Completely overwhelmed by the amount of training courses and materials available

I am completely overwhelmed by the sheer volume of training out there nowadays. I suppose this is a good thing. It seems to take only moments to click and collect the resources--books, video courses, etc. but where to find time to go through all these great materials? Am I the only one that feels this way?

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sillymcnasty

Downtime at work becomes study time

TheFORCE

You are not the only one. You just have to pick a topic and focus on that or focus on small topics from different areas. There's not enough hours in the day for the amount of things that we need to keep learning and be relevant at.

[Deleted User]

Honestly, it shouldn't overwhelm you. It should make you happy that there is a lot of training available! That said, to find the best one that fits you, sign up for the free trial for each of the training providers (CBT nuggets, Pluralisght, INE etc.) See which one fits your learning style and got for it! Also, don't rely on 1 source. Use books, videos, flashcards etc to study.

EnderWiggin

First world problems

That's what certifications are good for, in my opinion. You pick a certification, learn that material, then once that's over, move on to the next cert. It narrows down the materials to learn.

E Double U

Thinking about everything I would like to accomplish could be overwhelming, but when I pick a topic to focus on I don't feel overwhelmed at all. When I prepare for a GIAC exam I only use the materials provided by SANS. When I did Cisco I used their official books and CBT nuggets. I try to limit the amount of material I use for each exam so I'm not all over the place. CISSP is the only certification I used a lot of resources for and that was because I switched up after each failed attempt.

Faker001

You are not the only one. I have the same feeling.

jamesleecoleman

*Uses Jedi Mind Tricks*

You're not overwhelmed by the amount of training courses and materials available...

You're overwhelmed by the amount of opportunity to learn something well

scaredoftests

Take a second and BREATHE! Stop being overwhelmed and just be amazed on how much you will learn. Take small portions and go with that if you are overwhelmed.

ITSec14

As much as I hate reading, I can definitely say that books are probably the best resources I've used. The CBT providers are okay, but it depends on what you are studying for.

LordQarlyn

We live in the Information Overload Age. But seriously though, there are massive amounts of materials available even for basic certs such as A+.
What I try to do is gloss over the choices, look for reviews on my shortlist, then pick a few and stick with it. At the end of the day, none of the training materials are silver bullets and the majority will, assuming one uses them, will provide the info needed to pass the cert exam.

LordQarlyn

Books are good, but my ADHD makes it hard for me to focus on reading. Videos are somewhat better for me. What's worked the best for me are *quality* practice exams -ones that have explanations, and taking*handwritten* notes while taking the practice tests.

ITSec14 wrote: »

As much as I hate reading, I can definitely say that books are probably the best resources I've used. The CBT providers are okay, but it depends on what you are studying for.

ITSec14

LordQarlyn wrote: »

Books are good, but my ADHD makes it hard for me to focus on reading. Videos are somewhat better for me. What's worked the best for me are *quality* practice exams -ones that have explanations, and taking*handwritten* notes while taking the practice tests.

Yes, totally agree with that. Practice exams that have great explanations are very good resources. I have really bad ADD when it comes to reading, but books are easy to reference too. Not easy to reference specific topics in videos, unless they are broken up into short segments like on Cybrary.

DatabaseHead

I usually pick one thing and deep dive into for at least 3 - 5 years.

Currently working through statistics for the last 2 years, read a book and working through a MOOC. Starting to pivot into R now, which is a nice complement. I look for organic matches in subjects and like I said earlier I stay on them for long periods of time.

You will NEVER know it all, even 5% of what's out there so why try?

SteveLavoie

I don't feel overwhelmed. I am a subscriber to Safari Books Online, Cybrary and Pluralsight. I love having so much material available to me, but I feel like a butterfly in a garden... 2 chapter in one book, 1 in another, hey 1h video. I read more and more focused on topic that interest me but when I was buying book by the case (like 30-40 books a year in 5-6 orders), I was more dedicated to read them cover to cover as I had paid them.

icebear

right, people have access to tonnes of useful materials, trainings and so on, that are yours for the taking, but most choose to surf random cat videos and vloggers. I'm often at a loss with the amount of information available, so try to stick to books and take them one-two at a time

globalenjoi

yoba222 wrote: »

I am completely overwhelmed by the sheer volume of training out there nowadays. I suppose this is a good thing. It seems to take only moments to click and collect the resources--books, video courses, etc. but where to find time to go through all these great materials? Am I the only one that feels this way?

I feel the same way when I look at my game library on Steam and see the backlog of stuff I haven't played or haven't finished...

Seriously though, there is a ton of info out there. I do feel like I do more studying now than I ever did in college or high school for sure. I find that I prefer more material that isn't video, but some Pluralsight stuff is good for dealing with difficult concepts. Video explanations of cryptography concepts helped me immensely more than reading the content in a book, but audio explanations of some networking stuff is just extremely hard for me to grasp.

Bluesbreaker

Several months ago, I started studying for the Part 107 Remote Pilot certification. Like with IT certs, there were so many study materials out there. The FAA exam was less than one year old and still evolving, so people were uncertain of what was needed to pass the exam. Someone directed me to an aviation lawyer's website, which helped narrow down the subject matter and study materials needed to get a high score on the exam. I must have used about 20 different study materials including aviation books, aviation attorney website, and FAA downloads. I ended up getting a 97 on the exam.

Although this exam is not as difficult as the IT certification exams, it took considerable time just to find the best study materials. And yes, I agree that the number of IT certs out there can be overwhelming. And it took me some time to decide on the best one for me. Currently, I am trying to find a course that offers hands-on exercises in a simulated IT environment. I may have found something.

Cisco Inferno

theres also a billion new distractions as well to keep us from studying. IT training is just trying to spice it up which i love.