Certification Journal

cknapp78

It begins again!!!

After multiple starts and stops in my goal to certifying my career, I finally have the motivation to start for the final time!!!

Background: Been an IT consultant for over the past 18 years. Worked mostly in the Messaging/Active Directory/VOIP space going from contract to contract. Started in New Jersey. Moved to California in 2000. Back to NJ in 2003. Moved to Louisiana in 2013. Finally moved to Baltimore/Washington DC area back in October. I've seen 43 states and 7 countries. But through all this time, I have never held a certification of any kind.

Current status: Just started full time salaried role working as a DoD contractor in the Washington DC area only 4 months after having major back reconstruction surgery. The reason I am finally jumping on the certification bandwagon? It is a DoD requirement. Need to take my Security+ and CCNA-Security Exams over the next 3 months. Otherwise, no job. I figure after passing these two exams, I will be in the zone, so I will begin my journey to my Exchange, Lync (skype), and Office 365 Exams.

Also found out that my company may be putting me through F5, VmWare, and a bunch of other CyberSecurity certs as well. I guess it pays to have worked as an architect in multiple areas. Only catch is that now I have to back it up with certifications.

I will use this as my main page for logging my progress. I will also create individual study posts for my progress on each individual cert as I study for and take them. Good way to keep myself honest. Wish me luck. Going to be a crazy next 6 months.

scaredoftests

Welcome to Maryland! Where in the area (you can just say county--)? Ah yes, the DoD requirement.. Good luck!