Online trainings

SephStorm

I would like to hear some experiences with online training for certifications. Several companies offer it, and they make it sound real good, with communication with instructors, and so on. I would like to know about your experiences, pro's, cons, what training you took, with what company(to make a better decision), and what kind of online training; as I see at least two kinds.

Thanks in advance.

docrice

I took a free (state-sponsored or something along those lines) set of training courses from Saisoft (http://www.saisoft.net/). It probably isn't the same as a well-funded and corporate-backed entity like the ones you're probably talking about, but my experience has been ... "you get what you pay for."

Actually, that's not an honest assessment. Online training with a live instructor (which is essentially like a WebEx) isn't too bad, but is heavily dependent on the quality of the instructor like anything else. I had the option to either communicate via a chat window to the rest of the class (or directly to the instructor or other students) or use a microphone.

I personally didn't find the experience all that similar to in-person instruction as that virtual desktop still presents a psychological barrier. Sure, you could ask questions via chat, but there's always that lag between getting your questions typed and the instructor responding. Functionally, it's ultimately not that different and you have the convenience of taking the class from your own chair. Depending on the course content though, sometimes live instruction might be better. For example, if you take a VMware Infrastructure course, I'd need to have my own hardware capable of running the software, and perhaps I'd have to mentally simulate a SAN (because no one can afford that at home unless you use something like Openfiler).

I took a couple of VMware classes, a Linux class, and a Security+ class. With Saisoft, they were evening courses and spread out over a couple of months, twice per week. In that particular arrangement, I felt like it dragged on, partially because the course advertisements made it seem really intricate and in-depth but ultimately most of the material was just review for me.

Although I've never taken online training from other vendors, I somewhat doubt that the experience would be all that different.

Michael.J.Palmer

To add to what docrice put like all training whether it's online or in person, it comes down to how much work you're willing to put into studying at home. That means setting up home labs and maintaining a study schedule that works well with your general life schedule.

I'd assume that like any online course through a college or what not, you'll get the material you need to study online and do some coursework that you'll post online for the instructor to review but it all comes down to the time you actually put into studying the material given to you.

SephStorm

Oh, i'll definatly put in the time, I would likely take leave an lock myself in the room for however long.

I like the idea of taking the online training w/ live instructor, as if I do this it will likely be an Ethical Hacking cert, and I will have all kinds of questions, I suppose at least.