Student Experiences at Western Governors University (WGU)

jmasterj206

I think GUT1 and GTT1 are programming classes.

earweed

Yeah they are the Java programming. At least the "new" version of the Java programming class WGU now has. You use taskstream instead of taking a cert test.

erpadmin

BlackBella wrote: »

I have the CIW v5 kindle ebook on my blackberry, but I will get the actual book. I heard great things about the Mike Meyers all-in-one study guide, so I will find that one too.

The other two classes are Intro to programming and design.

Danke

Bitte

Best of luck in your studies.

cablegod

Erp: not beating up on you, and I am not sure what his plans are, but AL is a pretty good place for CCIE's. Look into the job markets for Huntsville, Anniston, Arab, Birmingham, Montgomery, and Mobile. Lots of DoD in the N and NE areas of AL. Deltacom is out of the Anniston area.

erpadmin

cablegod wrote: »

Erp: not beating up on you, and I am not sure what his plans are, but AL is a pretty good place for CCIE's. Look into the job markets for Huntsville, Anniston, Arab, Birmingham, Montgomery, and Mobile. Lots of DoD in the N and NE areas of AL. Deltacom is out of the Anniston area.

I didn't take it as you beating me up at all. I only asked because when I think of CCIEs (even during the Great Recession) I think of nothing short of six figures. I'm pretty sure DoD contractors will pay the CCIE rate, but I was wondering of other industry down there.

Please excuse my ignorance, and as I said, I would never want to knock the South....I'm trying to retire there one day (or, if the proper opportunity, coupled with loose-ends tied up up here, presents itself: work down there ).

cablegod

erpadmin wrote: »

I didn't take it as you beating me up at all. I only asked because when I think of CCIEs (even during the Great Recession) I think of nothing short of six figures. I'm pretty sure DoD contractors will pay the CCIE rate, but I was wondering of other industry down there.

Please excuse my ignorance, and as I said, I would never want to knock the South....I'm trying to retire there one day (or, if the proper opportunity, coupled with loose-ends tied up up here, presents itself: work down there ).

I know you weren't knocking the South. Y'all know better Nothing like the South, but I don't plan on retiring here. Atlanta isn't too far from Huntsville if Huntsville or AL didn't work out. Big demand for CCIE folks there. Plenty of big data centers & telecom carriers & PoP's.

earweed

Huntsville is actually a BIG DOD area. I went to a job fair there yesterday, no bites for me as I'm not on the level most were looking for but almost all companies there were DOD contractors. Don't forget that NASA has a presence there also (Rocket engine testing and design) along with Boeing, McDonnel Douglas, and several others.
The only bite I got at the job fair will require relocating to Arizona which I got contact info and talked to the recruiter extensively about it.

veritas_libertas

earweed wrote: »

Huntsville is actually a BIG DOD area. I went to a job fair there yesterday, no bites for me as I'm not on the level most were looking for but almost all companies there were DOD contractors. Don't forget that NASA has a presence there also (Rocket engine testing and design) along with Boeing, McDonnel Douglas, and several others.
The only bite I got at the job fair will require relocating to Arizona which I got contact info and talked to the recruiter extensively about it.

Good luck with that. I wouldn't mind moving to Arizona

earweed

As someone who hates the humidity Arizona would be a nice change. The wife even likes the idea.

BlackBella

I have a initial interview for internship with Walt Disney tomorrow and I am nervous.

I refuse to show it on the phone though.

eansdad

Grats BB ... A Disney internship isn't anything to sneeze at.

asurania

Finally Finished my Capstone. Hope i pass then yea got my Degree...

Wonder if they will let me start on my Msc...done 3 months before the semester ends for me.

earweed

Congrats on getting done so quickly.

RoadwarriorsLive

CIW Foundations and exam force. I passed my WGU pretest with 90% and scheduled the exam. Now I am a little worried I just went through the exam force for it and couldnt even understand what they were asking sometimes.

Are the questions on this test that bad or is it exam force? I have been in the field for a long tme and have built a ton of different websites. I also just passed my A+ and Network+ tests. I am scheduled for Security + right after the CIW exam.

Should I be worried?? When I looked at the founfdations questions in examforce the wording was so bad I thought oh no I should have read more on this specifics.

earweed

Examforce (or as I call it Examfarce) is a horrible resource. Don't use it at all unless your mentor requires it be completed. That resource is poorly written, has wrong answers a lot of the time, and is just basically a waste of time. I've used it (mentor requires it be done) for several courses so I know how bad it is.
Get the study guide for the course at MCMCSE.com as it's really good. If you have website design experience then you actually have experience in what most people who take that course don't have (html).

jmasterj206

Don't worry about it. You will be fine.

RoadwarriorsLive

earweed wrote: »

Examforce (or as I call it Examfarce) is a horrible resource. Don't use it at all unless your mentor requires it be completed. That resource is poorly written, has wrong answers a lot of the time, and is just basically a waste of time. I've used it (mentor requires it be done) for several courses so I know how bad it is.
Get the study guide for the course at MCMCSE.com as it's really good. If you have website design experience then you actually have experience in what most people who take that course don't have (html).

Thanks for the reply!!!

WHEW!!! Thought it was just me. I already had that doc fom MCMCSE not sure how but I found it last week when hunting around.

When I read through the forum at WGU people were talking about reading 4 different books. I kept thinking this can't be that hard of a test.

erpadmin

RoadwarriorsLive wrote: »

Thanks for the reply!!!

WHEW!!! Thought it was just me. I already had that doc fom MCMCSE not sure how but I found it last week when hunting around.

When I read through the forum at WGU people were talking about reading 4 different books. I kept thinking this can't be that hard of a test.

They're talking about the textbooks you receive for CIW Foundations. I skimmed through each of them and was amazed how I did most if not ALL the things they describe in my 19 years involved with PCs.

Just remember: you only need 54 out of 85 questions to pass. What comforted me, was that I could fail the entire HTML section and still pass the exam. That's really what I'm shooting for. (I have bigger fish to fry... ).

earweed

Those textbooks are mainly for people who are either new to IT period or who are just experienced in a limited manner. I had the PC hardware knowledge but zero of mostly everything so I combed through a lot of info in those 4 books (actually 3 as one of the books is just a review of the other 3)

petedude

earweed wrote: »

Examforce (or as I call it Examfarce) is a horrible resource. Don't use it at all unless your mentor requires it be completed. . . .

As much as I respect earweed's opinion, I have to differ slightly on this. Mind you, this is just my opinion.

If the course of study asks you to finish ExamForce, you should-- if nothing else, for CYA's sake. I believe the course of study should be considered the official directives for satisfying the given competency, that the mentors should respect it, and it should be changed if it's not useful (e.g. the ExamForce requirements).

Again, this is just my opinion on the adaptive drill requirements and nothing more.

Now, as to the materials-- I'm finding that even Ucertify is infinitely more useful than ExamForce for the CIW exams, and some students get by on vCampus/MeasureUp. To those petitioning to have EF removed from the program, I'm hoping you'll be heard and a better resource will be provided to you.

erpadmin

petedude wrote: »

As much as I respect earweed's opinion, I have to differ slightly on this. Mind you, this is just my opinion.

If the course of study asks you to finish ExamForce, you should-- if nothing else, for CYA's sake. I believe the course of study should be considered the official directives for satisfying the given competency, that the mentors should respect it, and it should be changed if it's not useful (e.g. the ExamForce requirements).

Again, this is just my opinion on the adaptive drill requirements and nothing more.

Now, as to the materials-- I'm finding that even Ucertify is infinitely more useful than ExamForce for the CIW exams, and some students get by on vCampus/MeasureUp. To those petitioning to have EF removed from the program, I'm hoping you'll be heard and a better resource will be provided to you.

Just because there is a disagreement of and with opinions, does not take away from the fact that OVERALL a level of respect is given to anything else about folks, or whatever else was said by folks that was earlier agreed with. That's what adulthood is...only children will throw tantrums because ONE thing was said by them wasn't taken for gospel. LOL.

Having said that, let's go into why I personally disagree with this:

1) ExamForce is utter crap. My mentor knows it, WGU knows it, everyone who has ever used ExamForce for various exams in the IT field knows it. ExamForce will not help anyone learn what they're studying for, whether it's for an MCSE, or anything else. Inside and outside of WGU. That's why now they're focusing on giving LabSims for students for the MCSE classes

2) I am one of those students who have used the vCampus and MeasureUp. (along with the MCMCSE.COM study guide). Based on how I passed my Security+ exam in one month (though in all fairness, it was a couple of months on and off...I wanted to take Sec+ before I started WGU), my mentor trusts me when I say I'm ready, he trusts that I am. Some mentors, like earweed's, do in fact enforce the ExamFarce because she's a by-the-book person, and if Earweed wasn't close to graduating, he probably would have switched to another one. But I have it on good authority that examforce will probably be gone from WGU within the next few months as many students, here and elsewhere have shown disapprovement (myself included).

3) Good mentors (and good students) should use a judgement call. If they are fairly confident about taken an exam, the MeasureUp should be plenty to show that. (Along with prep software like uCertify/Transcenders/Labsims). If you aren't "ready", you need to continue to hit the books, videos, etc. ExamForce is just garbage in both software and content. You "CYA" yourself that way with good prep. Examforce isn't written in stone....neither is using it to help pass your classes.

So, yes, everyone is entitled to their opinions, and as adults, we're entitled to disagree. But no one (who is an adult) is going to flame you just because of them.

earweed

I do agree with Petedude about following the COS as that is the only directive we have for these courses we take at WGU. I also believe that we, as students, have not only the right but the responsibility to get things changed that are in need of change. Examforce is definitely, from my experience with it, something which needs to go.
I have followed the COS for every class here at WGU that I have taken. For some classes like TNV1 (the Net+ class) the book WGU sent us was utter garbage. I still used it (supplemented with a better book) and used Labsim and the online expert that WGU provided. I also gave my feedback about the resources (I was required to do the exam force for this class) which I considerred subpar ie. the ILT book and the Examforce.
When I started taking AHV1 (Server 2008 AD, Configuring 70-640) the COS was a shambles and I got with the course mentor to get some of the problems with it straightened out. Whoever assembled it had chapters in the wrong places, chapters from the text totally missing coverage and some places had sections of one domain in place of another. It was basically whoever put it together did a poor cut and paste job. I was not the first person to have taken the course but I must have been the first to attempt to use the COS for it.
Saying that the COS is set in stone and just to follow it is not only unwise but would have been disastrous for me had I just blindly followed it for AHV1.

tpatt100

Thinking about cramming for the CWNA before the CWSP exam since I have to study the CWNA material anyways. I went to the CWNP site and found several broken links on their main page for their certs???? wow

RoadwarriorsLive

Well I was worried about nothing. Scored an 81 out of 85 and a little ****** about the 4 I did miss. On to Security+ now.

I alreeady read the Daryl Gibson book twice and doing the Lab Sim now. I hope that will be enough for this one. It's my last Cert test before diving head first and getting general ed out of the way.

I was studying for the Security+ test before I started WGU so might as well get it done now.

earweed

Congrats on passing the CIW test!

jahsoul

erpadmin wrote: »

Jah, can you define "cupcake"?

(And by "define", could you tell me which WGU classes you think are easy? LOL...)

Also, do you have a CCIE Blog on TE? I would definitely like to read it. I don't read them to aspire to be a CCIE, but I am terribly impressed with the level of study that guys have to do for a CCIE.

Also, as a CCIE, would you still live in Alabama? I only ask because I can't see any entity (corporate or public) that would pay CCIE money there, that's the only reason I ask (not trying to talk crap or anything...really). .

*3 days late*
Cupcake classes are classes that I know that I can test out of..like the science (and I thought math..lmbo). But I have a very light load this term to focus on studying.

I have a blog but the past week, my time has been very limited on here. I will start to update more on here and I have another blog that I am on that I will put in my signature. I will try to blog on here once a day and try to focus on the website 3 times a day. I never truly understood what these guys were talking about until I started going. lol

And the market is pretty good for CCIEs here. One job on base was offering $100 an hour min. I'm not even too much just worried about it now though. When it come, it comes.

erpadmin

First of all, I wasn't too much concerned with passing this cert with a high score, very much unlike Security+. Security+ I at least attacked with very proper study, and am very proud of my cert. If "CIW Web Foundations Associate" weren't a required class, I would never have gone for this...ever. I know this has been said by many others....but now I can speak with authority as I have sat through this exam.

Was in and out in about 30 minutes. I was only shooting for 54 right. Got 66 out of 85. I wasn't going to waste my time rehashing HTML or any of that. But I knew enough about all the domains to pass.

If you're an IT professional that's touched a web site on the server side, maybe updated an html page or did anything with xml, AND have a strong A+, Network+, Security+ background, then you can take this test with little to no study. If you are a IT "newbie", then this test is definitely great for you and should be respected (by you)!

Everything that was covered for studying I either worked on or was familiar with for the past 19 years (going on 20). I can't respect this exam. I can respect A+, Network+ and Security+....but when I can just walk into Prometric, sit down, answer questions, and get a congratulations.....I can pretty much use the cert for emegency TP.

As promised, I will not be listing it in my cert section...the only clue that I have it will be my updated sig that I passed WFV1 and only WGU students and/or those familiar with the courses will know I have it (as well when I state I'm a WGU graduate when that blessed day comes).

Also, if I sound a bit crankier than usual, I have a throbbing headcold and had to deal with the afterwork rush crowd of Manhattan. I also had an impromptu phone meeting with my bosses involving the F5 appliance that we're putting infront of my Weblogic servers....I am happy that I have one less class to worry about and I'm still waiting on task 4 of LAT1. I just want these classes to be over so I can start Microsoftin' (I really can't wait to fire up Labsim for 70-642!).

erpadmin,

CIW Web Foundations Associate.....lmao! (That's the last time I'm doing that!)

RoadwarriorsLive

I would not have taken the CIW Cert if it wasnt required either especially after taking the test. I agree it's great for people new in the field but if I paid 150 for the cert out of my pocket I would have not been happy.

Any thoughts on making the research paper from LAT1 on the same subject as your Capstone? I am starting that class as soon as I sit the Security+ exam next week.

Not looking forward to any of this writing but no pain no gain.

erpadmin

RoadwarriorsLive wrote: »

I would not have taken the CIW Cert if it wasnt required either especially after taking the test. I agree it's great for people new in the field but if I paid 150 for the cert out of my pocket I would have not been happy.

Any thoughts on making the research paper from LAT1 on the same subject as your Capstone? I am starting that class as soon as I sit the Security+ exam next week.

Not looking forward to any of this writing but no pain no gain.

I doubt that's going to fly. From what I understand about the capstone, you'll be basing that more on the Tech Writing class. LAT1 (ideally) should be on a subject not near and dear to your heart (like technology). Supposed to be about a general topic, that ideally isn't polarizing.

RoadwarriorsLive

erpadmin wrote: »

I doubt that's going to fly. From what I understand about the capstone, you'll be basing that more on the Tech Writing class. LAT1 (ideally) should be on a subject not near and dear to your heart (like technology). Supposed to be about a general topic, that ideally isn't polarizing.

Crap. OK Your right about being near and dear. I do have a polarizing IT topic in mind, at least it is in the flame wars when you bring it up their forums. Just thought it would be easier to write about something that I am actually intrested in LOL