentials.
Seriously, Did you move into the new house yet? How's work going?

[Gurm]

Yes, we're in the new house, probably... 75% settled in? The family room is still a disaster, but 95% of the upstairs is all set now, which is good. The work area and garage are still ... relatively untouched. Just have to finish unpacking, I'll get some done today and tomorrow on the holiday when Jacob is at daycare and Logan and I can accomplish things.

The job is... going. Still hoping to be hired by the university, I interview Tuesday formally but I'm already a "final candidate", one of three I guess. I'm keeping my fingers firmly crossed, since it would be such a huge step up, both career-wise and monetarily.

[Claymonkey]

and now begins the race to see which of us becomes MCSE first. You should have seen this guy the day before the test. He was doing fine and using the research material I got him.... then he took a transcender test and freaked out because he did badly on it. Now some of you might know that while transcender is an excellent study guide it usually takes things a step or two past where Microsoft cares to go with their own tests AND it asks the questions just slightly differently, so it can throw you for a loop. I hate to say it but brain dumps like T3stK1ng are better for actual prep for the test IF you go back and figure out why you didn't know question 25. Thankfully they give you the reason why answer B was right, and why A,C and D were wrong.

On a more interesting note. we recently figured out our boss is basically a papercert. He's just been in the business long enough now to fool us until recently. It was clarified when Gurm realized that he was listening to our boss almost verbatum while reading through Transcender.

[Gurm]

and now begins the race to see which of us becomes MCSE first. You should have seen this guy the day before the test. He was doing fine and using the research material I got him.... then he took a transcender test and freaked out because he did badly on it. Now some of you might know that while transcender is an excellent study guide it usually takes things a step or two past where Microsoft cares to go with their own tests AND it asks the questions just slightly differently, so it can throw you for a loop. I hate to say it but brain dumps like T3stK1ng are better for actual prep for the test IF you go back and figure out why you didn't know question 25. Thankfully they give you the reason why answer B was right, and why A,C and D were wrong.

Eh, now that I've had enough sleep, I think Transcender has its value. And I'd be happier with Test King if I could find their actual sample test engine, because yes their examples are much better and closer to the real questions on the test.

However, to be honest NEITHER of them actually approximated the test as well as some cheap-o freebie sample tests I got from the web did, which sort of surprised me. And there were a LOT more simulations than either prep guide had indicated. Which worked in my favor because simulations are EASY.

On a more interesting note. we recently figured out our boss is basically a papercert. He's just been in the business long enough now to fool us until recently. It was clarified when Gurm realized that he was listening to our boss almost verbatum while reading through Transcender.

Yeah, he's not just a paper cert, he's a TRANSCENDER paper cert. Which means everything he learned is not quite the way MS recommends it. Also he learned some things WRONG, which completely cracks me up. Some of the answers that I know he would have given are just wrong.

His first approach to every problem in AD isn't to google for the fix, or even understand the problem. His first approach is to do an LDAP query, dump it to a CSV file, import it into Excel, do a ton of filtering on it, and then he STILL has to go back to google because that never tells you ANYTHING.

So here we have a guy with a PhD in an unrelated field, and a paper MCSE, who talks down to us all day long despite both of us being pretty much the smartest people he's ever met. *sigh* We need new jobs.

[Sasq]

back oh god 6 years ago when i did my mcse, transcender was great. in terms of you were wrong here, and why. it was invaluable to me for the test.
granted i haven't looked at trancdcender since then.

in my office i have two wonderful points with my mcse - 1) i am the only one that knows anything about it, 2) i can use the phrase 'dude, i use a mac, i have nfi - been to long since i used windows'

[Jammrock]

Congrats, Gurm!

[Evildead666]

Woo hoo!! Well done !!

Which one was it, the 70-290 or the 70-291 ?

I am also doing my MCP's atm.

I have the 70-270 (XP) and 70-290.
I still have to get the 70-291 and MS Exchange ones tho to get MCSA...and another three for MCSE !!

Revision is p*ss boring, but has to be done.

Good luck on the next ones

[FatBastard]

Now all you have left to do is find yourself a woman.
being an MS fanboy you'd probably consider a cusin of a half sister, but I'd advise
against it. in-breeding is usually what leads people toward MS in the first place.





But seriously though.
congrats, and good luck.

[Gurm]

Now all you have left to do is find yourself a woman.
being an MS fanboy you'd probably consider a cusin of a half sister, but I'd advise
against it. in-breeding is usually what leads people toward MS in the first place.





But seriously though.
congrats, and good luck.

Pretty sure I already gots me a woman.